Chapter 13
I did not want to believe it.
Harrison Bennett was selfish.
Cold.
Cruel with grief.
But selling access to a trafficking network?
No.
Then Grant played the audio from Marcus’s interrogation.
Senator Vale’s voice came first.
“Your father-in-law understands legacy better than you do.”
Marcus answered, weak but furious.
“Harrison thinks this is about money.”
Vale laughed.
“It is always about bloodlines, Colonel.”
My stomach turned.
Bloodlines.
Babies.
Widows.
Military families.
Grant paused the recording.
“Your father may not understand the full operation.”
“That does not comfort me.”
“No.”
Marcus reached for my hand.
“Amelia, your mother was afraid. Your sister was greedy. Raymond was dirty.”
“And Dad?”
Marcus’s eyes filled with pain.
“Your father wanted a grandson with the Bennett name tied to Vale’s political trust.”
My hand tightened over my belly.
“He was going to take my child.”
Marcus nodded once.
The room spun.
I remembered Dad calling my tears inconvenient.
Mom telling me not to block the garage.
Victoria calling my grief exhausting.
They had not seen me as family.
They had seen me as an obstacle carrying property.
I asked Grant to bring Harrison in.
She did.
He entered the interrogation room angry.
Then saw Marcus alive through the glass.
His face crumpled.
“You’re alive.”
I stood on the other side.
“Yes,” I said. “He is.”
Dad looked at me.
“Amelia, I didn’t know they had him.”
“But you knew they wanted my baby.”
His mouth opened.
No words came.
That was enough.
I pressed the intercom.
“Answer me.”
He whispered, “Vale promised protection.”
“For whom?”
“For the family.”
May you like
I looked at him.
“I was your family.”
