Chapter 10 - The Sister Selected to Disappear
Owen Price collected their phones, necklaces, watches, and bracelets.
He found the recording devices quickly. Celia crushed the necklace clasp beneath her heel and dropped Natalie’s bracelet into a glass of water.
Eleanor did not appear surprised by their arrival.
Isadora noticed.
“So this dinner was never about the letter,” she said.
“It was partly about the letter,” Eleanor replied. “Truth is most effective when mixed with necessity.”
Natalie looked at her mother. “You brought them here.”
“I brought an opportunity to correct recent mistakes.”
Celia opened the black case. Inside were two prefilled syringes, a passport, a blonde wig, and documents bearing Isadora’s photograph under another name.
Alyssa Vane.
The passport listed a flight departing from a private airport in two hours.
“Where were you sending me?” Isadora asked.
Celia smiled. “Somewhere your instability would finally become believable.”
Eleanor spoke as though explaining a business decision. “You would be discovered after the ceremony in a rehabilitation clinic overseas. Records would show drug dependency, delusions, and voluntary transfer of corporate authority. S. H. Montgomery’s identity would remain uncertain long enough for Helix to assume control.”
“And after that?”
“Perhaps you would recover.”
“Perhaps?” Natalie repeated.
Owen pointed the gun at her. “Stay quiet.”
Natalie ignored him. “Which one of us will not attend?”
Celia looked amused. “You still think it is her.”
The room chilled.
Eleanor turned toward Celia. “That was not the arrangement.”
“The arrangement changed when Natalie struck Adrian and spoke to federal investigators. Isadora remains valuable. Natalie has become a liability.”
Natalie’s face emptied.
For the first time, Eleanor seemed genuinely unprepared.
“You will not touch her.”
Celia’s smile disappeared. “You have forgotten who protects whom.”
Isadora understood then that Eleanor had never controlled South Harbor. She had used its methods, judges, physicians, and accounts, but the network belonged to others. Harrison had joined it. Eleanor had depended on it. Celia served it.
Owen moved behind Natalie and pressed the gun to her shoulder.
Celia lifted one syringe. “A car accident would be simple, but too public after recent events. An overdose in the estate guesthouse is more credible.”
Eleanor stood. “I said no.”
Owen shifted the gun toward her.
“Sit down.”
Eleanor did not.
Isadora watched the distance between them, the position of the silver tray, the candle flames, the heavy linen tablecloth. She had designed surgical robots to move within fractions of a millimeter. Rooms became systems when she was afraid. Every object had weight, reach, and consequence.
She looked at Natalie.
Her sister gave the smallest nod.
Isadora kicked the table upward.
China, glass, and candles crashed toward Owen. Natalie dropped beneath the tablecloth. Eleanor threw hot wax into Celia’s face. The gun fired, shattering a window.
Isadora seized the silver tray and struck Owen’s wrist.
Natalie crawled toward the sideboard, pulled open the lowest drawer, and removed Harrison’s old revolver.
Everyone froze.
Natalie held the weapon with both hands, trembling violently.
“Put it down,” Eleanor said.
“Do not tell me what to do.”
Celia wiped wax from her cheek. “You will not shoot.”
“No,” Natalie said. “But she might.”
She tossed the revolver across the carpet.
Isadora caught it.
Owen lunged.
Isadora fired into the ceiling, and plaster exploded between them.
The sound triggered the estate alarm.
Outside, agents who had been waiting for a distress signal crossed the property line.
Celia moved faster than anyone expected. She grabbed the black case, ran through the broken window onto the terrace, and disappeared into the rain.
Owen followed, leaving blood from his injured wrist across the stone.
Eleanor remained beside the table, breathing hard.
Natalie stared at her. “You were going to let them take Isa.”
“I did not know they planned to kill you.”
“That is your defense?”
“I chose you,” Eleanor said.
Natalie’s expression broke.
“No. You chose what I represented.”
Agents entered the room and secured the weapon. This time, the evidence of armed kidnapping overrode the South Harbor judge’s restrictions. Eleanor was arrested again. Owen was captured near the gate.
Celia escaped.
In the black case, she left one document behind.
It was a seating chart for the Bennett ceremony.
Several names were circled in red, including Lucas, Mara, three federal officials, and Isadora.
Natalie’s name had been crossed out.
At the bottom, Celia had written a message.
May you like
The mother chose one daughter.
The harbor will choose neither.
