The Only Family I Ever Had Chapter 05

The Only Family I Ever Had Chapter 05

At the wedding, Sebastian kept glancing toward the guests.

He scanned the room again and again.

Claire was nowhere to be found.

An uneasy feeling had already settled over him when Ethan approached with a folder in his hand.

“Mr. Whitmore, Claire left New York. She asked me to give you this before she left.”

Sebastian’s mind went blank.

“Left?”

His voice sharpened.

“Where did she go?”

Ethan hesitated.

He hadn’t expected such a strong reaction.

But he had promised Claire not to tell him.

So he only shook his head.

Sebastian’s face went blank.

He pulled out his phone and called Claire.

The call went straight to an automated message.

“The number you have dialed is unavailable…”

Sebastian clenched his jaw.

Ignoring Vanessa and the waiting guests, he walked straight out of the ballroom.

He called Ryan over.

“Check every room. Make sure Claire isn’t hiding somewhere just to watch me panic.”

Ryan left immediately.

Sebastian called home.

“Mrs. Parker, is Claire there?”

“No, sir. She left early this morning. She had a large suitcase with her, and…”

Mrs. Parker paused.

“She took the framed photo of her parents.”

A bolt of dread went through him.

“How long ago?”

“Almost three hours.”

He ended the call and opened the folder Ethan had given him.

Inside was a share transfer agreement.

Claire was transferring her entire stake in Bennett Holdings to him.

Sebastian stared at the pages.

What the hell was she doing?

He tugged impatiently at his collar.

His phone rang.

Ryan.

“Did you find her?”

“No, Mr. Whitmore. We’ve checked everywhere. She’s not here.”

“Keep looking.”

Sebastian switched to his messages.

That was when he saw the farewell Claire had sent earlier.

Claire: [Sebastian, I know I caused you a lot of trouble when I was younger.]

Claire: [I’m leaving now. Please forget about me completely. I hope you’re always happy.]

His pulse kicked hard.

Panic clawed at him, but the words he typed were cold and controlled.

Sebastian: [Claire. Call me.]

Sebastian: [My patience is limited. Stop playing childish games.]

The messages were delivered.

No reply came.

Sebastian shut his eyes, trying to suppress an anger he didn’t understand.

“Sebastian?”

Vanessa approached, lifting the skirt of her wedding gown.

“The ceremony is about to start. What are you doing out here?”

Then she noticed the open agreement on the table.

She read the words share transfer and gave a short laugh.

“Some people really don’t know when to disappear.”

Her smile turned contemptuous.

“She knew today was your wedding, and she still had to pull something like this. Does she want everyone to know about those disgusting feelings she has for you?”

Sebastian looked at her.

The look he gave her could have frozen glass.

“Vanessa, what exactly are you upset about?”

She went still.

“Vanessa, this was never about love. We had an arrangement. You knew exactly what this marriage

* was.”

He picked up the agreement.

“Postpone the wedding. Cancel it. Do whatever you want.”

Right now, he needed to find Claire.

He had no time for Vanessa.

Back at the Whitmore estate, Sebastian went straight to his study.

He turned on his computer and logged into several encrypted cloud accounts he hadn’t touched in

years.

They were linked accounts he had set up before Claire turned eighteen, back when he needed access

to manage things for her.

He hadn’t logged in since she’d become an adult.

One record at a time, he began going through them.

Years of Claire’s life that he had missed slowly appeared on the screen.

And almost everything she had written was about him.

As though he had been the center of her world.

Then his hand froze on the mouse.

A contact name caught his eye.

[Dr. Michael Lee. Lung Oncology.]