Chapter 8 - The Mother Who Chose the Wrong Son
The video began with Eleanor Choi pouring tea.
Across from her sat a woman with silver-streaked dark hair and tired brown eyes.
Ava leaned toward the screen.
Something about the woman's face felt painfully familiar.
The shape of her cheekbones.
The way she tilted her head.
The small crease between her eyebrows.
“That's her,” Ava whispered.
Daniel stood beside her in the study.
Marcus had connected the recovered recording to a secure monitor.
The timestamp showed a date three months earlier.
Eleanor spoke first.
“You should have stayed gone, Isabella.”
The woman across from her didn't flinch.
“You've had twenty-eight years to correct what your family did.”
Eleanor folded her hands.
“My family?”
“Your husband and Victor's father stole from the trust. You knew.”
Eleanor's face hardened.
“You have no proof.”
Isabella placed a folder on the table.
“I have enough.”
Eleanor looked down.
For the first time, fear crossed her face.
“What do you want?”
“My daughter left alone.”
Eleanor laughed bitterly.
“Your daughter doesn't even know who you are.”
“That's how I've kept her alive.”
Ava began crying.
Daniel reached toward her, then stopped, allowing her to decide whether she wanted his comfort.
She took his hand.
On the screen, Eleanor leaned forward.
“You don't understand what will happen if Victor learns she's connected to the trust.”
“He already knows.”
Eleanor went still.
Isabella continued.
“He's been watching her father's business for years.”
Ava squeezed Daniel's hand.
Eleanor whispered, “Then you're too late.”
The video ended.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then Ava turned toward Daniel.
“Your mother knew.”
Daniel's face was pale.
“Yes.”
“She knew who I was before the wedding.”
“Yes.”
“And she let Victor do this.”
Daniel looked away.
Ava stepped back.
“I need to hear it from her.”
Daniel nodded.
“I'll arrange it.”
“No.”
Ava wiped her face.
“I want to confront her myself.”
That evening, Eleanor arrived at the mansion under the impression that Daniel wanted to discuss the succession agreement.
Instead, she found Ava waiting in the drawing room.
Daniel stood near the fireplace.
Marcus remained outside.
Eleanor stopped.
“What is this?”
Ava placed the laptop on the table.
“Sit down.”
Eleanor looked at Daniel.
“Are you allowing her to speak to me this way?”
Daniel answered calmly.
“Sit down, Mother.”
Eleanor's expression changed.
She lowered herself into a chair.
Ava played the recording.
Eleanor watched without speaking.
When it ended, she closed her eyes.
“How much do you know?”
“Enough to understand you've been lying to both of us,” Ava said.
Eleanor looked at Daniel.
“I was trying to protect you.”
“From what?” Daniel asked.
“From Victor.”
Daniel gave a bitter laugh.
“You've been helping him.”
“I've been keeping him close enough to know what he's planning.”
“By allowing him to destroy Ava's family?”
Eleanor's eyes filled.
“I didn't know he would go that far.”
Ava leaned forward.
“Where is Isabella?”
Eleanor looked at her.
“I don't know.”
“Don't lie to me.”
“I'm not.”
“Then why did she meet you?”
“Because she wanted me to help expose Victor.”
Ava stared.
“Did you?”
Eleanor lowered her eyes.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because he threatened Daniel.”
Daniel went still.
Eleanor turned toward him.
“Your father's death wasn't an accident.”
Silence fell.
Daniel's voice became dangerously quiet.
“What did you say?”
Eleanor began trembling.
“Your father discovered the trust transfers. He planned to go to the authorities.”
“And?”
“Victor's father arranged the crash.”
Daniel stared at her.
“You knew?”
“I learned afterward.”
“And you said nothing?”
Eleanor began crying.
“I had a child to protect.”
Daniel stepped back as if she had struck him.
“You let me mourn him for twenty years while you sat across the table from the people who killed him.”
Eleanor covered her face.
Ava felt no satisfaction.
Only exhaustion.
“Where is Isabella?” she asked again.
Eleanor looked up.
“She contacted me two weeks ago.”
Ava's heart stopped.
“What?”
“She said she had found the original trust documents.”
“Where?”
“She wouldn't tell me.”
“Did she say anything else?”
Eleanor hesitated.
“She said there was someone inside Daniel's organization helping Victor.”
Daniel looked toward the door.
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
Ava watched Eleanor carefully.
For the first time, the older woman seemed genuinely afraid.
Then Eleanor whispered, “But I know Victor has been receiving information from inside this house.”
Daniel turned toward the hallway.
Marcus.
Margaret.
The drivers.
The guards.
Someone had been watching them.
Someone had reported Ava's pregnancy.
Someone had helped the attackers approach the mansion.
Daniel picked up his phone.
“Marcus, come inside.”
No answer.
He called again.
Nothing.
Then a sound came from upstairs.
A heavy thud.
Ava turned.
“Margaret?”
Daniel moved toward the doorway.
“Stay here.”
Ava followed him despite the warning.
At the top of the stairs, Margaret lay unconscious beside the linen closet.
A small cut marked her forehead.
Daniel knelt beside her.
“Call an ambulance!”
Ava pulled out her phone.
Then she noticed something on the floor.
A folded photograph.
She picked it up.
It showed Daniel standing beside Marcus at a private airfield.
On the back, written in black ink, were four words.
HE IS NOT LOYAL.
At that exact moment, Daniel's phone rang.
Marcus's name appeared on the screen.
Daniel answered.
“Where are you?”
Marcus sounded breathless.
“Boss, don't trust the people in the house.”
Daniel's expression tightened.
“What happened?”
A gunshot cracked through the phone.
Then Marcus whispered:
May you like
“Victor isn't the one giving the orders.”
The line went dead.
