It was the smile of a man who believed he’d already won.
***
When I returned to my cell, I finally broke down.
I sat on the narrow bed, remembering every moment I’d mistaken Silas’s attention for love.
The anniversary dinners.
The handwritten notes.
The promises.
My father had warned me to be careful.
I’d defended Silas every time.
Now Arthur was gone, and the man I’d trusted most was helping send me to prison.
I cried until I had no tears left.
Then I stood and washed my face.
I couldn’t undo what had happened.
But I could refuse to surrender.
I pressed the intercom button.
“I need my attorney.”
Thirty minutes later, Harrison Hayes arrived at the detention center.
He had represented my family for nearly fifteen years.
The moment he sat across from me, I could tell something terrible had happened.
“Eleanor, you need to see these.”
He pressed photographs against the visitor-room glass.
The first showed my twenty-five-million-dollar Hamptons mansion.
Movers were carrying my clothes and personal possessions outside in black bags.
The second showed my living room.
My father’s portrait had been removed.
Party decorations hung across the walls.
Silas and Beatrice were drinking champagne.
Then Harrison showed me the third photograph.
A young blonde woman stood beside Silas, smiling.
She was pregnant.
And she was wearing my favorite silk pajamas.
“Who is that?” I asked.
Harrison hesitated.
“Her name is Khloe. She’s been involved with Silas for several years.”
I stared at the photograph.
Beatrice stood beside them, holding an emerald necklace.
My father had given me that necklace on my eighteenth birthday.
They hadn’t even waited for my trial to finish.
They’d moved into my home and begun dividing my belongings.
“What about the company?” I asked.
Harrison looked even more concerned.
“Silas has presented authorization documents that give him temporary control of Vance Holdings. We believe some are fraudulent.”
“How much damage has he done?”
“He’s preparing a one-and-a-half-billion-dollar acquisition involving a shell company in the Cayman Islands.”
My hands went cold.
“He’s transferring the company’s money overseas.”
“That’s what we suspect.”
I closed my eyes.
Silas had never loved me.
He’d wanted access to my father’s fortune from the beginning.
I opened my eyes again.
“Harrison, listen carefully.”
***
I gave my attorney three instructions.
First, challenge Silas’s authority over the company and seek immediate protection for my personal assets.
Second, cancel his access to every account and credit facility registered in my name.
Third, cooperate with federal financial investigators to trace the proposed Cayman Islands transaction.
Harrison took notes.
“Anything else?”
“Yes. Don’t let Silas know how much we’ve uncovered.”
He frowned.
“Why?”
“Because he believes I’m powerless. The more confident he becomes, the more mistakes he’ll make.”
Harrison studied me.
“Eleanor, that man is dangerous.”
“I know.”
See more on the next page
