Chapter 9 - Eleanor's Confession
Charles survived.
Barely.
The brake line had been cut.
Police placed guards outside his hospital room.
Eleanor sat beside him without makeup, jewelry or arrogance.
For the first time, she looked sixty-two.
Sienna entered alone.
Eleanor didn't apologize.
Sienna didn't expect her to.
"You found the ledger," Eleanor said.
Sienna stopped.
"How do you know?"
"Because Margaret always said you would eventually."
"You knew my grandmother."
Eleanor laughed bitterly.
"Your grandmother owned us."
Sienna sat across from her.
"Explain."
Thirty-five years earlier, Richardson Maritime had been close to bankruptcy.
Margaret Carter provided emergency financing.
But the loan contained unusual conditions.
Voting rights.
Asset control.
Confidentiality provisions.
Charles accepted.
The company survived.
Then Margaret began using Richardson vessels to move sealed cargo between international ports.
"What cargo?"
"I never knew."
"You're lying."
"I wish I were."
Eleanor looked toward Charles.
"Your grandmother made us rich. Then she made sure we could never leave."
"Project Meridian?"
Eleanor's eyes widened.
"Where did you hear that?"
"Answer me."
Eleanor lowered her voice.
"Meridian was your father's project."
"What did it do?"
"I don't know."
Sienna stood.
Eleanor grabbed her wrist.
"But I know why your parents' plane crashed."
Sienna froze.
Eleanor's fingers trembled.
"Charles was supposed to be on that plane."
Sienna slowly turned.
"What?"
"Your father called him that morning. Told him not to board."
"Why?"
"Thomas said someone had compromised Meridian."
Sienna could barely breathe.
"And then?"
"The plane went down."
"My parents died."
Eleanor looked directly at her.
"Your mother did."
Sienna felt the room disappear around her.
May you like
Eleanor whispered the rest.
"But Charles saw your father alive six months later."
