Chapter 6 - The Sister Who Chose a Side
Sloane reached for Elena’s phone.
Elena stepped backward.
Ava moved between them.
“Do not touch her.”
“You planned this,” Sloane said.
“No,” Elena replied. “You did.”
Marissa sank into a chair.
“Grant will destroy us.”
Ava looked at her.
“Grant has already decided you are disposable.”
“That is not true.”
“Then ask why the payments came through a shell company instead of Mercer Holdings. Ask why your contracts describe you as independent consultants. Ask why every instruction came verbally.”
Sloane’s confidence faltered.
Elena placed the phone on the kitchen island.
“You were being paid to isolate me. When this becomes public, Grant will claim you acted alone.”
Marissa looked toward her sister.
Sloane said nothing.
Ava retrieved her own phone and sent the recording to Julian.
Within seconds, a confirmation appeared.
Copy received.
Ava turned the screen toward Sloane.
“You cannot erase it.”
Sloane’s face hardened.
“You think a recording will save Elena? Grant has medical statements. Witnesses. Photographs of her breaking things.”
“He broke them,” Elena said.
“Can you prove that?”
“Not yet.”
Sloane smiled again.
“Then nothing has changed.”
She left the kitchen.
Marissa remained seated.
Elena looked at her.
“Why did you help him?”
Marissa wiped her eyes.
“At first, I thought you were trying to control Grant through the company. He said your father humiliated him. He said you never treated him like an equal.”
“And later?”
“Later I knew he was lying.”
“But you continued.”
Marissa nodded.
“The money became larger. Then Victor sent copies of the agreements we had signed. He said if we stopped cooperating, he would report us for fraud.”
Ava sat across from her.
“What instructions came from Victor?”
“Most of them were delivered through voice messages that disappeared after we listened.”
“Do you remember what he said?”
“He wanted Elena kept away from board members. He told Sloane to create incidents that made her look unstable.”
Elena’s voice tightened.
“Create incidents?”
“The charity gala. The broken sculpture. The medication bottle they placed in your bathroom.”
Elena stared at her.
Grant had used that bottle to convince a private physician that she was taking sedatives without supervision. Elena had denied ever seeing it, but Sloane claimed she found it hidden in a drawer.
“Who placed it there?”
“Sloane.”
Ava glanced toward the hallway where Sloane had disappeared.
“Will she cooperate?”
“No. She believes Grant will still protect her.”
“And you?”
Marissa looked at Elena.
“I will tell Julian everything.”
Elena wanted to accept the offer. She also remembered Marissa standing beside Grant after every false accident, repeating his version until Elena questioned her own memory.
“You do not get forgiveness because you became frightened of the same man you helped,” Elena said.
“I know.”
“You will speak because it is the truth, not because you expect me to save you.”
“I understand.”
Ava called Julian.
He instructed them to leave the estate separately and meet him at a secure office near the Hartwell Grand headquarters.
Marissa agreed.
Before they could move, Grant’s voice sounded through the house.
“Ava?”
He was approaching the kitchen.
Marissa panicked.
“He cannot know.”
Elena took the recording phone and placed it inside a cabinet.
Ava poured herself another glass of wine.
Marissa stood at the sink.
Grant entered with Sloane behind him.
His eyes moved across the room.
“What is happening?”
Ava lifted the wine.
“Your sister was explaining her consulting career.”
Grant looked at Marissa.
Sloane whispered something in his ear.
His expression changed.
“Elena, give me your phone.”
“It is upstairs.”
“Then we will go upstairs.”
“No.”
Grant stepped closer.
Ava watched his hand.
“So this is how you speak to her when guests are not around.”
Grant ignored her.
“Elena, I am asking you once.”
“And I answered.”
Sloane walked to the cabinet.
Marissa moved without warning and blocked her.
Everyone stared at her.
Marissa’s voice shook.
“Leave it.”
Grant looked at his younger sister as if seeing her clearly for the first time.
“What did you tell them?”
“Nothing.”
Sloane opened the cabinet and found Elena’s phone.
Grant took it.
He saw the recording screen.
For several seconds, the only sound was the refrigerator humming behind them.
Then Grant calmly deleted the file.
Ava did not react.
Elena did not react.
Grant looked at both twins.
“You thought this would be enough?”
Elena met his eyes.
“No.”
Ava raised her own phone.
“The recording was delivered forty-three seconds ago.”
Grant’s control broke.
He threw Elena’s phone against the wall.
Marissa flinched.
Ava did not.
Grant pointed toward the estate doors.
“Get out.”
Ava took Elena’s hand.
“We are both leaving.”
Grant stepped in front of Elena.
“My wife stays.”
Elena looked at the man she had once trusted with every part of her life.
May you like
Then she removed her wedding ring and placed it on the kitchen island.
“Not anymore.”
