Chapter 553 - 149 Secrets in Storage

Chapter 553: Chapter 149 Secrets in Storage

Claire’s POV

Claire was absolutely right—Nathaniel’s parents are completely shattered by the loss of their daughter-in-law and granddaughter. Those old folks from the Sullivan family treated her like their own blood. Now they wander around their mansion with puffy eyes and tear-stained faces, drowning in grief. Perfect revenge against that ruthless don. He stripped me of my position in the family operations, so I took away what he cherished most. The satisfaction I feel watching the Sullivan elders mourn is indescribable. And that spoiled prince Beckett is finally getting what he deserves now that Claire has moved into the family compound. His days of being treated like the heir apparent are finished.

His grandmother always coddled that boy something terrible, but these days, one wrong move and Claire has him running errands like a low-level associate. Serves him right for thinking his bloodline made him untouchable.

Despite my satisfaction with how everything played out, I’m growing nervous they might discover my involvement in that woman’s demise. Federal prison isn’t in my future plans. Claire paid that so-called midwife handsomely to disappear overseas, and she should do the same for me. But she’s giving me the runaround, claiming she needs time to extract more money from Nathaniel’s legitimate businesses. I’m not a patient woman, especially when it comes to collecting what I’m owed. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

Thankfully, I was clever enough to take precautions. The day that woman died, I helped myself to several pieces of her jewelry collection. She was careless, leaving valuable family heirlooms in little boxes inside her dresser instead of securing them in the family vault. I was selective, taking just enough pieces that their absence wouldn’t be immediately noticed among her extensive collection. Even Claire doesn’t know about my little insurance policy—she asked if I knew anything about the missing pieces when Nathaniel started asking questions about his late wife’s jewelry. I simply suggested the midwife must have pilfered them while attending to the birth. Meanwhile, those precious gems and antique pieces are tucked away in my storage facility across town.

I originally rented that unit to store incriminating documents about my activities skimming from the family’s money laundering operations and records of the offshore account where I deposited my stolen funds. Insurance, in case the old don decided to hand me over to federal authorities. Now it’s proving even more useful. Soon, I’ll transfer everything I have against Claire there as well. That serpent would have no qualms about breaking into my apartment to destroy evidence of our partnership. Better to keep it all hidden where she’d never think to look. I’ve even devised the perfect hiding spot for the key among my late mother’s belongings.

Caution is essential when dealing with Claire. She’s as cunning as she is wicked, a true daughter of this underworld. I know she’s unhappy about my financial demands, which explains her stalling tactics. But I’m no fool either. I’ve purchased a high-quality recorder for our upcoming meeting at the docks. I’ll capture her confession, make her admit to orchestrating the entire scheme, and keep that recording in multiple secure locations. With that leverage, she’ll have no choice but to pay what I’m owed or risk exposure to both the family and federal investigators.

I’ve been monitoring Claire’s activities ever since she returned to claim her place in the Sullivan hierarchy. The more dirt I collect on her movements, the stronger my negotiating position becomes. Nathaniel spends his days locked away managing the family’s legitimate business fronts until late evening, often returning to the compound intoxicated, completely blind to his new wife’s treacherous activities. Meanwhile, she parades around the social circles, playing the role of a virtuous widow turned devoted wife, preaching family values to the other mob wives who hang on her every word. What a masterful performance!

During my surveillance, the new house manager mentioned Claire’s supposed charity work with an impoverished Italian community in the outer boroughs. I nearly burst out laughing! Claire helps no one but herself—I learned that bitter lesson when she pretended to assist with my revenge against Nathaniel while merely advancing her own climb up the family ladder. Being naturally suspicious after years in this business, I followed her during these supposed charitable missions. What did I discover? There is no struggling community she’s helping. The shameless woman leaves the Sullivan compound under the guise of distributing aid to the needy, only to rendezvous with her lover for passionate encounters in a rented apartment downtown.

The depths of Claire’s depravity continue to astound me! Nathaniel had barely buried his wife and infant daughter when Claire maneuvered her way into a marriage alliance and returned from her supposed retreat with a healthy baby, claiming they were the parents. But she was never pregnant during her absence—I have photographic evidence organized meticulously in my files. In every surveillance photo from that period, that deceitful woman maintained her slender figure with a completely flat stomach. I’m still puzzling over where she acquired that infant, but she definitely didn’t give birth to it. Perhaps she purchased the child from one of the family’s human trafficking contacts.

Yet her deception doesn’t end with the stolen baby. Now she’s legitimately pregnant—this time carrying an actual child. I confirmed this through my contacts at the private medical clinic where Sullivan family members receive treatment. The abundance of gossiping nurses in this city has served my information-gathering needs exceptionally well.

I overheard her telling her lover the baby was his while crouched beneath their secret apartment window during one of my surveillance sessions. She wouldn’t have made such a damning admission if there was any possibility the child belonged to Nathaniel. She’d previously complained to me that Nathaniel hadn’t touched her since their wedding ceremony, still mourning his first wife. During this recorded conversation, she swore to her lover that the Sullivan don remained completely uninterested in physical intimacy. Her lover, however, proved equally despicable. He laughed cruelly in her face, denying any paternal responsibility, which sent her into a rage that I thoroughly enjoyed witnessing.

Still, Claire continues her charade throughout their social circle, claiming she’s barely recovered from her first delivery and is already blessing Nathaniel with another Sullivan heir. Nothing but elaborate lies! I don’t understand how she convinced that grieving fool to accept her story, but this child definitely isn’t his. I almost pity Nathaniel—even the most powerful men can be blinded by manipulation. Even after their marriage ceremony, Claire continued her affair with Connor, meeting him in secret locations across the city, and now carries his bastard child.

The truth remains simple: she’s always been obsessed with Connor.

They conducted their affair before his wife’s convenient death, and afterward, Claire expected him to make her his official woman. When that didn’t materialize, she trapped Nathaniel in a marriage alliance instead. Connor consistently mocks her behind closed doors, claiming she’s only suitable for bedding, never marriage material for a man of his standing. I’ve never understood her attraction to that crude, violent enforcer with his terrible reputation—arguably worse than my own dark history—but she remains devoted to him. They resumed their relationship during her absence from the city and continued upon her return to the Sullivan compound. Now they privately ridicule Nathaniel, knowing he’ll raise Connor’s illegitimate child believing it carries Sullivan blood.

Ultimately, their twisted family drama isn’t my primary concern. They can resolve their own sordid problems through whatever violent means they prefer. I simply want my substantial payment so I can disappear from this dangerous city before they discover what really happened at that remote birthing facility and I end up in federal custody—or worse, at the bottom of the river.