Eleanor’s First Lie
Chapter 06 - Eleanor’s First Lie
Eleanor had been twenty-six when Samuel disappeared.
She was Arthur’s daughter and Sterling’s legal counsel.
Ryan asked her to explain the runway footage.
She requested privacy.
Grace refused.
“The truth was hidden from my family in private. It will not be returned that way.”
Eleanor sat across from them in the archive.
Samuel landed safely after discovering someone had altered the prototype’s fuel gauge. He accused Arthur of sabotage.
Arthur denied it.
Eleanor believed her father.
She drafted a temporary agreement placing Samuel’s shares under Sterling management while the dispute was investigated.
Samuel refused to sign.
That night, he left the airstrip with Grace’s mother, Elena Ellis.
Eleanor claimed she never saw them again.
“Then who forged the sale?” Ryan asked.
“My father.”
“And you protected him.”
“I protected the company.”
Grace touched the railing scar on her wrist.
“Companies do not need protection from children who have not been born yet.”
Eleanor admitted she hid Grace’s identity after Samuel vanished. She arranged the adoption through a family attorney, believing Arthur’s enemies might use the child.
“Did my mother agree?”
Eleanor looked away.
Elena had not agreed.
She attempted to contact Samuel’s employees.
Arthur’s security team intercepted her.
Eleanor signed the papers that declared Elena unfit and transferred Grace to another family.
Grace stood.
“You stole my mother from me.”
“I thought I was saving you.”
“No. You were saving the version of your father you needed.”
Eleanor’s confession explained the adoption.
It did not explain the staircase.
Then Detective Ortiz received a call.
Paul Drake had been found alive inside an abandoned hangar near Lake Briar.
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He claimed the person who hired him was not Eleanor.
It was Ryan.
