Richard Bennett’s Responsibility
Chapter 08 - Richard Bennett’s Responsibility
News outlets described Richard as the powerful father who heard everything and arrived in time.
He rejected the heroic version.
At a public hearing, he admitted that Claire had warned him months earlier.
She said Julian was controlling appointments and that Celeste appeared at private medical meetings.
Richard responded by offering investigators and security.
Claire asked him to listen first.
They argued.
She reduced contact because his protection felt like another form of control.
Richard then told himself respecting her marriage meant staying away.
When Claire called from the dining room, he happened to be ten minutes from the estate because Rachel’s old archive alert had activated.
He listened because Claire specifically asked him not to speak.
“That was the first time I helped by following her instruction instead of replacing it with mine,” he said.
Richard also acknowledged that he had approved Ashford Medical contracts based on executive summaries.
Amelia distrusted those summaries.
He called her overly cautious.
The same contracts later funded Haven House.
Richard resigned as temporary chair of the Bennett fund.
He opened his own decisions to audit and placed relevant assets into restitution.
Claire did not tell him guilt was unnecessary.
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She told him guilt was his to manage.
Their relationship improved when he learned to ask before acting.
