Chapter 2 - FOURTEEN YEARS DEAD
I could not move.
My mother crossed the ballroom slowly.
Guests stepped out of her way.
Some were filming.
Others stared as though they were watching a ghost.
I wanted to run toward her.
I also wanted to scream.
“You’re dead.”
My voice broke.
Eleanor stopped three feet away.
“I know what you were told.”
“I buried you.”
“No.”
Her eyes filled.
“You buried an empty coffin.”
I looked at my father.
He stared at the floor.
“You knew?”
Robert did not answer.
That answer hurt more than words.
“You knew she was alive?”
“For part of it.”
“How long?”
My mother spoke.
“Not here.”
Adrian suddenly moved.
He reached for his phone.
The screen was dead.
Every phone in the room had lost signal.
My mother glanced toward the ceiling.
“I had the mansion network isolated.”
Adrian stared at her.
“You can’t come in here.”
Eleanor almost smiled.
“This house still belongs to my trust.”
The room went silent.
Serena laughed nervously.
“That’s impossible.”
My mother looked at her.
“Is it?”
Adrian stepped forward.
“You died without a valid will.”
“No.”
“I disappeared with a valid one.”
My father moved between them.
“Don’t.”
Adrian looked at him.
“You knew about this?”
Robert’s voice hardened.
“I knew enough to finally stop protecting you.”
Protecting him.
The phrase struck me.
“What does that mean?”
No one answered.
My mother turned toward me.
“Claire, take off your bracelet.”
I looked down.
A heavy gold bracelet covered most of the bruise around my wrist.
Adrian had chosen it that morning.
I understood why now.
My hands trembled as I removed it.
The bruise was visible.
My mother’s face changed.
All softness disappeared.
“How long?”
I looked at Adrian.
“Claire.”
His warning voice.
The one that used to make me immediately become quiet.
Something about seeing my mother alive made it sound smaller.
“How long?”
She asked again.
“Three years.”
My father closed his eyes.
My mother looked at Adrian.
“You had three years.”
“For what?”
“To enjoy being untouchable.”
She reached into her coat and removed a thick envelope.
Then placed it on the ruined cake table.
“Your companies are frozen.”
Adrian laughed.
“No one can freeze Vale Dominion without board authorization.”
Eleanor looked at him.
“I am the board authorization.”
The smile disappeared from his face.
Serena whispered.
“Adrian?”
My mother opened the envelope.
Inside were ownership certificates.
Not copies.
Originals.
Vale Dominion had been built using capital from a holding company named EHB Trust.
I recognized the initials.
Eleanor Hayes Bennett.
My mother’s maiden name.
Adrian stared at the documents.
“You’re lying.”
“Then call your attorney.”
His phone remained dead.
My mother looked toward the unlocked doors.
“Or leave.”
No one moved.
Then a voice came from behind us.
“I wouldn’t leave yet.”
A man in a gray suit entered.
I recognized him from television.
Federal prosecutor Daniel Reed.
May you like
And suddenly my birthday party stopped being a family confrontation.
It became an investigation.
