Free Web NovelChapter 134: Some truths... the beginning
Eleanor stood by the window, looking out at the gardens. Zara walked toward her, her face tight with anger.
"Are you still acting like this?" Zara asked. "You forget the truth. You seduced the Chairman while he was still a married man."
Eleanor didn’t look upset.
"You have a very short memory, Zara. I met him after you abandoned your home. You left your husband and your life. You ran away with your lover... my own brother, Adrian. Do you remember that?"
Zara opened her mouth to speak, but the words died in her throat. She didn’t know Eleanor knew about her and Adrian.
"So," Eleanor continued. "Don’t talk to me about who is right or wrong. You were the one who broke your own family apart."
At that same time, the chairman pushed open the heavy oak doors and stepped into the grand foyer.
"Zara?" his voice cracked.
The woman turned around slowly. The Chairman felt the air leave his lungs. It really was her.
The woman he had married and divorced. The woman who had fled in the middle of the night with their little son, Andrew, only to be lost in a storm.
"You’re alive," he whispered.
"I am very much alive, Grant," Zara said. "I see the house hasn’t changed much. Still cold."
"Where have you been? I searched for you for years! I thought you were at the bottom of the ocean!"
"You didn’t search for me, you searched for the boy. You wanted your son back. But I made sure you wouldn’t find us. I raised Andrew away from your poison."
"What nonsense are you talking about? We all loved Andrew."
She stepped closer, her eyes scanning his face. "Loved? Well I’m not here for that. Last night, your son came to our house, and kidnapped Andrew."
"Julian... did what?"
"Don’t pretend you don’t know what your son is capable of," Zara replied coldly. "He stormed into my home like a criminal and dragged Andrew away like an animal."
Eleanor’s expression tightened.
The chairman took out his phone and typed a message to his men.
"Why would Julian take Andrew?" he demanded. "What did you do?"
Zara’s laughed a bitter laugh.
"There it is," she said quietly. "Not, what happened. Or, I hope he is safe. But what did you do?"
"My son does not act without reason. And he has no idea who Andrew is."
"Your son," Zara said, stepping closer, her voice dropping, "is dangerously obsessed with a woman called Lyvana. She went missing and he came for my son. Whatever he thinks Andrew has done... he is wrong."
"He will be here soon."
"Good. Because am not leaving without my son. If he is not back by sunset, I will call every news station in this city. I will tell them that the great Chairman Grant’s son is a kidnapper."
"You always did love a scene, Zara. To think it’s been more than two decades and you are still the same."
Zara shrugged.
The chairman turned and left. Eleanor following close behind him. When they got to the bedroom, he slammed the bedroom door shut. Then turned to her, his eyes burning with anger.
"Why didn’t you tell me?" he demanded.
"Tell you what?"
"About Zara and your brother, Adrian!" he shouted. The room felt small with his rage. "The truth about why she really left."
Eleanor sighed and sank onto the edge of the bed.
"Oh God. You heard us." freeweɓnovel.cѳm
"Damn right I heard," Grant snapped. He began to pace back and forth like a caged animal. "For years, I blamed myself. I thought she left because of me. I thought she died because of me. But she left for him? For your own brother?"
Eleanor looked up at him, her face calm. "I didn’t find out until long after we thought she was gone. I only wanted to protect you. Telling you the truth wouldn’t have changed anything."
Grant stopped pacing and glared at her. "I am tired of you keeping secrets from me, and giving me lousy excuses. Wait. Do you know about this girl, Lyvana? The one my son seems to be obsessed with?"
Eleanor nodded slowly. There was no point in denying it.
"Eleanor, Eleanor, Eleanor," the Chairman muttered, rubbing his hand through his hair. "When were you planning on telling me this?"
"In my defense, I only found out a few days ago," Eleanor replied, crossing her arms. "And you know your son. He never takes any woman seriously. I didn’t think it mattered."
He sighed.
"Well, the important thing now is finding Andrew and finding out exactly why Julian decided to kidnap him, in the first place."
"What are you going to do?" Eleanor asked.
"I’m going to find my son," Grant replied, heading for the door. "Both of them."
....
Elsewhere, in a small, dark office, Mr. Carter was shaking. He had always been afraid of Julian, but now he was terrified. After Seraphina escaped, he knew things would only get worse... and he was right.
His contact at the Grant mansion had just told him Zara had arrived there.
That was not the plan.
He quickly dialed Adrian Blackwood’s number. frёeweɓηovel.coɱ
"What is it, Carter?" Adrian asked, picking up.
"Adrian," Carter gasped. "We have a huge problem. Zara is at the Grant mansion right now. Did you know about this?"
"Unfortunately, yes," Adrian replied.
"Adrian, listen to me! That was not the plan!" Carter shouted into the phone. "She was supposed to show up after Julian was dead. That way, the Chairman would take Andrew in with no questions asked. Everything would be clean!"
"I know ok, and I’ve been thinking about it since she informed me last night. But the thing is, Julian has kidnapped Andrew, and the chairman is the only one who can get him back."
"Saving him should be the least of our worries!" Carter hissed, leaning over his desk. "Think about it, Adrian. What happens if Zara finds out the truth? What if she finds out her real son, the real Andrew, died years ago, while in that boarding school?"
There was a heavy silence on the line.
"What if she realizes," Carter continued, his voice trembling, "that we replaced her dead child with a look-alike stranger, and then lied to her all these years? If she finds out we’ve been using a fake Andrew... we are both dead men. And let’s not even talk about what the Chairman will do to us. He’ll bury us alive."
