Chapter 12 - ELEANOR SPEAKS
Eleanor was released on bail the following morning.
Claire expected her to hide.
Instead, Eleanor requested a meeting.
No attorneys.
No police.
Just Claire and Ethan.
They met inside Jonathan’s old study.
Eleanor looked smaller without the ballroom, the diamonds, and the crowd.
Claire did not sit.
“You pushed me off a terrace.”
Eleanor looked at her.
“Yes.”
“You could have killed me.”
“Yes.”
Ethan slammed his hand against the desk.
“Stop saying it like that.”
Eleanor flinched.
“I thought Richard’s men were already inside the house.”
Claire stared at her.
“What?”
Eleanor looked toward the hidden safe.
“When you told me you knew something about Anna, I panicked.”
“So you pushed me?”
“I wanted you gone.”
“Over a thirty-foot drop?”
“There was a ledge.”
Claire’s eyes widened.
“You knew?”
“I had used that ledge before.”
“For what?”
“To enter the underground room without Richard’s cameras seeing me.”
Claire remembered the photographs.
“You were watching me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To make sure Richard didn’t find you first.”
Claire laughed in disbelief.
“You stalked me for years to protect me?”
“I never said I was good at protecting people.”
Eleanor looked down.
“I destroyed your mother’s life.”
“I helped Richard fake her death.”
“I kept her imprisoned for three days.”
“And then?”
“I let her escape.”
Claire froze.
Vanessa had never known that part.
Eleanor continued.
“Anna threatened to expose Richard.”
“He told me he would kill Vanessa if I didn’t cooperate.”
Ethan shook his head.
“You expect us to believe this?”
“No.”
Eleanor looked at him.
“I expect you to believe evidence.”
She pulled a small recorder from her bag.
“I recorded Richard two nights ago.”
Claire stared at it.
“What did he say?”
Eleanor pressed play.
Richard Vale’s voice filled the room.
“If Claire activates Jonathan’s trust, we lose control.”
Eleanor’s recorded voice answered.
“And if I refuse to stop her?”
Richard laughed.
“Then you’ll bury another Bennett.”
Claire went still.
The recording continued.
Then Richard said something worse.
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“Just make sure Ethan never learns what happened to his mother.”
Ethan’s face changed completely.
