Chapter 4 - THE LETTER MY SISTER LEFT BEHIND
“Who was waiting for Eleanor?”
Alexander asked the question without looking away from Julian.
Victoria's voice shook.
“Two security vehicles were parked outside the east entrance. Eleanor saw them before she reached the gate.”
Julian folded his arms.
“This is getting ridiculous.”
“Then explain the vehicles,” Alexander said.
“We protect this property.”
“From my wife?”
“From anyone attempting to exploit her memory.”
I watched Alexander's face.
For the first time, the man everyone called Washington's most dangerous crime boss looked helpless.
He had money, armed guards, properties, politicians who answered his calls.
But he couldn't explain why the woman he loved had spent two years hiding from his own household.
Victoria removed a folded piece of paper from her bag.
“Eleanor gave this to me three nights ago. I found her beside the service entrance after she escaped the men at the gate.”
Alexander reached for it.
Victoria pulled it back.
“She asked me to give it to Claire.”
“Me?”
“She said you'd understand something Alexander wouldn't.”
I almost laughed.
I didn't even know I had a sister.
How could I understand her?
But Victoria placed the paper in my hand.
It was a page torn from a small notebook.
The handwriting was careful.
Claire,
If you're reading this, I'm sorry we haven't met.
I have spent years trying to find a way to come home without putting you in danger.
Please don't believe that everyone who frightened me was cruel.
Some were simply afraid to see what was happening.
Ask Alexander about the children.
And please, if you meet Oliver before I do, hold him for a minute.
He likes being carried against your heart.
I pressed the paper against my chest.
Oliver rested his cheek against me.
His breathing was warm and even.
“Why would she write that?” I asked.
Victoria swallowed.
“Because she knew you were being assigned to serve tonight.”
My head snapped up.
“I was hired this morning.”
“Julian arranged it.”
Every face turned toward him.
Julian didn't deny knowing the staffing company.
Alexander moved toward his cousin.
“Why would you bring Claire into my wedding?”
“I didn't choose individual waitresses.”
Victoria shook her head.
“You personally requested someone named Claire Bennett.”
Julian gave a tired sigh.
“Do you understand how easily staffing records can be manipulated?”
“Then let us see the original request,” I said.
He looked at me as if I'd forgotten my place.
“You're a waitress.”
“Yes,” I answered. “And waitresses hear things people assume don't matter.”
A few guests exchanged uncomfortable glances.
Alexander turned back toward Victoria.
“What children did Eleanor mean?”
She closed her eyes.
“Children who passed through the Crown Foundation.”
The foundation was famous across Washington.
It funded hospitals, foster care programs, scholarships, and emergency housing.
My mother had once thrown away a donation brochure bearing its golden dragon emblem.
I remembered asking why.
She'd said, Sometimes the people offering help are the ones who take the most.
Victoria continued.
“Eleanor discovered irregularities in the foundation's placement records. Children listed as transferred to approved homes had been moved without proper court authorization.”
Alexander's expression hardened.
“I ordered an audit.”
“You signed a closure order,” Victoria corrected.
“After Julian told me the discrepancies had been resolved.”
“You never asked to see the families.”
Alexander looked away.
That silence told me more than his words could have.
He had trusted someone else to decide which children mattered.
Eleanor hadn't.
“Two years ago,” Victoria said, “Eleanor was preparing to take those records to investigators.”
“The night of the accident?” Alexander asked.
Victoria nodded.
“She was carrying copies in her car.”
“And then?”
“The car went off the bridge. She survived, but the people looking for her believed she was still inside when it caught fire.”
Alexander leaned against a chair.
“Why didn't she contact me afterward?”
Victoria looked almost sorry for him.
“She tried.”
He stared at her.
“Twice.”
Julian turned toward the guards.
“Enough.”
But Victoria kept speaking.
“The first time, someone told her you wouldn't believe her. The second time, she received a formal warning ordering her to stay away from the estate.”
Alexander went still.
“I authorized a warning against a woman claiming to be Eleanor.”
“She was Eleanor.”
He lowered his eyes.
“I thought someone was exploiting my grief.”
Then he looked at Julian.
“Because that's what you told me.”
Julian's silence was answer enough.
Victoria removed one final sheet from the folded notebook page.
It was a photocopy of a foundation authorization.
Seven children.
Seven placements marked complete.
And beneath them was Alexander Whitmore's unmistakable signature.
I looked at him.
“Did you sign this?”
His face turned gray.
“Yes.”
My voice broke.
“Then tell me something, Alexander.”
May you like
He raised his eyes.
“Did my sister nearly die because you refused to listen to her?”
