Chapter 6
CHAPTER 6 — THE LIONESS AND THE VIPER
By the next afternoon, the Whitmore mansion was under a quiet, suffocating siege. Blacked-out security SUVs lined the iron gates, keeping a circling pack of paparazzi and investigative journalists at bay. Inside the main study, the air was thick with the scent of old paper and tension. Anna Carter sat across from Eleanor, a stack of weathered bank ledgers and old company hard drives spread between them.
"I kept them hidden in the floorboards of my apartment for eight years, Mrs. Whitmore," Anna said, her voice trembling but resolute. "Claire knew they were tracking her digital footprint. She told me Victoria wasn't just Alexander’s girlfriend back then—she was the one managing the offshore shell companies for her father’s firm."
The double doors flew open before security could announce the visitor. Victoria Lane marched in, bypassing the guards outside through sheer force of arrogance. She had traded her ruined evening gown for a sharp, tailored cream power suit, but her immaculate blonde hair was slightly disheveled, and her eyes were wild.
"You can't do this to me, Eleanor!" Victoria hissed, slamming her designer handbag onto the mahogany desk, scattering a pile of papers. "You’re ruining my family’s reputation, destroying our stock value overnight based on the fairy tales of a bitter maid and a bastard child!"
Eleanor didn't stand. She didn't even lean back. She simply looked up, her expression terrifyingly calm—the look of a apex predator watching a cornered prey.
"A bastard child, Victoria? Or my biological granddaughter?"
"You threw those shoes in the trash because you knew exactly what they meant the moment you saw the leather."
"You knew Claire hadn't run away to Europe like you told my son."
"And you knew that as long as those shoes were missing, the paper trail stayed buried."
Victoria forced a high-pitched, mocking laugh, though her eyes darted nervously toward the open ledger on the desk. "Claire was mentally unstable! Everyone in our circle knows that. She stole from her own family’s charity and blamed my father to cover her own tracks! Alexander!" she cried out as Alexander walked into the study, his face dark as thunder. "You can't believe this setup. Look at me! We were supposed to be married next month. We built a life together!"
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Alexander looked at the woman he had loved for years, feeling a sudden wave of physical nausea.
"The wedding is over, Victoria," Alexander said, his voice dead and cold. "And if I find out you had anything to do with my sister’s disappearance... a broken engagement will be the absolute least of your worries. Get out of my house before I have security throw you out."
