Chapter 16 - Fractured Loyalties
While Marcus drafted the legal affidavits that would systematically dismantle Paige’s threat, Ryan and I drove back toward the estate. But as we neared the gates of the Vance property, Ryan’s phone pinged with an alert from our private security team.
"We have a breach," Ryan muttered, checking the live camera feed on his phone.
On the screen, a white delivery van was parked outside the secondary gate of the property. But it wasn't a package delivery. A woman wrapped in an oversized trench coat and dark sunglasses was pacing near the intercom, visibly agitated.
It was Eleanor.
"What is my mother doing here alone?" I frowned, zooming in on the screen. "Paige said they were celebrating together."
"Rats don't celebrate together for long when the ship is sinking," Ryan noted, turning the steering wheel and cutting the headlights as we approached the side driveway. "Let's find out."
We parked in the blind spot behind the perimeter hedge. Ryan signaled the security guards to stay back while we walked up behind the iron gates. Eleanor was clutching a designer handbag against her chest, her fingers trembling as she dialed numbers into her phone, cursing under her breath.
"Eleanor," I called out into the dusk.
My mother spun around, gasping. Her sunglasses slid down her nose, revealing dark circles and eyes bloodshot from sleeplessness and panic. The polished, untouchable socialite had vanished; in her place was a frantic, desperate woman on the brink of collapse.
"Maya!" She rushed to the iron bars, her hands gripping the cold metal. "Open the gate! Let me in! You have to listen to me!"
"Why would I let you in?" I said coldly, keeping my distance. "A few hours ago, your daughter threatened to send me to federal prison for the rest of my life. You were sitting in the car with her while she robbed Grandfather’s cellar."
"It was Paige’s idea! All of it!" Eleanor cried, tears suddenly spilling over her mascara. "She’s insane, Maya! She’s completely lost her mind!"
Ryan folded his arms, entirely unmoved. "You seemed perfectly happy driving the getaway car, Eleanor."
"Because she promised me three million dollars to pay off my debts!" Eleanor sobbed, her voice cracking in the quiet evening air. "She said you were hoarding Grandfather’s money, that you were going to kick me out on the street to starve. But Paige isn't going to negotiate with you, Maya! She lied to you on the phone!"
My eyebrows drew together. "What do you mean she lied?"
Eleanor looked over her shoulder into the dark road, paranoia radiating from every pore. "Paige didn't just find Grandfather’s old Swiss ledgers. She’s meeting with an investor tonight at the St. Regis hotel. A man named Derek Vance—your uncle. The brother Julian disowned thirty years ago!"
A chill shot down my spine. Derek Vance.
I had only heard whispers of my great-uncle Derek. He was the black sheep of the family, a predatory corporate raider who had spent decades trying to orchestrate a hostile takeover of Grandfather’s logistics enterprise. Grandfather had spent half his career keeping Derek at bay.
"Paige isn't trying to extort you to get the trust back," Eleanor whispered, her voice shaking violently. "She’s selling the master client list and Grandfather’s secret supplier contracts to Derek tonight for five million in cash. Derek is going to use those files to short the company’s stock tomorrow morning and force the board to declare bankruptcy! If she does that, Maya, the company will be dismantled by noon tomorrow!"
"And what happens to you, Mother?" I asked coldly. "Why come to me now?"
Eleanor dropped her gaze, a bitter, humiliated sob escaping her throat. "Because... because Paige locked me out of the hotel room. She took my passport, my jewelry, and told me that once she gets the cash from Derek, she’s boarding a private charter to Dubai. She left me with nothing, Maya! Nothing!"
I looked at the woman who had stood on the edge of the pool laughing while I choked on water, the mother who had looked the other way every time Paige abused and humiliated me. Now, cast aside by the monster she had raised, she was crawling back to the daughter she had abandoned.
"You want my help?" I asked, my voice deadly level.
Eleanor nodded frantically, clutching the bars. "Please, Maya. Please!"
May you like
"Then you’re going to help me destroy Paige’s deal tonight," I replied. "And if you step out of line for even a single second, Eleanor... I’ll make sure you share a prison cell with her."
***