Chapter 14 - THE CHOICE ELEANOR MADE
Emily could barely speak.
“Margaret tried to return me?”
Margaret nodded.
“Three days after the kidnapping.”
Eleanor looked destroyed.
Margaret continued.
“I brought Grace and the baby to meet Eleanor.”
Emily stared at her biological mother.
“You saw me?”
Eleanor whispered, “Yes.”
“And you let me leave?”
Tears ran down Eleanor’s face.
“Yes.”
Daniel stood.
“Why?”
Eleanor struggled to breathe.
“Richard had shown me evidence that Rachel’s people were trying to use Madeline against us.”
Margaret snapped.
“Fake evidence.”
“I know that now!”
Emily’s voice cut through them.
“Why did you let me leave?”
Eleanor looked at her.
“Because Richard threatened Daniel.”
Daniel froze.
“What?”
“You were only days old.”
Eleanor covered her mouth.
“He said if I brought Madeline back, the boy would disappear.”
Daniel stared.
“You chose me.”
“Yes.”
Emily stepped backward.
Eleanor reached toward her.
Emily pulled away.
“You chose a baby you barely knew over your own daughter?”
Eleanor cried.
“I thought I could find you again.”
“But you didn’t.”
“I tried.”
“For eleven years.”
Eleanor couldn’t answer.
Emily’s anger exploded.
“You don’t get to call yourself my mother because of DNA!”
“I know.”
“You had a choice!”
“Yes.”
“And you sent me away.”
“Yes.”
“Then yesterday, twenty-five years later, you stood in front of hundreds of people and ripped my wedding dress apart because you thought I wasn’t good enough for your family.”
Eleanor sobbed.
“I know.”
Emily’s voice dropped.
“That family destroyed my childhood before I even knew its name.”
Daniel moved beside her.
Emily took his hand.
Eleanor looked at them.
“I’m sorry.”
Emily shook her head.
“That doesn’t fix twenty-five years.”
“No.”
“Then stop asking it to.”
Eleanor nodded.
“I will.”
The room became quiet.
Rachel looked at Emily.
“Grace loved you.”
Emily turned.
Rachel smiled weakly.
“I met her once too.”
Emily stared.
“When?”
“Years ago. Margaret brought me a photograph.”
Emily’s eyes filled.
Rachel continued.
“Grace told me through Margaret that you were safe.”
Emily whispered, “Everyone knew pieces of my life except me.”
Daniel squeezed her hand.
Rachel nodded.
“That ends now.”
Weeks passed.
Charles and Victor were formally charged.
The Whitmore board removed Eleanor as chairwoman.
She did not fight it.
Emily inherited controlling interest in the company through her grandmother’s trust.
The same woman once called unworthy now had the power to decide the future of the entire Whitmore empire.
At the first board meeting, twelve executives waited for Emily to take the chair.
Instead, she placed a folder on the table.
“What is that?” one director asked.
Emily smiled.
“The beginning of the end.”
Daniel looked at her.
“What are you doing?”
Emily answered.
“I’m breaking the company apart.”
The directors erupted.
Emily raised her voice.
“You built this empire using stolen lives.”
She looked directly at Eleanor.
“I’m not inheriting their power.”
She opened the folder.
“I’m using it to pay back every person they hurt.”
Daniel smiled.
And for the first time, Eleanor did too.
But Emily wasn’t finished.
She turned toward Daniel.
“One more thing.”
He frowned.
“What?”
Emily reached into her bag.
She pulled out the jade pendant.
And beneath it…
May you like
their unfinished marriage license.
Daniel stopped breathing.
