Chapter 14 - The Second Hostage

Daniel lunged forward.

Eleanor raised one finger.

“Sit down.”

He froze.

On the television, Richard held Margaret inside her own library.

Ethan sat beside her, handcuffed to a chair.

Eleanor had anticipated everything.

“You give me the ledger.”

She looked at me.

“And Daniel gives me every digital copy.”

I almost laughed.

“You really think you can erase all of it?”

“I have erased worse.”

“Samuel?”

“Yes.”

“Charles?”

“Yes.”

The room went silent.

Eleanor realized too late what she had admitted.

Hundreds of guests had heard her.

But she smiled again.

“You think anyone here will testify?”

She looked around the ballroom.

A senator lowered his eyes.

A judge stared at the floor.

That was when I understood the real source of Eleanor’s power.

It was not money.

It was shared guilt.

Almost everyone important in that room had something to lose.

Eleanor turned back to me.

“Give me the ledger.”

I placed it on the table.

Daniel stared at me.

“Grace.”

“Trust me.”

Eleanor opened it.

Her smile vanished.

The pages were blank.

I had brought a replica.

At the same moment, Noah Blake activated the system we had installed hours earlier.

Every screen changed.

Samuel’s documents appeared.

Account numbers.

Payments.

Names.

Photographs.

Audio recordings.

Then Eleanor’s confession replayed.

“I have erased worse.”

“Samuel?”

“Yes.”

“Charles?”

“Yes.”

Phones began ringing throughout the ballroom.

Reporters outside had received the same files.

Federal servers had received them.

News organizations had received them.

Every guest suddenly understood.

The secret was public.

Eleanor slapped me.

I did not move.

“You stupid woman.”

“No.”

I wiped blood from my lip.

“I’m the maid you thought nobody would believe.”

Sirens filled the street.

Eleanor looked toward her guards.

“Get me out.”

Half of them moved.

The other half dropped their weapons.

Peter smiled sadly.

“I bought their loyalty before we came.”

Eleanor stared at her son.

“You betrayed me.”

Peter shook his head.

“I finally stopped betraying everyone else.”

Then Richard’s voice came from the television.

“Eleanor.”

She turned.

Richard smiled into the camera.

“Plans changed.”

He grabbed Margaret.

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And fired at the screen.

The video went black.