Chapter 7 - The Woman Behind the Smile
The hospital room fell silent.
Eliza felt as though she had been transported into someone else's nightmare.
"That's impossible," she whispered.
Margaret squeezed her hand.
"I saw the medication records. Celeste arranged for a prescription to be sent to your home under a false name."
Paige stepped forward.
"Do you have proof?"
Margaret nodded weakly.
"An envelope. I hid it before they came for me."
"Where?"
"Inside Evelyn's old jewelry box."
Dominic turned to Griffin.
"Get it."
Griffin immediately left.
Eliza sat beside Margaret.
"Why didn't you tell me three years ago?"
Margaret's eyes filled.
"Because I was afraid. I had worked for that family since I was seventeen. I watched Dominic grow up. I knew what his father was capable of."
She looked at him.
"And I knew you wouldn't believe me without proof."
Dominic looked down.
"You're right."
It was the first time Eliza had heard him admit that someone else had been right about him.
Margaret continued.
"Celeste wasn't working alone. She had help from someone inside the estate."
"Who?" Dominic asked.
Margaret looked toward the door.
"Your mother."
Dominic's jaw tightened.
"Peter said she was alive."
Margaret nodded.
"She came to see me twice after Evelyn died. She was frightened. She told me she had helped your father hide the trust documents. Then she disappeared again."
"Where is she now?"
"I don't know."
Dominic turned away.
Eliza watched him struggle with the information.
For years, he had built his identity around being the man who could not be deceived.
Now he was discovering that the people closest to him had constructed an entire world of lies.
The next morning, Griffin returned with the jewelry box.
Inside was a small envelope containing prescription records, photographs, and a handwritten statement.
The medication had been delivered to the Rourke estate three years earlier.
The signature authorizing delivery belonged to Celeste.
But the most disturbing document was a photograph of a hospital employee handing the package to someone outside the estate.
The person was wearing a dark coat.
Her face was partially visible.
Dominic stared at it.
"That's my mother."
Eliza looked at the photograph.
"She was involved?"
Griffin nodded.
"Looks that way."
Dominic's expression became unreadable.
"Find her."
By afternoon, they had traced Catherine Rourke to a private residence in Lake Forest.
The house was surrounded by old trees and high iron fencing.
Dominic arrived with Griffin.
Eliza insisted on coming.
This time, Dominic didn't argue.
A woman opened the front door.
She was in her early sixties, with silver-blond hair and a delicate face.
Her eyes widened when she saw Dominic.
"Hello, son."
He stood motionless.
"You're alive."
Catherine glanced at Eliza.
"Who's this?"
"My wife."
Catherine's gaze moved toward Eliza's stomach.
Something unpleasant flickered across her face.
"So it's true."
Eliza felt Dominic stiffen.
Catherine stepped aside.
"Come in."
The living room was filled with antique furniture and family photographs.
Dominic stopped in front of a picture of himself as a child.
His mother stood behind him.
His grandmother stood beside them.
His father was nowhere in the frame.
"Why did you let me believe you were dead?"
Catherine poured herself a glass of water.
"Because your father said it was necessary."
"For twelve years?"
"You were young."
"I was nineteen."
"You were impressionable."
Dominic gave a bitter laugh.
"You abandoned me."
Catherine looked at him.
"I protected you."
"From what?"
She set down the glass.
"From Evelyn."
Eliza frowned.
Catherine continued.
"Your grandmother was going to give control of Blackridge to a child. She believed you were too much like your father."
"She was right," Eliza said quietly.
Catherine turned.
"Excuse me?"
Eliza held her gaze.
"She believed power without accountability was dangerous."
Catherine smiled coldly.
"You're very confident for a woman who married into this family."
"I'm not confident. I'm tired."
Catherine looked toward Dominic.
"She has been filling your head with nonsense."
Dominic took the photograph from his coat.
"Did you help Celeste poison my wife?"
Catherine's face changed.
Only for a second.
But it was enough.
"I didn't poison anyone."
"You arranged the medication."
"Your father wanted the pregnancy terminated."
Eliza felt her knees weaken.
Dominic's voice dropped.
"My father was dead three years ago."
Catherine looked away.
Then she said something neither of them expected.
"Because he wasn't dead."
Silence.
Dominic stared at her.
"What?"
Catherine reached into a drawer and removed an old photograph.
It showed Dominic's father, Richard Rourke, standing outside a private clinic.
Alive.
The date was two months earlier.
Eliza looked at Dominic.
Catherine whispered:
May you like
"Your father has been living under another name. And he is the one who arranged Celeste's marriage announcement."
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