Chapter 4 - The Boarding School Trap
Ten minutes later, Eleanor Vale walked into the dining room.
She leaned heavily on her gold-handled cane.
Despite her age, her eyes were sharp, cold, and calculated.
She looked at Evelyn in the maid uniform, then at the broken engagement dinner, and sighed with deep irritation.
“Dominic,” Eleanor said, her voice smooth and aristocratic.
“Why have you dismissed our guests over a kitchen maid’s theatrical performance?”
“Did you forge my signature to send my son to New York, Mother?” Dominic asked.
His voice was deceptively calm.
Eleanor didn't flinch.
She walked to the head of the table and sat down.
“Noah is an impediment to the Vale legacy.”
“He is weak, he doesn't speak, and he clings to the memory of a woman who was too fragile for this life.”
“Bianca offers you an empire.”
“A true partner.”
“The boy needs to be hardened, away from this house.”
“And Marissa?” Dominic stepped closer to his mother.
His hands trembled with a rage he had never directed at her before.
“Did she die because she knew too much about the Sterlings?”
Eleanor looked at Bianca.
A brief flash of silent communication passed between the two women.
“Marissa was reckless.”
“She wanted to play detective in a man’s world.”
“Her car went off the road because she was careless, Dominic.”
“Nothing more.”
“That's the lie you told him, Eleanor,” Evelyn interrupted.
She gently set Noah down behind her.
“But you forgot that Marissa kept a digital backup.”
“And she didn't leave it in a safe or a bank box.”
“She hid it inside Noah’s stuffed lion three years ago.”
Everyone’s eyes immediately traveled to the grand staircase.
The stuffed lion still lay on the bottom step, forgotten during the chaos.
Bianca lunged for the stairs.
But Victor moved instantly, blocking her path with his massive frame.
“Step back, Miss Sterling,” he said coldly.
Dominic walked over to the stairs.
May you like
He picked up the faded toy and felt along the seams.
His fingers brushed against a hard, rectangular shape sewn deep inside the lion's stomach.
