Chapter 5 - THE WOMAN MY MOTHER USED TO BE
Eleanor Whitmore was arrested two states away.
Not for kidnapping.
Not yet.
For violating a police order connected to the assault investigation and attempting to flee.
Charles was found with her.
They had more than eighty thousand dollars in cash.
Two passports under different names.
And one-way tickets to Argentina.
My mother refused to speak to me.
Until I sent a message through her attorney.
I heard Alexandra’s recording.
She agreed to see me an hour later.
The county jail interview room smelled like disinfectant.
Eleanor looked smaller without the house around her.
No pearls.
No perfect hair.
No authority.
Just a sixty-year-old woman in institutional clothing staring at the daughter she had spent almost three decades trying to control.
“Why?”
That was all I asked.
She looked at my stitches.
For one second, shame flickered across her face.
Then it disappeared.
“You shouldn’t have come.”
“Why did Alexandra give me to you?”
Eleanor looked toward the camera.
“I want immunity.”
I almost laughed.
“For hitting me?”
“For everything.”
“I don’t control prosecutors.”
“Lillian Vale does.”
“No.”
That answer surprised both of us.
I leaned closer.
“She doesn’t control me.”
Eleanor studied me.
Then smiled bitterly.
“You sound like Alexandra.”
My stomach tightened.
“Tell me.”
She looked down at her hands.
“Your mother discovered Victor Sloane was stealing.”
“How much?”
“Hundreds of millions over years.”
“From the Vale family?”
“From companies, pensions, development funds, investors.”
I stared.
“She planned to expose him.”
“Yes.”
“And you helped her?”
“At first.”
Those two words mattered.
“At first?”
Eleanor inhaled slowly.
“The night you disappeared, Alexandra believed someone was coming to kill her.”
“So she gave me to you.”
“Yes.”
“She told me to leave St. Matthew’s through the service entrance.”
“Then what?”
“I drove.”
“Where?”
“North.”
“With me?”
“Yes.”
“Why fake your death?”
“Because Sloane found us.”
My pulse quickened.
“What happened?”
“He called me.”
“How did he get your number?”
“He had everyone’s number.”
Her mouth tightened.
“He told me your biological father was already dead.”
I froze.
“My father?”
“His name was Nathan Pierce.”
The name meant nothing.
“What happened to him?”
“Ask the Vales.”
“What does that mean?”
Eleanor’s face twisted.
“Your precious biological family wasn’t innocent.”
I gripped the edge of the table.
“Stop playing games.”
“They hated Nathan.”
“Why?”
“He wasn’t rich.”
She laughed softly.
“He was an internal auditor who fell in love with the princess.”
“Alexandra.”
“Yes.”
“They married secretly.”
My head spun.
“So Lillian knew?”
“Eventually.”
“And?”
“She told Alexandra to leave him.”
I swallowed.
“What happened after Sloane called?”
Eleanor looked away.
“He offered me money.”
There it was.
The truth.
“And you took it.”
“I had a baby.”
“You had me.”
“No.”
Her eyes lifted.
“I had Madison.”
I stopped.
“Madison was already born?”
“She was six months old.”
Everything shifted again.
“Charles and I were drowning in debt.”
“So you sold me?”
“No.”
Her voice cracked.
“I saved you.”
“For how long?”
She said nothing.
“How long before saving me became keeping me?”
Still nothing.
“How long before keeping me became getting paid?”
A tear rolled down her face.
I felt no satisfaction.
“I was supposed to disappear with you,” she whispered.
“Sloane offered us protection and money if we kept you hidden.”
“And when I turned thirty?”
Eleanor’s expression changed.
Fear.
“What was supposed to happen on my birthday?”
She shook her head.
“What does final disposition mean?”
“Emily—”
“What was supposed to happen?”
“I never agreed to kill you.”
My entire body went cold.
“You just answered the question.”
“No.”
She reached toward the glass.
“I swear to you.”
I stood.
“Who did?”
Eleanor’s lips trembled.
May you like
Then she gave me the name.
“Charles.”
