Chapter 6 - The Woman Who Planned Everything
Evelyn Mercer requested lunch.
Claire almost refused.
Then she realized refusal was what frightened people did when they did not want to hear the next lie.
She met Evelyn at a private dining room in Napa, in full view of cameras and staff.
Evelyn arrived in navy silk and pearls.
Perfect as always.
“You look exhausted,” she said.
“You look remarkably calm for a woman who lied about where she was when my father died.”
Evelyn’s expression barely moved.
“Ava told you.”
“Yes.”
“She should never have been awake.”
Claire’s hands tightened.
“That is your response?”
“My response is that Grant handled the situation terribly.”
“He raised a shovel over her.”
“I know.”
“You know?”
“Grant called me.”
Claire stared.
“He called you after threatening my daughter?”
“He was panicking.”
“And you comforted him?”
“No. I told him he was a fool.”
Claire almost threw the water glass.
Instead she whispered, “Why were you at the vineyard the night Michael died?”
Evelyn folded her hands.
“Because Michael summoned me.”
“For what?”
“He had discovered the full structure behind Falcon Crest.”
“You mean your structure.”
“Yes.”
“And Grant’s.”
“Yes.”
Claire did not expect the admission.
It disarmed her.
“You planned the financing before Grant met me.”
“Yes.”
“Did you plan his relationship with me?”
Evelyn watched her carefully.
“I encouraged him to meet you.”
Claire’s face burned.
“Encouraged.”
“He attended a charity auction because you would be there.”
“You sent him.”
“Yes.”
“And he knew who I was?”
“Of course.”
Claire remembered their first meeting.
Grant spilling wine near her dress.
His embarrassed smile.
His apology.
His joke that fate had a sense of humor.
Not fate.
Scheduling.
“Did he ever love me?”
Evelyn’s eyes softened almost imperceptibly.
“That is the tragedy. Yes.”
Claire looked away.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“Grant was supposed to gain Michael’s trust, stabilize the company, and secure our investment.”
“By marrying me?”
“That was never my instruction.”
“But you approved.”
“Eventually.”
Claire laughed bitterly.
“You sound like you were approving an acquisition.”
“That is how my generation survived.”
“No. That’s how predators justify themselves.”
Evelyn accepted the insult.
Claire leaned forward.
“Did Grant alter my father’s medication?”
Evelyn’s gaze dropped to the table.
That tiny movement told Claire more than words.
“You know.”
“I know Michael’s pills were wrong.”
“Who changed them?”
“I don’t know.”
“You were there.”
“I arrived after he collapsed.”
“Ava says you came before the ambulance.”
“Yes.”
“And Grant handed you a Falcon Crest document.”
“Yes.”
“Where is it?”
Evelyn paused.
“I destroyed it.”
Claire’s heartbeat quickened.
“Why?”
“Because it proved Michael could seize back our conversion rights.”
“How?”
“Fraud.”
The single word hung between them.
“Grant engineered the original distributor default?”
“He influenced it.”
“He sabotaged Vale Ridge.”
“He created pressure.”
“To force Dad into your financing.”
“Yes.”
Claire’s nails dug into her palm.
“That’s fraud.”
“Yes.”
“And you funded it.”
“I funded a rescue.”
“You funded the fire and sold us the extinguisher.”
Evelyn looked almost impressed.
“That is one interpretation.”
“It’s the one a jury will hear.”
Evelyn leaned closer.
“You assume a jury will hear anything.”
“Is that a threat?”
“No. Advice.”
“From my mother-in-law.”
“From someone who understands what Michael left behind.”
Evelyn opened her handbag and removed a copy of a document.
Claire read the heading.
PERSONAL GUARANTY.
Michael had personally guaranteed $22 million in Falcon Crest debt.
“If the conversion clause is voided,” Evelyn said, “the underlying debt survives.”
Claire looked up.
“What?”
“Vale Ridge owes Falcon Crest nearly twenty-two million dollars.”
“You said it was an equity arrangement.”
“It can become one. If you challenge it successfully, the loan remains.”
“So you’re telling me if I prove fraud, you foreclose.”
“I’m telling you the vineyard may collapse before you prove anything.”
Claire felt the trap.
Protect Michael’s reputation, accept Grant’s power, preserve the estate.
Or fight and risk losing everything.
Evelyn said quietly, “Michael understood that.”
“That’s why he stayed silent?”
“For years.”
“And when he changed his mind?”
“He became dangerous.”
Claire’s stomach turned.
“You mean to you.”
“To everyone.”
A server entered.
Neither woman spoke until he left.
Then Claire asked, “Why tell me any of this?”
“Because Grant is unraveling.”
“You created him.”
“I raised him to win.”
“You raised him to fear losing.”
Evelyn’s jaw tightened.
Finally, emotion.
Claire continued.
“He threatened Ava because she saw something.”
“Yes.”
“What?”
Evelyn looked toward the door.
“When Grant gave me that Falcon Crest paper, he gave me something else.”
“What?”
“A key.”
“To what?”
“I didn’t know then.”
“And now?”
Evelyn’s voice dropped.
“Now I think it opens a safe-deposit box Michael kept under another name.”
Claire stared.
“What is inside?”
“Enough evidence to ruin Grant.”
“Then why didn’t you open it?”
“Because Grant took the key back.”
“When?”
“The morning after Michael died.”
Claire thought of the trench.
The black box.
Grant searching frantically.
“Where is the key now?”
Evelyn looked directly at her.
May you like
“Ava has it.”
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