Chapter 7 - The Confrontation
The rain battered the windows of Blackthorne Hall like angry fists. Elena stood in the locked room behind the servants’ corridor. The room that had once belonged to her mother. Lady Victoria stood in the doorway, her face pale, a velvet robe pulled tightly around her. “You shouldn't be in here,” Victoria said, her voice shaking. “Because it reminds you of what you did?” Elena asked, turning around to face her. She held up a thick file. The banking records. The mechanic's confession, secured by Julian's private investigators. “You didn't just hide me, Victoria. You killed my parents.” Victoria let out a bitter, ugly laugh. “Your mother was a parasite! She was going to take Edmund away. He was going to leave me, leave the company, for a botanist and her bastard child!” “So you cut the brakes,” Elena said, her voice shockingly calm. “I protected what was mine!” Victoria screamed. “I built this empire while Edmund played in the dirt with his flowers! I wasn't going to let a homewrecker destroy my legacy!” “And keeping me alive? Hiding me here as a servant?” “A reminder,” Victoria spat. “A trophy of my mercy.” From the shadows of the hallway, a figure stepped forward. It was Adrian. His face was completely shattered, tears mixing with the rain blowing in from a broken window pane in the corridor. “Mercy?” Adrian choked out. “You're a monster.” Victoria froze, all the color draining from her face. “Adrian… my son, please, listen to me…” “I’ve heard enough,” Adrian said. He pulled his phone from his pocket. “The police are already on their way, Mother. I called them before I came up.” Victoria collapsed to her knees, the realization of her absolute ruin finally crashing down upon her. Elena looked at the woman who had made her scrub floors for a decade. She felt no triumph. Only a profound, heavy sorrow.
