Chapter 15
CHAPTER 15 — THE TREASON WITHIN THE TRUST
The phone went dead. Eleanor stood with the receiver in her hand, her expression completely unreadable.
"Mother?" Claire asked, looking up from Alexander. "What did they say?"
"They want Lily," Eleanor said flatly.
"No!" Claire screamed, standing up and shielding her daughter. "I spent eight years in a living hell to keep her away from these monsters! We have the evidence. We can go to the feds, the media, anyone!"
"The evidence is encrypted, Claire," Eleanor said, opening the white box and pulling out the hard drive Claire had hidden years ago. "The voice on the phone... they know our security protocols. They know about the biometric encryption. Only a few people in our inner circle even know what biometric encryption is."
Alexander groaned from the couch, his eyes fluttering open. "Mother... the trust. Check the digital ledger... in the box."
Claire took the hard drive, connecting it to an old, battery-powered laptop Anna had pulled from a locker. The screen glowed to life, showing a string of corrupted data blocks. But beneath the corruption, a list of historical approvals appeared.
Every transaction that had funded Claire’s confinement at Haven Ridge hadn't been signed by Arthur. It hadn't been signed by a proxy.
It was signed with Eleanor Whitmore’s personal digital signature.
Claire dropped the laptop onto the table, stepping back from her mother as if she were looking at a ghost.
"You?" Claire whispered, her voice cracking with an unbearable betrayal. "Mother... you signed the papers? You knew where I was the entire time?"
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Eleanor didn't move. She didn't deny it. She just stood there, the rain dripping from her coat, looking at her daughter with eyes that had seen too much horror to ever weep again.
"I did what I had to do to keep you alive, Claire," Eleanor said softly.
