Chapter 11
Claire
A knock at the door startled me as I was in deep thought. Walking over and opening it, a man stood there with a large envelope in his hand.
“Delivery for Claire Monet,” he spoke.
“That’s me.”
He handed me the envelope and told me to have a nice day. Sitting at the table, I opened it and pulled out all the paperwork from Richard for the sale of the house Raphael and Crystal needed to sign. I was grateful that Richard worked on it quickly and overnighted it to me. Picking up my phone, I dialed his number.
“Hello, Claire.”
“Hi, Richard. I just got the paperwork. Thank you again for your help.”
“Not a problem, sweetheart. I was going to call you later. The life insurance money has been deposited into your account.”
“Great. Thank you. I have to run, Richard. I need to get to the bank for a cashier’s check and head to my new house.”
“I know why you’re doing this, Claire, but that house. I couldn’t believe the pictures you sent.”
“I know.” I sighed. “But once I’m finished with it, it’ll be a brand new home. And if things don’t work out here, I can sell it.”
“Okay. Keep me posted.”
“I will. Bye, Richard.”
I parked along the curb of my new home. As I was climbing out with the large envelope in my hand, I saw a teenage girl two doors down staring at me. I knocked on the door, and Raphael answered.
“Come in, Claire.” He grinned.
“Who is that teenage girl two doors down?” I asked.
“That’s Riley. She’s Gabriel’s daughter. Sweet girl. She makes the nicest pottery pieces.”
“Oh,” I said.
“You don’t have to worry about her causing any trouble around here. She’s a good kid,” he said. “Once you get to know the entire Kind family, you’ll love them. I will admit, though, that sometimes they can get a little loud on the weekends—not always, but some.”
“What do you mean?” I furrowed my brows.
“Don’t listen to him.” Crystal walked over. “They’re a very tight-knit family, and they spend a lot of time together. Good family. You can barely hear them.”
“We can be out within a week,” Raphael said. “We’ve already started packing.”
“Okay,” I grinned. “When youre out, just call me and let me know, and I can swing by and get the keys.”
“Will do, Claire. Thank you again for this. I know you’ll be happy here.” Raphael smiled.
“I think I will be, too.”
Later that afternoon, as I was getting a mani/pedi for tomorrow night, my phone rang with an unfamiliar number.
“Hello.”
“Is this Claire Monet?” a man’s voice asked.
“Yes, this is she.”
“My name is Shaun Kind from Sterling Capital, and I got your number from Raphael, who lives a few houses down from me. Could you stop by my office today?”
“What’s this about Mr. Kind?”
“I’d rather discuss it in person.”
“Sure. I can meet you. When?”
“How about an hour? I’ll text you my office address.”
“Sounds good. I’ll see you then.” The corners of my mouth curved upward as I ended the call.
A few moments later, my phone pinged with a text from him. Looking up the address on Google Maps, I saw that his office was ten minutes from where I was.
After I left the nail salon, I stopped at Starbucks down the street, grabbed an iced coffee, and headed to Sterling Capital. When the elevator doors opened, I was greeted by two big security guards.
“Can I help you?” one of them asked.
“I was summoned to see Mr. Kind.”
“Name?”
“Claire Monet.”
He tapped his earpiece. “Selena, Claire Monet is here for Mr. Kind. I’ll send her up. See that large glass office upstairs?” He pointed. “That’s Mr. Kind’s. You may go up.”
“Thank you.” I smiled.
When I reached Shaun’s office, he was on the phone but gestured for me to enter.
“I have to go, Carter. I’ll see you later. Miss Monet,” he said as he stood from his chair and extended his hand.
“Mr. Kind.” I smiled.
“Please have a seat. Do you know why I called and asked you to meet with me?”
I did, but I wasn’t about to tell him.
“No. I have no idea who you are, Mr. Kind.”
“Please, call me Shaun. I spoke to Raphael Aubert today. He told me you purchased his house.”
“I did.” I nodded.
“He also told me that you knocked on his door and asked him if he was willing to sell. Something about you fell in love with it.”
“Yeah, I did.” I smiled.
“See, here’s the thing, Miss Monet?—”
“Claire,” I spoke.
“Claire. That house is a pile of shit, and I’m having a hard time believing that you fell in love with it.”
“People have different tastes, Shaun.”
“Nah. I’m not buying it. I told Raphael that if he ever wanted to sell, I would buy it from him, but he turned around and sold it to you. What did you offer?” His eyes narrowed.
“I don’t think that’s any of your concern. It was a private sale between the Aubert’s and myself. And why would you speak to him today?” I cocked my head. “Are you two close friends?”
He sighed and leaned back in his chair.
“Why I talked to him isn’t your concern.” He opened the file sitting in front of him. “While waiting for you to arrive, I had my people do some digging. You’re from Connecticut and were employed as the financial manager for Reed Monet Insurance, Inc. Your mother, Genevieve Monet Reed, recently passed away. , I’m sorry for your loss.”
I sat there in disbelief at this man, my brother.
“Shares for the company were recently sold, and I’m going to assume they were your shares.”
“Listen, Shaun. I moved to California for a fresh start. I honestly don’t know how my buying a house on your street is any of your business.”
“Because no one in their right mind would buy that house, Claire.”
“You just said you would have bought it.”
“Only because I want to own every house on that entire beach for investment purposes. I would have gutted that house down to the bare bones and remodeled it.”
“And that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”
“I’ll pay you double what you paid Raphael for that house,” he said.
I laughed. “I don’t think you will, Shaun.”
He sat there with narrowed eyes. What did you pay, Claire?”
I reached over, grabbed a Post-it note and a pen, wrote down the number, and handed it to him.
“Are you fucking crazy?”
“Still want to double that?” My brow arched.
“Who are you?” His voice turned serious as he stared into my eyes.
The small globe on the edge of his desk had bothered me since I walked it. I couldn’t stop staring at it. Reaching over, I straightened it.
“Why did you do that?” he asked.
“Because it was bothering me.”
“Me too. I just straightened it this morning. Every time Selena walks by my desk, she bumps it. I swear she does it on purpose.” A smirk crossed his lips.
“You have OCD?” I asked.
“A bit. My brother Sam has it worse. You?”
“Yes, I do. Are we finished here, or is there something else?” I asked.
“Well, there’s no way in hell I’m paying that for the house. But make no mistake, neighbor. I will be watching you.”
“Watch all you want, Mr. Kind.” I stood from my chair and extended my hand. “It was nice to meet you.”
“You too, Claire.”
Shaun
When she left my office, I picked up my office phone.
“Selena, tell Carter I need to see him ASAP.”
A few moments later, Carter walked in. “What’s up?”
“Raphael’s house sold.”
“What?” His brows furrowed. “How? You didn’t buy it, right?”
“Nope. A woman named Claire Monet did. Apparently, she fell in love with the outside, knocked on their door, and convinced Raphael to sell it to her.”
“What?” He laughed. “Is she sick or something? Who in their right mind would fall in love with that place? It’s practically falling apart.”
“Right? She just left my office.”
“Who? That Claire woman?”
“Yep. I got her number from Raphael.”
“How did you even find out she bought it?”
“Riley was outside and saw her pull up. Then she saw Raphael and Crystal down at the beach, ran over, and asked them who she was. They told her. She told Gabriel. Gabriel called me. I had Miss Claire Monet checked out. She’s a twenty-nine-year-old woman from Connecticut who was a financial manager at her parents insurance company.”
“Okay? Why is she here in Los Angeles and buying a dilapidated house?” His brows furrowed.
“This is what she paid for it.” I handed him the Post-it note.
“You can’t be serious, Shaun. Is she fucking crazy?”
“See, that’s what I thought at first.” I pointed at him. “She wanted that house so badly that she paid double to ensure Raphael would sell. The question is, why? And another thing. Her last name is Monet, which is her mother’s maiden name.”
“What exactly are you saying, Shaun?” Carter asked.
“I’m saying that Joseph Reed wasn’t her biological father. If he were, her last name would be Reed.”
“That could be, but that doesn’t mean shit. Maybe her mother didn’t know who the baby daddy was, or the baby daddy could have taken off after he found out. There are a lot of reasons why mothers give their children their names. Take you for example. Your mother gave you her last name because—” His eyes widened.
“Exactly!”
“Fuck, Shaun.”
“This stays between us until I can find out more information on this Claire woman. The gala is tomorrow, and I need to focus on that for now.”
“Yeah, sure. I won’t say a word.”
“Not even to Zoey.” I pointed at him.
He laughed. “I won’t. And you don’t say anything to Jenni.”
“Fuck no.” I shook my head.