Chapter 2 - What Eleanor Remembered
“Stop.”
Nathaniel's voice cut through the corridor.
The woman froze.
Marcus stepped between her and Eleanor's room.
She wore hospital scrubs, but Rose recognized her face.
Celeste Warren.
Victoria's personal assistant.
“What are you doing here?” Nathaniel asked.
Celeste looked terrified.
“Victoria sent me.”
Nathaniel's expression hardened.
“For what?”
Celeste opened her palm.
The pearl charm lay there.
“I found this.”
Rose stared.
“Where?”
“On the rooftop.”
“Why bring it here?” Marcus asked.
Celeste hesitated.
That hesitation told Rose more than any answer.
Nathaniel stepped closer.
“Celeste.”
“I thought Eleanor would want it.”
“You changed into hospital clothing to return jewelry?”
Celeste looked down at herself.
“These aren't mine.”
“No kidding.”
“I spilled champagne on my dress. One of the staff gave me something temporary.”
Marcus immediately called hospital security.
Celeste protested.
Nathaniel didn't care.
“Where did you find the charm?”
“Near the railing.”
“Before or after the terrace was cleaned?”
“Before.”
Rose looked at Nathaniel.
Something wasn't right.
“If she found it before,” Rose said, “why wasn't it with the bracelet?”
Celeste's face tightened.
Nathaniel noticed.
“Answer her.”
“I don't know.”
Marcus took the charm using a tissue.
“Don't touch anything else.”
Celeste suddenly looked at Rose.
“You're making this worse.”
Rose blinked.
“Me?”
“You don't understand what's happening.”
“Then explain it.”
Celeste said nothing.
Nathaniel stepped closer.
“What don't we understand?”
Celeste looked toward Eleanor's hospital room.
Then toward the elevators.
“I need to leave.”
“No.”
“You can't keep me here.”
“No,” Nathaniel said. “But hospital security can ask why you're wearing employee clothing without authorization.”
That stopped her.
Minutes later, Celeste was escorted away.
Nathaniel entered his mother's room with Rose.
Eleanor looked fragile beneath white blankets.
But her eyes were alert.
“Rose.”
Rose sat beside her.
“You scared ten years off my life.”
Eleanor smiled faintly.
“Only ten?”
Rose laughed despite herself.
Nathaniel pulled up another chair.
“Mom, you don't have to talk.”
“I do.”
“Not tonight.”
“Especially tonight.”
She looked at Rose.
“I argued with Victoria.”
Rose stayed quiet.
“About what?”
Eleanor looked at Nathaniel.
“Money.”
Nathaniel frowned.
“What money?”
“Your father's trust.”
Nathaniel went still.
Rose knew Nathaniel's father, Jonathan Callaway, had died six years earlier.
She knew nothing about a trust.
Eleanor continued.
“Victoria asked me to sign something yesterday.”
“What?”
“An amendment.”
“To Dad's trust?”
“Yes.”
Nathaniel stood.
“Why would Victoria have anything to do with Dad's trust?”
“Because your marriage changes the beneficiary structure.”
Nathaniel stared at her.
Eleanor closed her eyes.
“Your father worried about this.”
“About Victoria?”
“Not Victoria specifically. Marriage.”
Nathaniel paced once.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because you were happy.”
“Mom.”
“I didn't want your wedding to become a financial negotiation.”
Rose quietly moved to leave.
Eleanor caught her hand.
“Stay.”
Rose sat again.
Eleanor looked at Nathaniel.
“The amendment Victoria brought me would have transferred temporary control of a family holding company if you became incapacitated.”
“To her?”
“Yes.”
Nathaniel's face emptied.
“Did you sign it?”
“No.”
“What happened on the rooftop?”
Eleanor's breathing changed.
“I confronted her.”
“About the document?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“She said I misunderstood.”
Nathaniel leaned forward.
“Then what?”
“I told her I would have our lawyers review everything Monday.”
Eleanor stared toward the window.
“She grabbed my wrist.”
Rose looked at the bracelet.
“Hard?”
“Hard enough to break that.”
Nathaniel swallowed.
“Did she push you?”
Silence.
Eleanor closed her eyes.
“I don't know.”
Rose could see how much that answer hurt him.
“I turned away from her. She grabbed me. I pulled back.”
“So you may have lost your balance.”
“Yes.”
“Or she may have—”
“I don't know, Nathaniel.”
He stopped.
Eleanor opened her eyes.
“But I remember what she said.”
Nathaniel waited.
“She said, ‘Your son will never find out what his father did.’”
Nathaniel stared at her.
“What my father did?”
“Yes.”
“That doesn't make sense.”
“I know.”
Rose thought about Victoria's warning.
Destroy this entire family.
Not marriage.
Family.
“Mr. Callaway,” Rose said carefully.
Nathaniel looked at her.
“What if the trust isn't what Victoria was afraid you'd discover?”
His eyes narrowed.
Before he could answer, Marcus entered.
“We recovered a backup.”
Nathaniel stood.
“Of the footage?”
“Part of it.”
Marcus placed a tablet on the table.
“The rooftop system uploads low-resolution motion snapshots to a secondary server every three seconds.”
“Show me.”
Marcus opened the files.
The first image showed Eleanor and Victoria near the railing.
The second showed Victoria reaching toward Eleanor.
The third was corrupted.
The fourth showed Rose running.
Nathaniel stared.
“That's it?”
“There are two more.”
Marcus swiped.
One showed Victoria's face.
She wasn't angry.
She looked terrified.
The final image showed something stranger.
A man's reflection in the glass doors.
He stood inside the penthouse.
Watching.
Rose leaned closer.
Nathaniel whispered, “Who is that?”
Marcus enlarged the image.
The resolution broke apart.
But one detail remained visible.
A silver walking cane.
Eleanor made a sound.
Everyone turned.
She was staring at the image.
Her face had lost all color.
“Mom?”
Eleanor pointed toward the screen.
Nathaniel moved closer.
“You know him?”
Eleanor's lips trembled.
“That cane.”
“What about it?”
“I bought it.”
Nathaniel stared at her.
“For who?”
Eleanor looked at her son.
“For your father.”
Nobody moved.
Jonathan Callaway had been dead for six years.
Marcus checked the timestamp.
The image had been captured seventeen seconds before Eleanor nearly went over the railing.
Rose looked toward the hospital door.
Someone passed outside.
Then stopped.
A shadow appeared beneath the door.
The handle slowly turned.
And a man's voice said Eleanor's name.
May you like
“Ellie.”
Eleanor screamed.
