Chapter 6 - Two EleanorsNobody moved.
The woman beside the window stared at Maxwell.
Maxwell stared back.
Nico lifted his weapon.
“Hands where I can see them.”
She obeyed.
“M-Max…”
“Don’t call me that.”
The warmth had vanished from his voice.
“Who are you?”
Tears formed in her eyes.
“My name is Sarah Cole.”
“Why do you look like my sister?”
“I don’t.”
She wiped her face.
I realized she was right.
In low emergency light, with similar hair, exhaustion, and Maxwell’s obvious emotional reaction, I had accepted the resemblance.
Maxwell had too.
Not because they were identical.
Because he desperately expected Eleanor.
“Where is my sister?”
“Garage.”
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
Nico stepped forward.
“Why lie?”
Sarah looked at Maxwell.
“Because Pierce told me if I didn’t convince you Eleanor betrayed you, he’d kill her.”
Maxwell’s voice turned frighteningly calm.
“Start at the beginning.”
Sarah was Eleanor’s research assistant in Boston.
Two weeks earlier, Eleanor had discovered financial transfers connected to Julian.
She contacted Sarah and asked for help copying documents.
Pierce somehow learned.
Three nights ago both women were taken.
Eleanor had been held elsewhere.
Sarah was forced into Rourke House using Eleanor’s credentials.
The plan was simple.
Gain Maxwell’s trust.
Give him forged documents.
Convince him that Julian was responsible.
“Julian is responsible,” I said.
Sarah shook her head.
“Not for everything.”
Maxwell’s gaze sharpened.
“What does that mean?”
Sarah swallowed.
“The financial theft is Julian.”
“And the crash?”
“I don’t know.”
“The drugs?”
“Pierce.”
“On whose orders?”
Sarah looked terrified.
“That’s why they took Eleanor.”
Nico’s radio crackled again.
“We have Dr. Pierce.”
“Alive?” Nico asked.
“Yes.”
“Eleanor?”
“Alive. Dehydrated. Conscious.”
Maxwell closed his eyes for one second.
Relief.
Then he opened them.
“Bring my sister upstairs. Pierce goes to the library.”
Nico looked at him.
“You sure?”
“I want answers.”
I touched Maxwell’s arm.
“He needs police.”
Maxwell looked at me.
“This world doesn’t always call police first.”
“Maybe that’s part of the problem.”
Nobody in the room breathed.
I had just told a mafia boss how to handle a betrayal.
Again.
Maxwell studied me.
Then nodded.
“Nico. Call Detective Warren.”
Nico seemed surprised.
“You sure?”
“Yes.”
Maybe I imagined it, but Maxwell looked at me when he said it.
Eleanor arrived ten minutes later.
The real Eleanor.
There was no confusion this time.
She looked like Maxwell around the eyes.
She crossed the room and fell into her brother’s arms.
He held her so tightly I looked away.
When they separated, Eleanor touched his face.
“They told me you were getting worse.”
“They lied.”
“I know.”
Then she saw his wheelchair.
“I found the medical files.”
“So did Sarah.”
Eleanor turned.
Sarah began apologizing immediately.
Eleanor crossed the room and hugged her.
“You kept me alive.”
Sarah started crying.
The situation was becoming clearer.
Sarah hadn’t been the enemy.
Just another trapped person.
When Detective Samuel Warren arrived, he brought two state police officers and a warrant team.
Apparently Maxwell’s attorney had spent the past several hours assembling evidence.
Security footage.
The hidden camera.
Medication samples.
Delaney’s recorded call.
Financial documents.
And Pierce himself.
Pierce sat in the library handcuffed to a chair.
For the first time he didn’t look polished.
He looked old.
Maxwell positioned his wheelchair directly across from him.
I stood near the bookshelves.
“You poisoned me,” Maxwell said.
Pierce smiled weakly.
“Medication management isn’t poisoning.”
“The lab disagrees.”
“You were in pain.”
“I wasn’t prescribed what you gave me.”
Pierce said nothing.
Maxwell leaned forward.
“Who ordered the crash?”
Still nothing.
Detective Warren spoke.
“Doctor, cooperation matters.”
Pierce laughed.
“You think his world cares about cooperation?”
Maxwell’s jaw tightened.
I stepped forward.
“Your world seems to care about survival.”
Pierce looked at me.
His expression changed.
Recognition.
“Martha Hale.”
“You remember me.”
“Oh, yes.”
My stomach twisted.
“Did you tamper with medication at Bayview?”
“I never touched your cart.”
“Did your company relabel drugs?”
His smile told me enough.
“The system needed efficiency.”
“A woman almost died.”
“And she didn’t.”
“Because I recognized the reaction and called emergency services.”
“You still administered the wrong dose.”
“Because your company put it in my cart.”
His expression remained smug.
Maxwell’s voice became low.
“Careful, Everett.”
Pierce looked at him.
“What are you going to do? Threaten me?”
“No.”
Maxwell glanced toward Warren.
“I’m going to let her questions put you in prison.”
Something passed across Pierce’s face.
He hadn’t expected that.
Neither had I.
Maxwell was choosing law over retaliation.
Pierce leaned back.
“Julian will destroy you.”
Maxwell’s eyes narrowed.
“Why?”
“You still think he’s stealing from you.”
“He is.”
“Yes.”
Pierce smiled.
“But Julian didn’t order your crash.”
“Who did?”
Pierce said nothing.
Detective Warren stood.
“We’ll finish downtown.”
Two officers moved forward.
Pierce suddenly laughed.
“Ask Nico.”
Silence.
I looked at Nico.
He didn’t move.
Pierce continued.
“Ask your loyal dog who changed your route that night.”
Maxwell slowly turned.
“Nico?”
Nico’s face had gone gray.
Pierce smiled wider.
“Go ahead.”
Maxwell stared at the man he trusted more than anyone.
“Did you change my route?”
Nico swallowed.
“Yes.”
The word shattered the room.
Maxwell’s voice dropped.
“Why?”
“Construction.”
Pierce laughed.
“There was no construction.”
Nico looked at him.
“You told security the road was closed.”
Every eye moved to Pierce.
Pierce’s smile vanished.
Nico continued.
“You called from Maxwell’s office line. Said he wanted the waterfront route.”
“I never—”
“I have the recording.”
Pierce went still.
For the first time, he looked afraid.
Nico took out his phone.
“I found it in archived security audio.”
He pressed play.
Pierce’s voice filled the library.
“Change Mr. Rourke’s route. Blackstone Hill. Direct instruction.”
Maxwell stared at Pierce.
“That puts you in the crash.”
Pierce looked trapped.
But then he smiled again.
“You still don’t understand.”
“What?”
“I gave the instruction.”
Pierce leaned forward.
“But somebody else paid me.”
The library went silent.
“Who?” Maxwell asked.
Pierce’s eyes moved toward Eleanor.
Then back to Maxwell.
“Your father.”
Nobody spoke.
Maxwell’s father, Patrick Rourke, had been dead for nine years.
Maxwell gave a humorless laugh.
“Try again.”
Pierce whispered, “Not Patrick.”
My stomach dropped.
Maxwell had always been called Patrick Rourke’s son.
But Pierce’s next words changed everything.
“Your biological father is alive.”
May you like
Maxwell stopped breathing.
“And he’s been trying to take back what he believes you stole from him.”
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