Chapter 2 - Nobody moved.Richard Hale stood beneath the warm chandelier light as though he had simply arrived late to dinner.
But Eleanor knew better.
Six years ago, police had found his abandoned car near the mountain road where her mother's vehicle had crashed.
Three days later, Richard had supposedly been killed in a warehouse fire.
His body had never been recovered.
Charles had told Eleanor to accept it.
The police had closed the case.
And everyone had moved on.
Everyone except Eleanor.
She had spent six years believing there were pieces missing.
Now one of those missing pieces was standing ten feet away.
Alive.
Luca approached him first.
“Who are you?”
Richard looked at him.
“Someone who knows exactly what your father has been hiding.”
Charles stepped between them.
“This man is dangerous.”
Richard smiled.
“That's rich coming from you.”
“Security!”
Nobody answered.
Charles looked toward the hallway.
Nothing.
Luca's men had already blocked the exits.
Samuel calmly closed his folder.
Richard walked toward Eleanor.
Charles caught his arm.
Richard looked down at the hand.
“Still trying to control everything, Charles?”
“Stay away from my daughter.”
The words shocked Eleanor.
My daughter.
She had never heard him say it with that tone.
Richard pulled free.
“Six years ago, your mother discovered the offshore accounts.”
Eleanor stared.
“What accounts?”
Richard looked at Samuel.
Samuel lowered his eyes.
That silence told Eleanor enough.
There had been something.
Something all of them knew except her.
Richard reached inside his coat.
Luca's security men immediately stepped forward.
Richard slowly removed a small metal key.
“Your mother gave me this.”
Eleanor stared at it.
A tiny silver key.
A blue enamel rose etched into its surface.
Her mother used to wear that symbol on a necklace.
Eleanor remembered it.
“What does it open?”
Richard looked directly at Charles.
“The truth.”
Charles lunged.
Luca's men stopped him.
“Don't,” Luca said quietly.
Charles glared at him.
“You don't understand what you're getting involved in.”
“I understand numbers.”
Luca nodded toward the folder.
“And apparently your numbers don't belong to you.”
Charles turned pale again.
Eleanor looked at the folder.
“What is page forty-seven?”
Samuel spoke.
“The controlling ownership structure.”
Eleanor frowned.
“Of Whitmore Holdings?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
Samuel hesitated.
“Of the Whitmore family trust.”
Eleanor's heart skipped.
“What trust?”
Charles snapped.
“Samuel.”
But Samuel didn't stop.
“There was a trust established seventeen years ago.”
Eleanor stared.
“I was nine.”
Samuel nodded.
“You were named as its sole beneficiary.”
Charles looked furious.
“That trust was dissolved.”
“No,” Samuel said.
“It was hidden.”
The room seemed to shrink.
Eleanor turned to Charles.
“You hid a trust from me?”
Charles stared at her.
“You were a child.”
“For how long?”
“Until you became old enough to understand.”
“I'm twenty-six.”
Charles said nothing.
Eleanor's voice hardened.
“And now I'm thirty-two.”
Silence.
Luca's eyes narrowed.
“You've been lying to her for six years.”
Charles glared.
“This has nothing to do with you.”
“It does now.”
Luca pointed toward page forty-seven.
“My acquisition depends on controlling ownership.”
Samuel nodded.
“And Eleanor controls it.”
Charles's face changed.
“You said she owns shares.”
“She owns the majority voting interest through the trust.”
Eleanor stared at Samuel.
“How much?”
Samuel gave a quiet answer.
“Fifty-eight point four percent.”
Madeline laughed nervously.
“That can't be right.”
Samuel looked at her.
“It is.”
Victoria's face went white.
Charlotte slowly lowered her fork.
Eleanor felt disconnected from her own body.
Six years of being called useless.
Six years of being told she wasn't important.
Six years of being excluded from board meetings.
And all along, she had possessed more power than everyone at the table combined.
Richard watched her carefully.
Then he said:
“There's more.”
Eleanor turned.
“What?”
“The trust wasn't created because your mother wanted to protect money.”
“Then why?”
Richard's expression darkened.
“Because your father tried to have you removed from the family.”
Charles stepped forward.
“That's a lie.”
Richard looked at Eleanor.
“Your father didn't want another daughter.”
Eleanor's eyes widened.
“What are you saying?”
Richard took a breath.
“You weren't supposed to survive.”
Every person in the room froze.
Charles whispered:
“Stop.”
Richard continued.
“When your mother discovered what Charles was planning, she moved the trust into your name.”
Eleanor stared at him.
“What was he planning?”
Richard looked at the sealed envelope.
Then back at Eleanor.
“That's why she left you that letter.”
Eleanor reached for it.
Charles shouted:
“No!”
Eleanor opened the envelope.
Inside was a single sheet of paper.
Her mother's handwriting.
Her fingers trembled.
Ellie,
If you're reading this, your father has finally tried to take what belongs to you.
She stopped.
Her vision blurred.
There was more.
Do not trust Charles.
Then the next line.
Do not trust Richard either.
Eleanor looked up.
Richard's face had gone pale.
She kept reading.
Because the man you think is your father may not be your father at all.
Eleanor dropped the paper.
The room went completely silent.
Luca looked at Charles.
Then at Richard.
Then back at Eleanor.
Charles took a step toward her.
“Eleanor…”
She stepped away.
“Don't.”
Her voice was barely a whisper.
“Tell me who my father is.”
Charles's jaw tightened.
Richard closed his eyes.
And finally, someone behind Eleanor spoke.
A woman's voice.
“Because neither of them is.”
Eleanor slowly turned.
An elderly woman stood beside the doorway.
She had been working in the mansion as a housekeeper for more than thirty years.
Eleanor knew her.
Mrs. Bell.
The woman smiled sadly.
“I was there the night you were born.”
And she held up a photograph of Eleanor's mother.
May you like
With another man.
A man Eleanor had never seen before.
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