Chapter 9 - The True Beneficiary
Eleanor didn't scream. She didn't flinch. Instead, she took one deliberate step back, positioning herself behind the heavy oak structure of the antique rocking chair, her hand discreetly pressing the panic button installed beneath the armrest.
"You threw away your own life the day you brought that woman into my father’s church," Eleanor said, keeping her gaze locked on Caleb’s wild eyes. "Look at yourself, Caleb. You’re trespassing, you’re armed, and you have nowhere left to run. Federal marshals have an active warrant for your arrest."
"Kane abandoned me!" Caleb snarled, taking a frantic step forward. "He called me a saboteur! The police are raiding my mother’s house! Vanessa ran off with everything left in our safe! I have nothing! But you... you sit here in your palace, carrying the child that was supposed to secure my future!"
"This child was never yours to claim," Eleanor said, her voice dropping into an icy register that mirrored her father’s most ruthless moments. "My father knew what you were planning before we were even married, Caleb."
Caleb paused, a twitch developing beneath his left eye. "What are you talking about?"
"Do you really think it was an accident that Arthur Vance gave you that promotion three years ago?" Eleanor asked, keeping him talking as she heard the faint, rapid vibrations of heavy footsteps echoing up the outer stairwell. "He found out who your real father was. He knew you were the illegitimate son of Julian Kane."
Caleb froze, the iron poker lowering an inch. "How... how did he know that?"
"My father knew everything," Eleanor said coldly. "He let you into this company to watch Kane’s moves in real time. He let you steal those funds because every single transfer was documented, tracked, and used to build an ironclad RICO case against Kane’s entire syndicate. You weren't a mastermind, Caleb. You were bait."
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Caleb’s face twisted in horror and humiliation. The realization that he had never been in control—that Arthur Vance had played him like a cheap pawn from the very beginning—shattered the last shred of his sanity.
With an enraged roar, he raised the iron poker and lunged forward. "I'll kill you!"
