Chapter 14 - THE LAST DEAL BEFORE CLAIRE GAVE BIRTH
Grant’s attorney approached Claire’s legal team two weeks before her due date.
Grant would agree to a long-term protective order, surrender any claim to manage the baby’s trust, and cooperate with the Westbridge restructuring.
In return, he wanted Claire to characterize the garage incident in the divorce case as financial coercion rather than an attempt to seriously harm her.
Claire read the proposal twice.
It was carefully written.
No admission of violence.
No acknowledgment of the heated bar as a threat.
No mention of Evelyn grabbing Claire by the hair.
Grant was still bargaining over nouns.
Claire rejected it.
Evelyn made a separate offer.
She would testify that Grant planned the forced signing if Claire helped negotiate release of Evelyn’s home from the Westbridge guarantee.
Claire almost admired the symmetry.
Even now, Evelyn was trying to trade truth for property.
“No,” Claire said.
Evelyn eventually gave investigators a statement anyway after Grant’s bankruptcy filings revealed he had concealed the full size of her guarantee.
Her testimony did not erase her role.
It clarified it.
She admitted helping pressure Claire.
She admitted telling Grant everything had to happen before the baby was born.
She denied expecting him to use the heated bar.
Prosecutors would decide what that distinction meant.
Claire stopped trying to decide for them.
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Three days later, her contractions began.
For the first time in months, she turned off her legal notifications.
