Chapter 8 - The Night Luca Told Me the Truth
Margaret stood.
“Eleanor.”
“Sit down.”
Eleanor’s voice carried none of the warmth Blaire remembered.
Margaret obeyed.
Blaire could not move.
Twenty-seven years of memories collided with four years of grief.
“You’re alive.”
Eleanor looked at her.
“I’m sorry.”
Blaire slapped her.
The room went silent.
Eleanor touched her cheek.
“I deserved that.”
“You let me bury you.”
“Yes.”
“You let me have a baby without you.”
Eleanor’s eyes broke.
“Yes.”
Blaire wanted to hug her.
She wanted to scream.
She did neither.
“Why shouldn’t I trust Margaret?”
Eleanor placed a recorder on the table.
“Because Graham wasn’t working alone.”
The recording contained Sebastian’s voice.
And Margaret’s.
Twenty-six years earlier.
Margaret had discovered the fraudulent transfers.
But she had not created them.
She had concealed them to protect Graham, whom she loved.
By the time she understood Graham was willing to kill, Sebastian already suspected both.
Margaret began crying.
“I was twenty-nine.”
Eleanor stared at her.
“You were old enough to know murder was not accounting.”
Margaret admitted everything.
She had helped Graham bury evidence.
Then tried to undo it.
Sebastian died before she could.
“Natural causes?” Luca asked.
Margaret looked at Graham.
“No.”
Graham stood.
Security blocked him.
For the first time, his pleasant mask vanished.
“You have nothing admissible.”
Eleanor smiled sadly.
“That’s why I came back.”
Federal agents entered.
Graham was arrested.
But before they took him away, he looked at Luca.
“You still don’t know why Sebastian chose Eleanor.”
Luca’s jaw tightened.
Graham smiled.
“Ask her who Blaire’s father was.”
Blaire felt the floor disappear beneath her.
That night, she stood on Luca’s terrace.
“Do you know?”
“No.”
“Would you tell me if you did?”
“Yes.”
She believed him.
That frightened her.
“Why aren’t you married?”
The question surprised him.
“That’s a sudden change of subject.”
“I’m tired of everyone knowing things about me.”
He leaned against the railing.
“I was engaged once.”
“What happened?”
“She loved being Luca Sterling more than she loved Luca.”
Blaire understood.
“Is that why you wanted me to pretend to sleep on you?”
“Partly.”
“What was the other part?”
He looked at her.
“I wanted to know what it felt like.”
“What?”
“To have someone trust me enough to sleep.”
Her breath caught.
He stepped closer.
Not touching.
“Blaire, there’s something else.”
“What?”
“I knew Eleanor was alive before the flight.”
Her face hardened.
“How long?”
“Three days.”
“You lied again.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“She made me promise.”
“Everyone keeps protecting me with lies.”
“I know.”
“No. You don’t.”
She walked away.
Luca did not follow.
In the bedroom, Fiona was asleep.
Blaire sat beside her.
Then Fiona opened her eyes.
“Mommy?”
“Yes?”
“Mr. Luca is sad.”
“He’ll be okay.”
“Are we leaving?”
Blaire looked toward the door.
“I don’t know.”
Fiona hugged Bunny.
“I like him.”
Blaire kissed her forehead.
“That makes two of us.”
She realized what she had said only after Fiona fell asleep again.
At 1:00 a.m., someone slipped an envelope beneath the apartment door.
No security alarm.
No camera alert.
Inside was a photograph of Sebastian Sterling.
Beside him stood Eleanor.
Eleanor was pregnant.
On the back:
BLAIRE DESERVES TO KNOW WHICH STERLING SHE BELONGS TO.
Blaire stared at the handwriting.
Then someone knocked three times.
Her mother’s voice came from outside.
“Blaire, don’t open the door.”
May you like
A second voice answered from the hallway.
“Too late.”
