Chapter 9 - The Mother-in-Law's BargainEleanor Cross entered the safehouse without removing her gloves.
She was elegantly dressed in a charcoal coat, with pearls at her throat and silver hair pinned into a perfect twist. Nothing about her appearance suggested that she had watched her granddaughter's disappearance with indifference.
She looked at me first.
Then at the laptop.
Then at Elias.
“I assume you've found the records.”
Elias stood between her and the table.
“You're standing in my house after sending armed men to abduct a newborn. Choose your next words carefully.”
Eleanor smiled faintly.
“Threats are such an inefficient way to conduct business.”
“You've mistaken my patience for negotiation.”
“No,” she replied. “I've mistaken your sentimentality for a weakness.”
Her gaze returned to me.
“Ava, you have no idea how much trouble your father caused before he died.”
“My father tried to expose criminals.”
“He was a clerk who thought paperwork made him powerful.”
“He was murdered.”
“Yes.”
Her casual admission made my skin crawl.
“You knew?”
“I approved the arrangement.”
My legs nearly gave way.
Elias took one step toward her, but she lifted a hand.
“If you touch me, the files already sent to my attorney will be released. Every shipment record. Every name. Every bank account. And a very interesting record concerning your relationship with the Miller family.”
Elias stopped.
Eleanor smiled at his restraint.
“Now we're talking.”
“You have my granddaughter,” I said.
She turned toward me.
“I have one of them.”
“Where is Grace?”
“Safe.”
“Bring her to me.”
“I will, under the right conditions.”
I moved toward her, but Elias caught my arm.
“Let her finish.”
Eleanor drew a folded document from her bag and laid it on the table.
It was a proposed agreement granting Nathan sole custody of both girls, transferring the remaining rights to our marital property, and requiring me to withdraw every allegation against him.
At the bottom was a line for my signature.
“Sign it,” Eleanor said, “and you'll be reunited with your daughters.”
“And if I refuse?”
She glanced toward the laptop.
“Then the world learns that you stole a ledger from your deceased father's employer, that your husband has accused you of instability, and that Elias Vance has been concealing you in his home.”
She paused.
“The authorities will remove the children from both of you. They'll enter foster care while the adults fight in court. Perhaps you'll see them again. Perhaps you won't.”
It was a carefully constructed threat.
One designed to exploit every fear I had.
I stared at the agreement.
For a moment, I imagined signing it. Holding Grace again. Taking Clara somewhere far away. Trying to forget everything I'd learned.
Then I remembered the pavement beneath my back, the blood in my mouth, and Nathan's face when he'd called our daughters a curse.
I pushed the agreement away.
“No.”
Eleanor's smile disappeared.
“You're making a mistake.”
“I made one when I believed your son loved me. I won't make another by allowing him to own my children.”
She stood.
“Then you have chosen the consequences.”
Elias moved toward the door.
“Luca, escort her out.”
Eleanor laughed quietly.
“You still don't understand, do you? I didn't come here to bargain for the ledger.”
She turned back to me.
“I came to tell you that Nathan has already chosen which daughter he'll keep.”
My blood went cold.
“He wants Grace.”
“He has always wanted Grace.”
“Why?”
Eleanor looked at the screen displaying the medical documents.
“Because the child assigned to V-1 has a claim to something your husband cannot inherit through a son.”
She leaned closer.
“And because Grace is the only person alive who can prove who really ordered the warehouse fire.”
Before Elias could stop her, she walked out.
The door closed.
I stared at the empty doorway.
Then I turned toward the laptop.
“Who is V-1?”
Elias looked as though he had been struck.
For a long moment, he said nothing.
Finally, he answered.
“My older brother.”
May you like
He had died fifteen years earlier.
And if the documents were genuine, one of my newborn daughters might be his biological child.
Related Stories
