Chapter 7 - Helen Miller
Grace found her mother before midnight.
Helen was alive.
But her apartment had been destroyed.
Drawers emptied.
Mattress cut open.
Family photographs scattered across the floor.
Helen sat in the kitchen holding a baseball bat.
When Grace entered, she burst into tears.
“You opened the room.”
Grace stopped.
“How do you know?”
Helen closed her eyes.
“Because they came here.”
Adrian stood near the doorway.
Helen immediately recognized him.
“You look exactly like your father.”
Adrian’s expression tightened.
Grace sat opposite her mother.
“No more lies.”
Helen stared at her.
“You were a child.”
“I’m thirty-one.”
“And I have spent twenty-two years trying to keep you alive.”
Grace placed the photograph on the table.
“Were you married to Charles Sinclair?”
Helen nodded.
Grace swallowed the betrayal.
“And Dad knew?”
“Yes.”
“Did Eleanor know?”
Helen looked toward Adrian.
“Yes.”
Grace leaned back.
Vanessa’s words echoed in her mind.
Ask Eleanor why your father was running from this palace.
Helen seemed to read her expression.
“What did Vanessa tell you?”
“That Dad was running from Eleanor.”
Helen’s face changed.
“Vanessa doesn’t know everything.”
“But that part is true?”
Helen said nothing.
Grace stood.
“Mom.”
“Yes.”
The word landed like glass breaking.
“Yes, Thomas left the palace terrified of Eleanor.”
Adrian stepped forward.
“Why?”
Helen looked at him.
“Because your mother had just told him your father knew about the stolen money.”
Adrian went pale.
“My father?”
“Richard Blackwood.”
Helen nodded.
“He wasn’t innocent.”
Grace felt the entire story shift.
Thomas had discovered that Charles Sinclair was stealing money.
But Charles had not acted alone.
Richard Blackwood had authorized part of the operation.
Millions moved through shell companies.
Some money bought political influence.
Some silenced lawsuits.
Some funded private deals.
Thomas planned to expose everything.
Eleanor begged him to wait.
“She said she needed time to protect Adrian.”
Grace looked at Adrian.
“You were involved?”
“I was nineteen.”
Helen continued.
“Richard had used Adrian’s name on corporate documents without telling him.”
Eleanor believed Thomas going public would destroy her son’s life too.
Grace whispered.
“So she stopped Dad.”
“She tried.”
“How?”
Helen looked away.
“She called him to the palace that night.”
Grace’s voice broke.
“And after he left?”
Helen’s fingers tightened around the bat.
“His brakes failed twelve miles later.”
Adrian turned toward the window.
Grace could barely breathe.
“Did Eleanor sabotage the car?”
“No.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Because Thomas called me from the highway.”
Helen’s eyes filled with tears.
“He told me someone was following him.”
Grace’s heart pounded.
“Who?”
Helen stood.
She walked to a kitchen cabinet and removed an old cassette recorder.
“I kept this for twenty-two years.”
She pressed play.
Thomas Miller’s voice crackled through the speaker.
“Helen, if I don’t make it home, listen carefully.”
Static.
May you like
Then Thomas spoke again.
“The man behind me is Martin Vale.”
