Chapter 11 - ELEANOR'S HOUSEThe scream came from the hallway.
Ethan ran for the door.
I followed.
A hospital guard lay unconscious near the elevator.
Blood stained the floor.
Ryan stood at the end of the corridor.
Alive.
His shirt was torn.
A gunshot wound marked his side.
“Ryan.”
He looked at me.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
He walked toward me.
Mother grabbed my arm.
“Don't.”
Ryan stopped.
“She still doesn't know.”
“Know what?” I asked.
Ryan looked at Mother.
“She knows enough.”
Mother's eyes hardened.
“Tell her.”
Ryan did.
“Your father isn't your biological father.”
I stared.
“You told me Jonathan was.”
“No.”
“You said…”
“I said Jonathan is your father.”
He paused.
“But he isn't the man who gave you your DNA.”
The floor seemed to tilt.
“Then who?”
Ryan looked at Lily.
“Robert.”
Nobody spoke.
Lily stepped back.
“That's impossible.”
“No.”
Ryan pulled out a file.
Inside were genetic tests.
Claire.
Lily.
Robert.
Jonathan.
The results were devastating.
Robert was our biological father.
Jonathan was our mother's partner.
My entire childhood was built on a lie.
Mother collapsed into a chair.
“I wanted to protect you.”
I looked at her.
“By lying?”
“Yes.”
“About everything?”
“Yes.”
“Then what was real?”
She whispered:
“Everything you felt.”
Ryan stepped closer.
“Claire, listen. Robert is coming for you.”
“Why?”
“Because he doesn't just want the trust.”
“What else?”
“You're the final authentication.”
I frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Ryan looked at Lily.
“One of you has the genetic key.”
I touched my pendant.
“No.”
“It isn't the pendant.”
“Then what is it?”
Ryan's expression broke.
“It's your blood.”
Before I could respond, the hospital windows shattered.
Snipers.
Ethan pulled me down.
Ryan returned fire.
Hale rushed in.
“We have to move!”
We escaped through the underground garage.
Ryan drove.
Nobody spoke.
After twenty minutes, we reached an isolated house in the mountains.
Eleanor lived there.
She opened the door.
Older.
Elegant.
Still beautiful.
She looked at me.
Then Lily.
“My girls.”
I froze.
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
She embraced Lily.
“My poor child.”
Lily pushed her away.
“You abandoned me.”
“I was forced.”
“Everyone says that.”
Eleanor began crying.
Ryan stood behind me.
I looked at her.
“Why was Ryan with you?”
Eleanor stared at him.
“He came to me two years ago.”
“Why?”
“To learn the truth.”
“And?”
“He learned too much.”
She looked at Ryan.
“Ryan was never Diane's son.”
I stared.
“What?”
“Diane raised him after his mother died.”
“Then whose son is he?”
Eleanor looked at me.
“Jonathan's.”
My head spun.
Ryan was Jonathan's son.
My half brother.
I stepped backward.
“No.”
Ryan whispered:
“I didn't know.”
Eleanor continued.
“Diane knew.”
“That changes everything.”
“Yes.”
I remembered our wedding.
My husband.
My half brother.
The man who had loved me.
The family that had lied to both of us.
I began crying.
Ryan looked destroyed.
“We didn't know.”
Eleanor nodded.
“Neither did your grandfather.”
Then she opened a locked drawer.
Inside was an old file.
“Your grandfather left this for Claire.”
I opened it.
The first page contained a sentence.
“THE TRUST WAS NEVER ABOUT MONEY.”
The second page contained a photograph.
Me as a baby.
Lily beside me.
And Robert standing over us.
Underneath was a handwritten note.
“One daughter will inherit the empire.”
Then another sentence.
“The other will inherit the truth.”
I looked up.
“What does that mean?”
Eleanor whispered:
“Robert doesn't want the company.”
She looked terrified.
“He wants what happened that night buried forever.”
“What happened?”
Eleanor stared at my mother.
And said:
“Your mother didn't kill anyone.”
May you like
She pointed at Robert's photograph.
“He did.”
