Chapter 16 - The Hospital
Eleanor woke to white ceiling tiles and Harrison asleep in a chair beside her bed.
For one frightened second, she thought she had become Thomas.
Then the monitor beeped, Harrison opened his eyes, and the fear passed.
“Mom.”
“I’m fine.”
“You fainted.”
“I sat down quickly.”
“You were on the floor.”
“Details.”
He almost laughed.
The doctor called it exhaustion, dehydration, and stress. Her heart was sound. Her pride less so.
Grant arrived with coffee. Daniel came twenty minutes later carrying files. Sloan did not come.
Eleanor noticed.
Harrison noticed her noticing.
“She gave me evidence against Richard,” he said.
Eleanor listened while he explained the second memory card and the plan to make her look incompetent.
For the first time since the birthday party, Eleanor’s anger became clean and simple.
Not explosive.
Focused.
“She moved my things.”
“Yes.”
“The blue earrings.”
“Yes.”
“My appointment book.”
“Yes.”
“The duplicate check to the gardener.”
“Yes.”
Eleanor stared at the blanket.
“I made an appointment with a neurologist because of her.”
Harrison’s face folded.
“I’m sorry.”
“You didn’t know.”
“I should have.”
She looked at him.
“That sentence has ruined enough people in this family.”
He frowned.
“Your father should have known better. I should have known Grant was telling the truth. Sloan should have known where her loyalty belonged. We keep using hindsight like a weapon.”
Harrison sat back.
“What do we do now?”
“We tell the truth.”
“About everything?”
“Everything.”
That meant Thomas’s cover-up too.
Grant looked at her from the window.
“You know what that will do to the foundation.”
“Yes.”
“It could lose donors.”
“Yes.”
“The building might lose Dad’s name.”
“Yes.”
Eleanor’s voice did not shake.
“Then it loses his name.”
Daniel nodded once.
A nurse entered carrying Eleanor’s personal effects.
Her phone buzzed inside the bag.
Twenty-three missed calls.
The top notification was a news alert.
A video from her birthday party had gone viral.
The headline read:
BILLIONAIRE WIDOW BURNS DAUGHTER-IN-LAW’S HANDBAG AFTER CAKE MELTDOWN.
Eleanor stared at the screen.
May you like
Below it, another alert appeared.
Sloan Mercer has issued a public statement.
