Chapter 14 - THE NIGHT SHE CAME BACK
My father doubled security.
I hated it.
Guards outside the elevator.
Guards in the lobby.
A driver wherever I went.
But I understood.
Eleanor had lost everything.
People were most dangerous when they believed nothing remained to lose.
I refused to hide indefinitely.
Two days later, I attended a prenatal appointment.
Dominic was not invited.
My father came.
Everything looked normal.
Strong heartbeat.
Healthy movement.
No signs of early labor.
When we left, rain had started.
For one second, the sound against the hospital awning reminded me of my mother.
Rainy road.
Headlights.
A truck crossing the median.
I shivered.
Arthur noticed.
“You okay?”
“Yes.”
Then someone screamed.
A gray sedan shot from the curb.
It accelerated directly toward the entrance.
My father’s security officer shoved us backward.
The car jumped the curb.
Metal struck a concrete planter.
People scattered.
The vehicle stopped less than fifteen feet away.
The driver’s door opened.
Dr. Weller ran.
Security tackled him before he reached the street.
The passenger door remained closed.
I stared.
My father stepped in front of me.
“Stay back.”
Police pulled the passenger door open.
Empty.
No Eleanor.
The car had been a distraction.
My phone rang inside my purse.
Unknown number.
I answered.
Eleanor whispered,
“You always were predictable.”
I spun around.
Across the street, beneath a black umbrella, a woman stood beside a parked cab.
Eleanor.
She looked directly at me.
Then smiled.
“Your mother was predictable too.”
My blood went cold.
I shouted,
“Dad.”
Eleanor dropped the phone.
She climbed into the cab.
But my father’s second security team was already moving.
Traffic blocked the intersection.
The cab made it half a block.
Police surrounded it.
Within ninety seconds, Eleanor Hale was dragged from the back seat.
She did not struggle.
She only stared at me through the rain.
Even from across the street, I could see her smiling.
The police placed her in handcuffs.
My father stood beside me.
His hand shook.
Eleanor noticed.
Then she shouted across the street.
“Arthur.”
He looked at her.
“Ask your daughter what happens when everyone learns the Laurent empire was built on fraud.”
I frowned.
My father did too.
Eleanor laughed.
“You think Catherine was innocent?”
Officers pushed her toward the car.
“She stole first.”
My father moved forward.
“What are you talking about?”
Eleanor turned.
“The original company.”
The officer tried to place her inside the vehicle.
She resisted long enough to shout one final sentence.
“Catherine stole the patent.”
Then the door closed.
I looked at my father.
“What patent?”
He looked genuinely confused.
That scared me.
May you like
Because Eleanor had lied often.
But sometimes the most dangerous lies were built around a fragment of truth.
