The Favor He Owed Me

PART 3 — THE MAFIA BOSS BEGGED ME TO STAY

“Claire, come with me.”

Two men in black suits approached us.

I immediately stepped in front of Madison.

“Who are you?”

“Mr. Moretti sent us.”

I shook my head.

“Tell him I’m not going anywhere with his men.”

One of them hesitated.

“Ma’am, this isn’t a request.”

Before I could respond, a familiar voice came from behind them.

“That’s enough.”

Vincent appeared in the terminal.

His expression was darker than I had ever seen it.

He walked straight toward me, ignoring everyone else.

“Are you hurt?”

“No.”

“Did anyone approach you?”

“A man in a gray coat.”

Vincent immediately turned toward his security team.

“Find him. Check every exit. Nobody leaves this terminal without being identified.”

The men hurried away.

I stared at Vincent.

“You followed me?”

“I had you watched after the restaurant.”

“You have no right to do that anymore.”

His jaw tightened.

“You’re right. But someone is threatening you, Claire. I won’t stand here and pretend I don’t care.”

I looked away.

“You should have thought about that before divorcing me.”

His expression changed.

“I know.”

He glanced at Madison.

“Please take her somewhere safe.”

Madison crossed her arms.

“She’s not going anywhere until she decides for herself.”

For a moment, Vincent looked surprised.

Then he nodded.

“Fair enough.”

He turned back to me.

“Claire, there’s something else. Sophia left Chicago this morning.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“Good for her.”

“She left a letter.”

“And?”

Vincent took a folded piece of paper from his coat.

“She admitted she had been working with someone inside my organization. She also confessed that she had deliberately returned to make you leave.”

I stared at him.

“Why?”

“Because she believed you had access to your father’s private records.”

I remembered the threatening message.

My father’s accounts.

The mysterious document.

The secrets Vincent’s grandmother had investigated.

Suddenly, everything seemed connected.

“Vincent, I don’t know anything about my father’s records.”

“I believe you.”

“Then why would someone come after me?”

He looked at me carefully.

“Because they might believe you know more than you realize.”

I lowered my eyes.

There was something I hadn’t told anyone.

Before my father died, he had given me a small silver key.

He told me to keep it safe and never give it to anyone unless I absolutely had to.

I had kept it inside an old jewelry box for six years.

I had never understood what it opened.

And now I wondered whether that little key was the reason someone was following me.

Vincent arranged for Madison and me to stay at a secure hotel while his men investigated the threat.

I agreed only because I didn’t want Madison to be put in danger.

That evening, Vincent knocked on my hotel room door.

He was alone.

“Can I come in?”

I hesitated before stepping aside.

He noticed the untouched dinner on the table.

“You haven’t eaten.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“You need to take care of yourself.”

I looked at him sharply.

“Don’t start acting like my husband again.”

He lowered his head.

“I don’t know how to stop worrying about you.”

For a moment, I couldn’t speak.

Then I sat down.

“Vincent, why did you really divorce me so quickly?”

He remained standing.

“Because I thought it was the only way to protect you.”

I laughed without humor.

“By breaking my heart?”

“Someone had threatened you. They told me they would use you against me if I didn’t remove you from my life.”

I stared at him.

“Who?”

“I don’t know yet. But my grandmother had received similar threats before she died.”

I remembered the strange look on his face when I accused him of treating me as Sophia’s replacement.

“Then why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because I thought if you hated me enough, you would leave without asking questions.”

My eyes filled with tears.

“You could have trusted me.”

“I know.”

He took a step closer.

“Claire, I made a terrible mistake.”

I looked down at my hands.

There were so many things I wanted to say.

But none of them could change what had happened.

Then my stomach suddenly tightened.

I pressed a hand against it.

Vincent immediately noticed.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“Claire?”

“I’m just tired.”

He crouched in front of me.

“Do you need a doctor?”

“No!”

My reaction made him pause.

He studied my face.

Then his eyes slowly moved toward my stomach.

A strange silence filled the room.

“Claire…”

I swallowed.

“Don’t.”

“Are you hiding something from me?”

I couldn’t answer.

Before he could ask again, his phone rang.

He stood and answered.

“What?”

His expression changed immediately.

“Are you certain?”

A pause.

“Bring it to me. Now.”

He ended the call and looked at me.

“My men found something in Sophia’s abandoned apartment.”

“What?”

“A photograph of your father.”

My heart began pounding.

Vincent continued.

“And there’s a name written on the back.”

He turned his phone toward me.

I stared at the photograph.

It showed my father standing beside Vincent’s grandmother.

They were holding a small wooden box.

Beneath the picture, someone had written six words:

THE BENNETT HEIR WILL INHERIT EVERYTHING.

I felt the room spinning.

Vincent reached for my hand.

“Claire, what did your father leave you?”

I looked at him.

Then, for the first time, I decided to tell him about the silver key.

But before I could speak, my phone rang.

It was Madison.

Her voice was trembling.

“Claire, listen to me. Don’t trust anyone.”

“What happened?”

“Someone just broke into our house.”

I stood up.

“Are you safe?”

There was a brief silence.

Then I heard a man’s voice in the background.

“Tell Claire Bennett we know where she is.”

The call suddenly disconnected.

Vincent grabbed his gun from beneath his jacket.

His eyes turned cold.

“Stay behind me.”

And as the first security alarm sounded downstairs, I realized that the secret my father had left behind was far more dangerous than I had ever imagined.

Because someone wasn’t simply trying to steal my inheritance.

They were trying to make sure the Bennett heir never had the chance to claim it.