Chapter 13 - Unmasking the Handler
I didn't confront Marcus that night. I played the long game, just as I had always done.
The next morning, I drove down to the Central Women’s Detention Facility. I sat in a cold, concrete visitation room separated by reinforced glass.
Eleanor was brought in, wearing an orange jumpsuit. Her hair was messy, her skin pale, and the illusion of her wealthy, arrogant persona had been completely shattered.
She glared at me as she picked up the intercom phone. "Came to gloat, Victoria? Came to laugh at your poor mother?"
"You're not my mother, Eleanor," I said through the receiver. "And I didn't come to gloat. I came to offer you a deal."
Eleanor scoffed, though a desperate spark flickered in her hollow eyes. "What deal? I’m facing twenty years in federal prison! Julian is crying himself to sleep in county jail! You destroyed us!"
"Julian is facing fifteen years for grand larceny," I replied calmly. "I can speak to the federal prosecutor. I can ensure Julian serves his time in a minimum-security facility and gets released on parole in four years. But only if you tell me the truth about Marcus Sterling."
Eleanor blinked in surprise. "Marcus? What does Marcus have to do with this? He’s your uncle! He’s the one who helped you!"
"Who gave you my adoption papers twenty-five years ago, Eleanor?" I demanded, leaning close to the glass. "Was it Richard Vance? Or was it Marcus?"
Eleanor swallowed hard, looking around nervously before lowering her voice. "It was Marcus. It was always Marcus!"
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My blood ran cold.
"Marcus came to Arthur and me twenty-five years ago," Eleanor confessed, her voice shaking. "He told us Helena was going to be eliminated. He offered us the money to take you far away and raise you as a nobody. He said if you ever found out who you were, the people behind Apex would kill all of us. Marcus wasn't protecting you, Victoria... he was keeping you in a cage so he could control your mother's shares!"
