Chapter 6 - Midnight Confessions
The grandfather clock in the dimly lit hallway chimed two o’clock in the morning as Eleanor paced the Turkish rug of her private sitting room. The fire in the hearth had burned down to glowing embers, casting long, dancing shadows across the expensive silk wallpaper. The door clicked open quietly, and Julian slipped inside, locking it immediately behind him.
“Did you talk to Dr. Evans?” Eleanor demanded, walking up to her son and grabbing the lapels of his jacket. “Can the lab results be altered? Can we buy someone off?”
Julian pulled away, running a hand through his styled dark hair, his face pale and slick with nervous sweat.
“I tried, Mother. I called the head of the private pathology lab an hour ago. But it’s no use. Dad set up a dual-authentication protocol with biometric locks. Only his thumbprint and passcode can access the terminal where the data is being processed. If anyone tries to hack it, a silent alarm goes off in his private security room.”
Eleanor slammed her fist against the back of a velvet sofa, her diamond rings clicking sharply against the wood.
“Your father is becoming a liability,” she hissed, her voice venomous. “For thirty years, we kept Caroline quiet. We made sure she disappeared when she threatened to expose the discrepancies in the family trust. I thought we were safe. I thought that fire in the abandoned warehouse finished it once and for all.”
“Well, it didn't,” Julian snapped, his voice rising in panic before he forced himself to whisper. “And now that brat shows up with Caroline’s sapphire ring. How did she even survive? How did she end up with the ring?”
“It doesn’t matter how,” Eleanor said, her eyes narrowing into cold slits as a dark, calculating expression settled over her features. “What matters is what happens at eight o’clock this morning when that DNA report prints out. If Arthur reads those results, he will cut you out of the will completely, hand the entire empire over to that orphan, and start digging into the past. He might even find out what really happened to Caroline.”
Julian swallowed hard, the color draining entirely from his face. “So what do we do? We can’t let her live here. We can’t let her inherit.”
Eleanor walked slowly over to her antique writing desk, unlocking a hidden drawer with a small brass key. She pulled out a plain, unmarked manila folder and tossed it onto the coffee table in front of her son.
“We don’t have to kill her, Julian,” Eleanor said softly, a chilling smile touching the corners of her lips. “We just have to make sure she never makes it to the breakfast table.”
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Julian stared at the folder, his hands trembling as he reached out to touch the edge of the paper. “What’s inside?”
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