Chapter 6 - What Eleanor Left Behind
At nine that morning, Roman and Claire entered a private bank vault.
Box 317 waited inside.
Claire inserted the key.
Her hands trembled.
Roman stood beside her.
“You don't have to open it.”
“Yes, I do.”
Inside were three things.
A blue leather ledger.
A stack of letters.
And an envelope labeled:
CLAIRE.
She opened it.
The letter was short.
Claire read silently.
Then she laughed through tears.
“What?”
Roman asked.
“She knew.”
“Knew what?”
“That someday someone might come looking.”
Claire handed him the letter.
Eleanor had documented Julian's crimes after discovering he was stealing from Vale businesses and secretly financing violent operations.
But there was more.
Roman's father had wanted to expose Julian.
Eleanor convinced him to gather enough evidence first.
Before they could turn everything over, Julian disappeared.
Roman finished reading.
“My father didn't protect him.”
“No.”
“For twelve years I thought he did.”
Claire looked at the ledger.
“What happens now?”
Roman answered immediately.
“We give it to federal prosecutors.”
She stared at him.
“All of it?”
“All of Julian's crimes.”
“And the rest?”
Roman looked at the pages.
His family's history was inside.
Some legal.
Some not.
Some ugly.
Claire watched him.
“You could destroy it.”
“I could.”
“Will you?”
Roman closed the book.
“No.”
By afternoon, attorneys were contacted.
Evidence connected Julian to multiple financial crimes, attempted break-ins, extortion, and the intruder found beneath Vale House.
Anthony agreed to cooperate.
Julian was taken into custody.
That evening, Claire stood in the Vale House kitchen.
Roman entered.
She was packing.
“What are you doing?”
“Leaving.”
“No.”
Claire looked at him.
“That's not really your decision.”
Roman realized how that sounded.
“Fair.”
She folded her uniform.
“I can't work here anymore.”
“Because you're afraid?”
“No.”
She looked at him.
“Because everything changed.”
Roman leaned against the counter.
“What if I don't want you to work here?”
Claire blinked.
“That sounded worse.”
“Yes.”
“I meant—”
Roman Vale, a man feared across Blackridge, actually struggled for words.
Claire's mouth twitched.
“Are you nervous?”
“No.”
“You are.”
“I negotiate multimillion-dollar deals.”
“Apparently asking a housekeeper to dinner is harder.”
Roman stared.
Claire smiled.
“Are you asking?”
He stepped closer.
“Yes.”
She folded her arms.
“Ask properly.”
Roman exhaled.
“Claire Bennett, would you have dinner with me?”
“Where?”
“Anywhere you choose.”
“No guards at the table?”
“They'll sit twenty feet away.”
“Forty.”
“Thirty.”
“Deal.”
Roman smiled.
Claire stared at him.
It was the first time she'd ever seen him do it without restraint.
“Tomorrow?” he asked.
“Tomorrow.”
Then she lifted her packed uniform.
“But I'm still quitting.”
Roman nodded.
“Good.”
“Good?”
“I've been trying not to notice my employee for eleven months.”
Claire raised an eyebrow.
“Trying?”
“Unsuccessfully.”
She laughed.
May you like
And for the first time since 2:13 that morning, Vale House no longer felt like a fortress.
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