Chapter 6
Chloe tried to recover her place beside Ethan.
She stepped closer, slipped her hand around his arm, and lifted her chin as if the rain, the attorney, and Maya were all temporary inconveniences.
“Nathan,” she said smoothly, though they had never been introduced, “surely Eleanor would not want this handled in public.”
Nathan looked at her for the first time.
“Ms. Vale, Eleanor was very specific about what she did not want.”
Chloe’s face tightened.
She had not expected him to know her name.
Maya saw the flicker of fear and understood Chloe’s confidence had always been borrowed from Ethan.
Ethan said, “Do not speak to her.”
Nathan’s gaze returned to him.
“Then stop placing her in the middle of matters she does not understand.”
Chloe recoiled as if slapped.
Maya almost felt sorry for her.
Almost.
Then she remembered Chloe’s smile when Ethan told Maya to disappear.
The red gown.
The hand on his waist.
The pleasure in seeing another woman kneel in the rain.
Maya’s pity vanished.
Nathan stepped closer to the base of the stairs.
“Maya, Eleanor left instructions for your protection.”
Ethan laughed once, sharp and ugly.
“My mother was ill.”
Nathan’s voice stayed even.
“She was lucid, recorded, witnessed, and very aware of your habits.”
The rain seemed to grow louder.
Ethan’s face hardened.
“Careful.”
Nathan did not blink.
“I have been careful for thirty years.”
Maya gripped the phone tighter.
The will contents remained hidden.
No inheritance was transferred.
No divorce outcome appeared.
But the shape of Eleanor’s final act became visible in the silence between them.
She had seen Ethan clearly.
Maybe too late.
But not uselessly.
Maya lifted her chin.
“Did she know he would do this?”
Nathan looked at Ethan before answering.
May you like
“She knew he would try.”
Read Chapter 7 👉 Because Eleanor’s secret was not what she owned, but how well she understood the son who wanted Maya gone.
