Chapter 10 - THE MAN IN THE REFLECTION
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Nora watched the footage again.
The black car stopped outside the hospital.
Arthur Pike opened the rear door.
Eleanor resisted.
The younger Camden stood near the entrance, holding a yellow child's coat.
The image was blurry, but the shape of his face was unmistakable.
Nora pressed pause.
“Why would he have my coat?”
Marcus leaned over the screen.
“That's what we need to establish.”
Daniel Whitmore had arrived earlier that morning. He stood behind Nora, one hand resting on the back of a chair.
“My grandfather employed Pike,” he said.
“Did Camden know him?”
Daniel nodded.
“He was introduced to the family office when Camden was twenty-five.”
Nora turned.
“Before Breakwater?”
“Yes.”
“Before he met me?”
Daniel hesitated.
“According to the records, he met you at a charity fundraiser two months later.”
Nora felt sick.
The timeline was becoming impossible to ignore.
Camden had met her.
Learned about her adoption.
Asked about the pendant.
And then married her.
Holly placed a document on the table.
“We found a payment from Camden's personal account to Pike three days after the hospital incident.”
Nora stared.
“How much?”
“Enough to be significant.”
Marcus added, “The transfer was routed through a company that later became a Breakwater subsidiary.”
Nora stood and walked to the window.
She could not breathe properly.
“Why would he help take my mother?”
“We don't know whether he helped with the original act,” Marcus said. “But the payment suggests he knew something afterward.”
Nora turned.
“Then I want to hear him explain it.”
Holly shook her head.
“Not alone.”
“I won't be alone.”
They arranged a meeting at a law office with both legal teams present.
Camden arrived looking furious.
When he saw the footage, the anger drained from his face.
“Where did you get that?”
“Does it matter?” Nora asked.
He looked at the screen.
“That isn't what you think.”
“You were there.”
“I was twenty-five.”
“You had my coat.”
“I was helping someone.”
“Helping whom?”
Camden rubbed his forehead.
“Your grandfather told me your mother was unstable. He said she had taken you and abandoned the family. He wanted me to find her.”
“Then why did she look frightened?”
“I don't know.”
“Why did you pay Arthur Pike?”
Camden's attorney interrupted.
“My client will not answer questions concerning an investigation.”
Nora looked directly at Camden.
“You knew who I was when we met.”
He said nothing.
“You knew about the trust.”
Still nothing.
“You knew my mother was missing.”
Camden finally looked at her.
“I didn't know what happened to her.”
“But you knew enough to keep it from me.”
His expression tightened.
“I loved you.”
Nora almost laughed.
“You loved the person you thought I could make you.”
“That isn't fair.”
“Neither was making me believe I was building a life with a man who had been investigating my family.”
Camden leaned forward.
“I was trying to protect you.”
“From the truth?”
He opened his mouth.
Then his attorney touched his arm.
Camden stopped.
Nora stood.
“I'm done listening to you explain why your lies were supposed to be good for me.”
As she left, Camden called after her.
“You don't know what your mother did.”
Nora stopped at the door.
“What?”
May you like
Camden's eyes were cold.
“Ask Daniel why Eleanor ran.”
