Chapter 7 - THE HOUSEKEEPER THEY TRIED TO DESTROY
Victor Sloane didn't just want our money.
He wanted Eleanor gone.
The accusations appeared the following morning.
A formal complaint alleged that she'd manipulated the Cavanaugh sons, accessed confidential documents, and persuaded us to distrust our father.
By noon, a local gossip site had published her photograph.
HOUSEKEEPER ACCUSED OF TARGETING BILLIONAIRE FAMILY.
I stared at the headline.
My stomach turned.
Eleanor had spent six months making sure Finn ate breakfast.
Helping Theo apply for a technical training program.
Encouraging Adrian to stop threatening employees.
And teaching me that anger wasn't the same thing as strength.
Now strangers were calling her a thief.
I slammed my phone onto the kitchen counter.
“This is insane.”
Eleanor looked up from a pot of soup.
“Mason.”
“They're lying about you.”
“I know.”
“Aren't you angry?”
She stirred the soup.
“Very.”
I stared.
“Then why aren't you doing anything?”
She set down the spoon.
“Because shouting at people who want me frightened won't solve it.”
Her voice softened.
“I've hired a lawyer. I've preserved my records. And I'm cooperating with investigators.”
I looked down.
For the first time, I understood what real courage looked like.
It wasn't breaking things.
It was being terrified and refusing to let fear decide what you did next.
Then Adrian entered.
He looked furious.
“I can make the article disappear.”
Eleanor shook her head.
“No.”
He stared.
“What?”
“I don't want you threatening a journalist.”
“I didn't say—”
“You were thinking it.”
Theo laughed from the doorway.
“She's got you.”
Adrian glared at him.
But Eleanor continued.
“Use the legal process. Provide evidence. Don't become the kind of man Victor expects you to be.”
Adrian looked away.
Then slowly nodded.
“Fine.”
I almost smiled.
Six months earlier, he would have screamed.
Now he was listening.
That afternoon, Detective Morgan uncovered a payment from Victor's consulting company to the agency that had placed Eleanor at Fairhaven Manor.
My stomach tightened.
“Victor hired her?”
Eleanor looked equally shocked.
“I applied through a household staffing agency.”
The detective nodded.
“Victor's office approved your placement.”
I stared.
“Why would he bring Eleanor into the house if her father knew about the fraud?”
Rebecca considered the question.
“Perhaps he wanted to keep her close.”
Eleanor went still.
Then whispered, “Or he wanted to find out whether my father left me anything.”
We all looked at her.
“My father kept a small storage unit.”
My heart pounded.
“Where?”
“Outside Fairhaven.”
“What's inside?”
She hesitated.
“Mostly old books and family photographs. I haven't been there in years.”
Detective Morgan arranged for the unit to be examined with Eleanor's consent.
The search revealed several boxes.
Tax records.
Letters.
Old photographs.
Then an investigator found a sealed envelope beneath a wooden drawer.
It was addressed to Caroline Cavanaugh.
My mother.
Inside was a handwritten note from Thomas Hargrove.
CAROLINE, THE MUSIC BOX IS NOT SAFE IN THE HOUSE.
Beneath it were four words.
THE FIFTH CHILD KNOWS.
I stared at the paper.
Four sons.
May you like
There had only ever been four sons.
So who was the fifth child?
