Chapter 8 - Morning of Reckoning
Dawn broke over Potomac, Maryland, with a heavy, grey fog rolling across the manicured lawns.
In the Bennett mansion, no one had slept.
The living room was littered with empty coffee cups, shredded financial statements, and printouts from real estate listings.
Robert sat behind his mahogany desk, his eyes bloodshot and swollen.
His cell phone lay face-down on the blotter, completely dead after fifty frantic outgoing calls.
None of his regular contacts at the Department of Defense had answered.
His former fraternity brothers, his golf partners, the lobbyists he had bought dinners for—all had gone silent.
The door to the study opened, and Diane walked in.
Her eyes were puffy from crying, her silk dressing gown hanging loosely around her shoulders.
“The bank called,” Diane whispered.
Robert flinched as if he had been slapped.
“Which one?”
“First National.”
“They’re calling in the construction loan for the Bethesda project.”
“They want four hundred thousand dollars in cash by noon or they freeze our operational accounts.”
Robert slammed both fists down on the mahogany surface, rattling the brass pen stand.
“It’s Evelyn!” Robert roared, his voice hoarse.
“She pulled the strings!”
“She’s punishing us because of some stupid jokes at dinner!”
“You didn't just make jokes, Robert!” Diane screamed back, her veneer of country-club elegance finally shattering.
“You told everyone she was a failure!”
“You told thirty of our biggest investors that she was hiding in a basement because she couldn't make anything of herself!”
“And you laughed right alongside me!” Robert snapped, standing up so fast his chair tumbled backward.
“You let Caroline treat her like a maid!”
“Now Nathan has broken the engagement, the naval contract is gone, and the firm is finished!”
The sound of high heels echoed sharply down the tiled hallway.
Caroline stormed into the study, clutching her tablet with trembling hands.
“Have you seen the news?” Caroline cried out.
She shoved the screen in front of Robert’s face.
The local business journal’s morning alert was blaring in bold black text:
“FEDERAL AUDIT LAUNCHED INTO BENNETT ARCHITECTURAL GROUP OVER ALLEGED DEFENSE CONTRACT MISREPRESENTATION.”
Beneath the headline was a photograph of Robert Bennett taken at the charity ball last spring.
Below that was a secondary report detailing the termination of all pending military construction tenders.
“My friends are texting me,” Caroline wailed, covering her face.
“Sarah, Amanda, Jessica... they’re asking if Nate really walked out.”
“They’re asking if we’re going to jail!”
“Shut up!” Robert bellowed, grabbing his coat from the rack.
“Get dressed.”
Caroline blinked through her tears.
“What?”
“Both of you, get dressed right now,” Robert ordered, shoving his wallet and phone into his coat pockets.
“We are driving to Washington.”
“We are going to that bunker, or that office, or wherever she hides.”
“She is my daughter.”
“She owes this family her life, her education, her name.”
“She will not destroy me over a petty grudge.”
Diane caught his arm, her eyes wide with terror.
“Robert, Vance had armed guards with him!”
“She isn't the quiet girl who used to read books in the attic anymore.”
“I don't care who she is!” Robert yelled, wrenching his arm free.
“Blood is blood!”
“She will look me in the eye and fix this, or so help me God, I will disown her publicly!”
Caroline watched him rush toward the garage, a cold knot of dread settling into her stomach.
May you like
For the first time in her life, she realized that Evelyn had never needed the Bennett name.
It was the Bennett name that had been surviving on Evelyn’s shadow.
