Chapter 9 - ELEANOR'S REAL SECRET
Eleanor finally stopped lying.
The original records were hidden beneath the family chapel.
Charles had built a private archive there twenty years earlier.
It contained contracts, ledgers, account numbers, photographs, and recordings.
Enough evidence to expose everyone involved.
Including Eleanor.
Daniel stared at his mother.
“What did you do?”
She sat quietly.
“I moved money for him.”
“How much?”
“I don’t know.”
“Don’t lie anymore.”
“Millions.”
Daniel looked away.
Eleanor’s voice broke.
“I thought I was protecting you boys.”
“By helping him frame Ethan?”
“I didn’t know about Ethan.”
“Then what did you know?”
She began crying.
Daniel had almost never seen his mother cry.
“I knew your father was dangerous.”
That sentence changed something.
Eleanor told him about threats.
Secret meetings.
Men arriving at night.
Charles had controlled everything.
Money.
Accounts.
Her movements.
Even which friends she was allowed to see.
When she finally tried to leave, Charles threatened to destroy Daniel and Ethan financially.
“So you stayed.”
“I stayed.”
“And helped him.”
“Yes.”
Daniel wanted to hate her.
But her hands were trembling.
For the first time, he saw not the elegant Eleanor Whitmore.
He saw an old woman who had spent decades being afraid.
“Why did you take Claire’s drive?”
“Because Charles told me Ethan would die if I didn’t.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
There it was.
The same trap.
Charles made everyone believe betrayal was protection.
Vanessa.
Eleanor.
Ethan.
Maybe even Daniel.
They went to the chapel.
Beneath the altar was a hidden steel door.
Eleanor entered the code.
The archive opened.
Boxes filled the room.
Daniel stared.
“This could put him away forever.”
“Yes.”
A sound came from above.
Footsteps.
Daniel turned.
The chapel doors slammed shut.
Smoke began pouring beneath them.
Eleanor’s face went white.
“No.”
Daniel grabbed the archive boxes.
“Fire!”
Flames appeared through the wooden doorway.
May you like
Charles was burning the evidence.
And them with it.
