Chapter 19 - THE WOMAN WHO CAME BACK FROM THE DEAD
Gabriel arrived at the mansion before dawn.
Elena met him in the library.
Julian stayed beside her.
Victoria sat across the room under the supervision of attorneys.
Richard had been released pending investigation and stood near the fireplace.
For once, the entire broken Harrington family was in one room for the same reason.
Isabel.
Gabriel began.
“Four years ago, Isabel learned Thomas had discovered where Elena lived.”
Elena stared at him.
“She told me she was dying.”
“She was sick.”
“But not as sick as you believed.”
Elena’s voice shook.
“I watched her die.”
Gabriel closed his eyes.
“You watched her lose consciousness.”
“What?”
“The doctor who pronounced her dead worked for Thomas.”
Elena stood abruptly.
“No.”
Gabriel continued.
“Isabel believed the only way to protect you was to disappear.”
“So you let me bury someone else?”
“It wasn’t supposed to happen that way.”
Elena slapped him.
The sound echoed through the library.
Gabriel didn’t move.
Julian stepped closer but did not interfere.
Elena’s eyes filled with tears.
“Four years.”
“I mourned her for four years.”
“I know.”
“No, you don’t.”
Gabriel accepted the anger.
Then he gave Elena an address.
A farmhouse in Maine.
“Isabel was there until three days ago.”
“Where is she now?”
“I don’t know.”
Victoria suddenly spoke.
“Thomas knows.”
Everyone looked at her.
Victoria stood.
“He didn’t steal the two hundred million.”
Richard frowned.
“What are you talking about?”
Victoria looked at Elena.
“Isabel did.”
Silence.
Elena almost laughed.
“That’s impossible.”
“No.”
Victoria walked toward Samuel’s files.
“Your mother spent twenty-eight years planning for this.”
“She knew Thomas’s offshore structure better than anyone.”
“When his takeover activated, she moved the money before he could.”
Julian looked at Elena.
“That means she knew everything happening here.”
Gabriel nodded.
“She has people watching Thomas.”
Elena felt betrayed all over again.
“Then why didn’t she come to me?”
Gabriel didn’t answer.
Victoria did.
“Because the war isn’t over.”
The mansion phone rang.
Richard answered.
No one spoke while he listened.
His expression changed.
Then he handed the phone to Elena.
“It’s for you.”
Elena lifted it.
“Hello?”
A familiar voice came through the line.
A voice she had heard in dreams for four years.
“Elena.”
Her knees nearly gave out.
“Mom?”
Isabel began crying.
“My baby.”
Elena couldn’t breathe.
“Where are you?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“Why?”
“Because Thomas wasn’t the person controlling everything.”
Elena looked toward Victoria.
Everyone in the library went still.
“What are you saying?”
Isabel whispered, “Samuel was wrong about one thing.”
“What?”
“Thomas didn’t order his murder.”
“Then who did?”
A loud sound came through the phone.
Isabel gasped.
The line went dead.
Elena screamed her name.
Then Julian’s phone buzzed.
A video message had arrived.
He opened it.
Isabel was sitting inside a dark room.
Someone stood behind her.
Only his hand was visible.
A gold Harrington signet ring covered one finger.
Richard looked down at his own hand.
His ring was still there.
Julian wore no ring.
Thomas’s had been confiscated.
Victoria whispered, “There was only one other person who owned that ring.”
Richard looked at her.
“My father.”
Victoria shook her head.
“No.”
“Your father had two sons.”
Richard frowned.
“Thomas and me.”
Victoria stared toward the screen.
May you like
“No, Richard.”
“He had three.”
