Chapter 9
Eleanor Bennett smiled.
It was the same cold, polite smile Evelyn had seen the day they met. But now there was something else behind it. Something dark. Something dangerous.
“Hello, Evelyn. I'm so glad you could come.”
Evelyn took a step back. Her mind was racing.
“You? You sent the letter?”
“Of course I did. Victor was always too clumsy for subtlety. Too… emotional. I needed you to come here. Alone. So we could have a little chat.”
Eleanor gestured with the gun toward a rusted metal chair in the corner of the room.
“Sit.”
Evelyn did not move.
“Where's Adrian?”
“Your husband is fine. For now. I had my people pay him a little visit while you were on your way here. He's unconscious, but alive. If you do exactly what I say, he'll stay that way.”
Evelyn's heart hammered against her ribs. She thought of Adrian, alone in their bed, hurt because of her.
“What do you want?”
Eleanor laughed. It was a cold, cruel sound.
“What do I want? I want what was taken from me. I want my husband back. I want my family's good name back. I want the life I was supposed to have before your father and your mother destroyed everything.”
She took a step closer, the gun still trained on Evelyn's chest.
“You think Victor killed your mother all by himself? You think he killed Thomas Bennett alone? That man couldn't plan a picnic without help. I was the one who gave him the idea. I was the one who told him how to do it. I was the one who made sure there were no loose ends.”
Evelyn stared at her in horror.
“You killed my mother?”
“Margaret was going to expose everything. The embezzlement. The fraud. She was going to take Victor down, and she was going to take Thomas down with him. My husband. The love of my life. I couldn't let that happen. So I told Victor what he needed to do. I introduced him to Mendez and his partner. I made sure the police reports said accident. I made sure everyone believed Margaret was depressed. Unstable.”
Eleanor's eyes gleamed in the lamplight.
“And when Thomas started asking questions? When he started to suspect that something wasn't right? I told Victor he had to be dealt with too. A heart attack brought on by stress. So simple. So believable. And the best part? Everyone blamed Thomas. Everyone thought he was the thief. The embezzler. The villain. While Victor and I got away with everything.”
She paused, tilting her head to one side, studying Evelyn like she was a particularly interesting insect.
“Victor always was a sentimental fool, though. He felt guilty about Margaret. That's why he kept you around instead of just getting rid of you. Said you were the only piece of her he had left. He wanted to control you. To own you. I told him he should have killed you too. But he wouldn't listen. He never listened.”
Evelyn felt sick.
All these years. All this pain. And it had been Eleanor Bennett pulling the strings all along.
The woman who was supposed to be her mother-in-law.
The woman whose son she loved.
“Why are you telling me this?” Evelyn whispered.
“Because I need the journal,” Eleanor said. She gestured at the leather-bound book in Evelyn's arms. “Margaret wrote things in there about me. Things that could still destroy me, even with Victor in prison. I need it. And then I need you to disappear. Just like your mother. Just like Thomas.”
She raised the gun.
“Give me the journal, Evelyn. And I'll make it quick. Painless. I'm not a monster, you know. I just do what needs to be done.”
Evelyn looked at the gun. At Eleanor's cold, determined face. She knew the woman would pull the trigger. She knew she would kill her without a second thought.
But Evelyn was not the same scared little girl she had once been.
She had survived Victor Whitmore. She had survived twelve years of imprisonment and abuse. She had stood up in court and faced her father and told the truth to the world.
She was not going to die here.
Not at the hands of this woman.
“Adrian would never forgive you,” Evelyn said. She slowly backed away, putting a stone pillar between herself and Eleanor. “He would know it was you. He would hunt you down. He would make you pay.”
Eleanor laughed.
“Adrian? My weak, sentimental son? He'll be devastated, of course. But I'll tell him Victor's people got to you. That they killed you to get revenge. He'll believe me. He always has. He's always been such a good boy. So easy to manipulate.”
She moved around the pillar, the gun still trained on Evelyn.
“Now. Give me the journal. And don't make me ask again.”
Evelyn looked around the room, searching for something—anything—she could use as a weapon. Her eyes fell on a rusted iron pipe lying on the floor in the corner.
It was her only chance.
She had to make Eleanor angry. She had to make her careless.
“You're wrong about Adrian,” Evelyn said. Her voice was steady, deliberately provocative. “He's not weak. He's not sentimental. He's the strongest man I've ever known. And he was never yours. Not really. He was always too good for you. Too kind. Too decent. That's why you hate me, isn't it? Because you know he loves me more than he ever loved you. Because you know I'm the family he chose. And you're just the mother he's ashamed of.”
Eleanor's face twisted with rage.
“Shut up!”
She lunged forward, the gun pointed directly at Evelyn's heart, her finger tightening on the trigger.
Evelyn dove to the side.
The gun went off. The bullet shattered a window, sending glass raining down around them.
Evelyn hit the floor hard, the journal flying from her hands. She scrambled toward the corner, grabbed the iron pipe, and stood up, her hands shaking but her grip firm.
Eleanor turned toward her, her face white with fury.
“You little b!tch!”
She raised the gun again.
But before she could fire, the lighthouse door crashed open.
Adrian stood there, his face pale, a cut on his forehead, his eyes wild with fear and rage. Behind him were two police officers, their guns drawn.
“Drop the gun, Eleanor!” Adrian shouted. His voice was raw, broken. “Drop it or I swear to God I will kill you myself.”
Eleanor froze.
She looked from Adrian to the police officers to Evelyn, who was standing there, holding the iron pipe like a weapon, her eyes blazing.
For a long moment, no one moved.
Then Eleanor smiled.
It was a terrible, broken smile.
“You always did ruin everything, Adrian,” she said quietly.
She raised the gun—not at Evelyn, not at the police officers, but at Adrian.
“NO!” Evelyn screamed.
She threw herself forward, the iron pipe raised above her head.
The gun went off.
Evelyn felt the bullet whistle past her ear, so close she could feel the heat of it. She swung the pipe with all her strength.
It connected with Eleanor's wrist.
The gun flew from her hand, clattering across the stone floor. The police officers rushed forward, tackling Eleanor to the ground, slapping handcuffs on her wrists.
Adrian ran to Evelyn.
He pulled her into his arms, holding her so tightly she could barely breathe.
“Are you okay? Did she hurt you? Oh my God, Evelyn, I thought I was going to lose you.”
Evelyn buried her face in his chest, her body shaking.
“I'm okay. I'm okay. Where were you? How did you find me?”
Adrian kissed the top of her head. His hands were trembling.
“I woke up and you were gone. I saw the letter on the nightstand—you left it half-open on the dresser. I called Marcus. I called the police. We tracked your phone. I thought I was going to be too late.”
He pulled back and looked at her, his eyes filled with tears.
“I love you so much. Never do that to me again. Never leave me like that. I can't live without you, Evelyn. I just can't.”
Evelyn kissed him. Hard. Desperate.
“I love you too,” she said when they pulled apart. “I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.”
Behind them, Eleanor was being led away by the police officers. She looked back at Adrian and Evelyn, her face cold, empty, defeated.
“You'll regret this,” she called out. “Both of you!”
But Adrian and Evelyn barely heard her.
May you like
They were too busy holding each other.
Too busy being alive.
