Chapter 14 - ELEANOR'S LAST YEAR
Richard survived.
Nathan made sure he received medical treatment.
Then he had him locked inside a secure private facility under guard.
Not out of mercy.
Nathan wanted answers.
Samuel sat in Eleanor’s old library.
The housekeeper he remembered had become the daughter he had abandoned.
The little boy he once knew had become the man controlling the empire he had helped design.
Samuel seemed overwhelmed by both.
Nathan was not interested in sentiment.
“Was my mother poisoned?”
Samuel nodded.
Nathan’s face remained still.
“By whom?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I know what was used.”
“I know when it began.”
“I know why.”
“But I never proved who administered it.”
Nathan’s hands tightened.
“Why?”
“Because Eleanor discovered somebody was transferring Whitmore assets into Rainer-controlled companies.”
Victoria whispered.
“My transfers.”
Samuel looked at her.
“No.”
“Those began recently.”
“The first transfers began seven years ago.”
Nathan looked at Margaret.
Seven years.
The exact year Margaret began working in his home.
Margaret realized it too.
“My hiring.”
Samuel nodded.
“Eleanor placed you here because she knew someone inside the household and company structure was compromised.”
Margaret whispered.
“She was using me?”
“She was protecting Nathan.”
Nathan stood.
“And she never told me.”
Samuel gave him a sad look.
“She knew you would confront the enemy directly.”
“She needed someone who would watch quietly.”
Margaret.
The housekeeper.
The woman everyone ignored.
The woman Victoria called just staff.
Eleanor had chosen the one person powerful men never noticed.
Nathan suddenly understood his mother’s genius.
“Did Margaret find anything?”
“Not before Eleanor died.”
Margaret looked sick.
“I failed her.”
“No.”
Samuel shook his head.
“She died before she could tell you what to search for.”
Nathan paced.
“Who had access to my mother during her final year?”
Margaret answered.
“Doctors.”
“Nurses.”
“Family.”
“Richard.”
“Michael.”
Nathan stopped.
“Victoria?”
“No.”
Samuel looked toward Nathan.
“There was someone else.”
“Who?”
Samuel hesitated.
“Your brother.”
Nathan froze.
Daniel.
His younger brother.
The brother living in London.
The brother who had visited Eleanor almost every weekend during her last year.
Nathan shook his head.
“No.”
Samuel remained silent.
Nathan called Daniel.
No answer.
Aaron checked travel records.
Daniel Whitmore had landed in Charlotte four hours earlier.
Nobody had informed Nathan.
His phone rang.
Daniel.
Nathan answered.
“Where are you?”
Daniel laughed softly.
“That’s not how brothers usually say hello.”
“Where are you?”
A pause.
Then Daniel replied.
“Mother’s mausoleum.”
Nathan drove there alone.
Daniel stood inside holding a bouquet of white roses.
Forty years old.
Same eyes as Nathan.
Different smile.
Nathan entered.
“Did you poison her?”
Daniel looked genuinely shocked.
Then furious.
“Who told you that?”
“Answer me.”
“No.”
Daniel threw the flowers down.
“I spent a year trying to save her.”
Nathan studied him.
“Why are you in Charlotte?”
Daniel looked at Eleanor’s tomb.
“Because someone mailed me this.”
He handed Nathan a photograph.
It showed Eleanor in a hospital bed.
Beside her stood Margaret.
Behind Margaret, almost hidden in a mirror, was a figure wearing medical gloves.
Nathan looked closer.
May you like
Victoria’s mother.
Helen Caldwell.
