Chapter 16 - EleanorEleanor looked at me like she had been waiting for twenty years.
“You have your father's eyes.”
“Which father?”
She smiled.
“Good.”
I didn't understand.
“What does that mean?”
“It means you're finally thinking.”
I stepped closer.
“Why did you fake your death?”
“Because Daniel tried to kill me.”
“Why?”
“Because I knew the truth.”
“What truth?”
She pointed toward a locked cabinet.
“Open it.”
I did.
Inside were hundreds of files.
My file.
Kyle's file.
Adrian's.
Daniel's.
And one labeled:
ORIGINAL SUBJECT.
I opened it.
The first photograph showed a newborn baby.
The second showed two adults.
The third showed a woman with dark hair.
The fourth showed a family I didn't recognize.
“Who are they?”
“The original owners of the network.”
“What network?”
Eleanor answered:
“The people who built everything.”
She explained that Blackstone Holdings was merely one front.
The true organization was called The Meridian Circle.
They had spent decades controlling debt, inheritance, property, political influence, and legal access.
The Thorne family worked for them.
The Vale family once worked for them too.
Then Adrian betrayed them.
“And me?”
“You were created to end them.”
I stared.
“What?”
“Your DNA was selected from several bloodlines with access to different financial trusts.”
She looked directly at me.
“Your grandfather believed he could create someone impossible to control.”
I laughed bitterly.
“And how did that work out?”
“Poorly.”
She smiled.
“Until you were beaten.”
I frowned.
“Why?”
“Because pain changed you.”
She tapped the ledger.
“Before that, you wanted their approval.”
“Now?”
“You want the truth.”
Eleanor opened another folder.
“Here.”
Inside was the original trust agreement.
The inheritance wasn't twenty million.
It was larger.
Much larger.
$2.8 billion.
I couldn't breathe.
Eleanor continued.
“The money was never supposed to belong to the Thornes.”
It belonged to me.
But the trust had a condition.
I had to activate it before my twenty-first birthday.
“How old am I?”
She smiled.
“Twenty.”
My blood turned cold.
“When is the deadline?”
“Tomorrow.”
I stared at her.
“Why didn't you tell me earlier?”
“Because tomorrow is also the day Meridian Circle takes control.”
She looked toward the ceiling.
“They've been waiting for your birthday.”
“Why?”
“Because once you turn twenty-one, every account becomes transferable.”
I understood.
“They need me to sign.”
“Yes.”
“Or kill me.”
“Yes.”
Silence.
Then Eleanor handed me a final envelope.
“Your mother wrote this.”
I opened it.
Three words.
Trust no one.
Beneath them was a second message.
Especially Eleanor.
I looked up.
Eleanor smiled.
“Good.”
“What?”
“You noticed.”
Her hand moved toward the wheelchair.
A hidden pistol appeared.
May you like
She pointed it at me.
“I was wondering when you'd realize I wasn't here to save you.”
