Page 39 of Desperate Vows

Thinking about her made me freeze. I was almost positive Lucas knew Franklin was in the bathroom with me. If he knew, she was the one who told him. What if…

I shook the thought away because I couldn’t get distracted. If Thea hated me, then she hated me. There was nothing I could do to convince them that I wasn’t working with Franklin.

“Looking for this?”

I whirled around and found Remy looking at me, holding a key up. He’d caught me. I held my breath.

He walked to the door, unlocked it, and pushed it open. “I’ll stand out here and keep watch. Find what you need to find.”

As I passed him, I looked up at him. “Why?”

“I know Franklin’s working with Marco, and they nearly killed me. If it weren’t for Thea, they would have. If Franklin doesn’t have any loyalty, then neither do I.”

All I did was nod in response and step the rest of the way into the study. I’d never really been in here because it was forbidden. I knew Franklin did business in here because that was how I learned about the trust fund and his plans for me.

He finally told me, but after he had discussed it with someone I didn’t get a chance to lay eyes on. It could have been Marco Moretti, but I wouldn’t know. I never even got to hear the person he was talking to.

I didn’t have a lot of time to just stand around. If Franklin finished up early or the security company let him know the cameras were down, he'd find me.

Rushing to the desk, I began to go through all the drawers. He was either cocky and thought I would never dare invade this space, or it was a trap. The second place I looked had the information I was after. I began furiously snapping photos because I didn’t want to risk taking the documents outright. All this brazen stuff was new to me, and I was pretty proud of myself for even being in that room.

Once I was done, I put everything back and continued going through his desk. I shouldn't have, but I felt like I had to take the risk. I checked the rest of the desk, and it annoyed me. I hoped to find something that might hurt him.

My hip hit the desk, and a secret drawer popped open. I didn’t know if he just hadn’t closed it well enough or what. I wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth, though. I pulled things out and took as many photos as I could. I wasn’t even reading the stuff, just snapping away.

“Hey, Claire, the car just pulled up.”

My heart rate skyrocketed. I rushed to put things back and paused as I began to close the secret compartment all the way and then thought better of it. I left it and everything else exactly the way I found it.

I raced to the door and pulled it shut. Remy waved for me to go to a closet just a few feet away. I ducked inside and was thrust into darkness. I wasn’t trying to disparage Remy, but there was a part of me that wondered if he was setting me up.

Paranoia was getting the better of me. Remy had been loyal to Franklin for over ten years, and Franklin couldn't care less if he got killed. Of course, Remy couldn’t tell him he knew. Otherwise, he’d be a liability, just like me.

My father’s voice carried, and the moment I heard the second man, a tidal wave of emotions came over me. That was a voice I’d never forget. Never. It was like I was transported back in time. His stale, alcohol-laced breath, his calloused hands scraping against my skin, and his whispered dirty talk in my ear. I clamped my hand over my mouth as nausea tickled the back of my throat. I squeezed my eyes shut and begged God to get me out of there.

The closet door whipped open, and Remy rushed me to the back door. “Walk north. I’ll have a car pick you up.”

I nodded and raced out of the house. I was close to passing out by the time I slowed down. Then, another fresh wave of sickness overcame me. I could taste the bile. Dirty, disgusting, used, worthless, and a host of other words listed in my mind. Words my father had thrown at me since that night.

Logically, I knew it wasn’t true, but nothing about what happened to me was logical. Or right. I gasped as it hit me that Remy was probably going to call Lucas. He’d know that I’d been at Franklin’s and assume I was meeting him.

I’d have to figure this out on my own. I pulled out my phone, booked an Uber, and tucked myself away in the bushes so that no one could see me wandering down the street.

As I stepped off the street and disappeared into the foliage, I smiled. I’d broken into my house. Gone into a room I’d never had the guts to look at twice. I’d taken pictures of stuff that would make Franklin furious, and I had done it without getting caught. I liked this new me. She was powerful and capable and strong.

I was done with his crap. I was done with him. If it was the last thing I did, I would take him down.

When I returned to the condo, I was relieved to find myself alone and frustrated that I’d been unable to get an appointment with a lawyer. While I’d waited for the car, I’d pulled up the photos I’d taken and slowly read through them.

Franklin lied to me. Perhaps to Lucas, too. I needed a lawyer to look at it to verify, but I was pretty sure I was going to be half a billion dollars richer as soon as I said I do—well minus Lucas’s half. All I needed to do was show proof that I returned the license to the clerk’s office.

I wondered if Lucas knew this or if Franklin planned a double cross. It was possible. More than possible, undoubtedly, that was the plan. There was no way Franklin was going to share my trust with him or anyone else.

During the drive back to the condo, I’d searched for a lawyer in Chicago, and thought better of it. I didn’t know who rubbed elbows with Franklin, but I felt I’d have a better shot with a lawyer out of town.

Over the next hour, I called office after office, and it was weeks until I could see anyone. I didn’t have weeks. I had days. Frustrated, I threw myself down on the couch and groaned.

Since there was nothing I could do about that, I pulled up the photos from the secret compartment in the desk. I sat up, my mouth slowly dropping open. What I was reading was huge and damning and incriminating.

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