Chapter 6 - THE NIGHT ELEANOR NEVER CAME HOME
Ava had spent twenty years believing her mother died in a tragic car accident.
Now the truth was beginning to look like something far darker.
“Victoria was driving?” she asked.
Samuel Bennett nodded.
“Your mother had discovered that Richard was secretly transferring her designs, money, and property into companies controlled by Victoria.”
Niko examined the photograph.
“Why would Eleanor get into Victoria's car?”
“She didn't,” Samuel replied.
Ava looked up sharply.
“What?”
“Eleanor was driving her own vehicle. Victoria was following her.”
Silence filled the SUV.
Samuel continued.
“Your mother was on her way to meet me with copies of the original trust documents.”
“Did she make it?”
“No.”
Ava stared through the window at the passing lights.
She remembered being six years old, waiting on the staircase of the Whitmore mansion.
Richard had told her Mommy was never coming home.
Then, within months, Victoria moved into Eleanor’s bedroom.
Ava closed her eyes.
“Did they kill her?”
Samuel's voice trembled.
“I suspected it, but I never had enough evidence.”
Niko spoke gently.
“We'll establish what happened. We won't rely on suspicion.”
His phone rang.
Dante had received the police report from Eleanor’s accident.
“Boss, there was an independent witness.”
Niko sat straighter.
“Name?”
“Margaret Ellis. Former emergency room nurse. She provided a statement, but it was omitted from the final report.”
“Is she alive?”
“Yes. She lives in Connecticut.”
Ava leaned forward.
“Call her.”
Dante hesitated.
“We already did. She agreed to speak tomorrow morning.”
Niko ended the call.
Ava looked at him.
“I don't want to sleep. I want answers.”
“And you'll get them.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because people who built their lives on this kind of lie usually made more than one mistake.”
At the Moretti residence, Niko arranged a private guest suite and asked his housekeeper to bring Ava tea.
But Ava couldn't rest.
Near two in the morning, she walked downstairs and found Niko in his study.
He was holding an old silver watch.
“Couldn't sleep?” he asked.
“No.”
She noticed the photograph beside him.
Antonio Moretti stood next to Eleanor at a charity event.
“Your father really knew my mother.”
Niko nodded.
“More than I understood when I was younger.”
He placed the watch on the desk.
“Before he died, he asked me to find Eleanor’s daughter and make certain she received what was hers.”
“Why didn't you find me sooner?”
“I tried. Richard controlled every address and contact record. When I finally located you, I couldn't establish what you knew or whether approaching you would put you in danger.”
Ava looked away.
“You could have asked me.”
“I know.”
His admission surprised her.
Then Niko opened a locked drawer.
Inside was another photograph.
Eleanor held six-year-old Ava in her arms.
Standing beside them was Antonio Moretti.
On the back, Antonio had written:
Protect her, Niko. She is the rightful heir.
Ava stared at him.
“Your father knew?”
Niko nodded.
“He knew something else, too.”
May you like
He reached for a yellowed letter.
“Ava, your mother didn't die at the accident scene.”
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