Chapter 5 - THE NURSERY CONFESSION
The thunder cracked, rattling the stained-glass windows of the mudroom. Arthur stared at his wife, the heavy gold necklace still dangling from his hand.
"What are you talking about?" Arthur demanded, though a cold knot was forming in his stomach.
Eleanor walked past him, moving like a ghost through her own home. She headed toward the back staircase that led to Lily’s nursery. Arthur followed, keeping Leo close behind him.
When they entered the nursery, it felt like a tomb. Lily’s toys were perfectly arranged. The mobile above her bed hung perfectly still.
Eleanor sank into the rocking chair in the corner, clutching her whiskey glass. "Twenty years ago," she began, her voice hollow, "my father owned a small shipping firm in Boston. You bought it, Arthur. You bought it, stripped it for parts, and fired everyone. My father begged you to leave him with his pension. You laughed at him."
Arthur’s mind raced. He had acquired dozens of companies in his early thirties. It was ruthless, corporate warfare. He had never looked at the faces of the people he ruined.
"He shot himself three days later," Eleanor said, looking up at Arthur. "Marcus and I were put into foster care. We lost everything. Marcus spent the next two decades planning how to take it all back. He got me the job as your assistant. He planned the romance. He planned the marriage."
"It was all a lie," Arthur whispered, feeling the floor tilt beneath him. "Every year. Every anniversary."
"At first," Eleanor admitted, her voice breaking. "But then... I fell in love with you. I couldn't help it. You were a good man, Arthur. A good father. I wanted to stop. I told Marcus I was done. But Marcus doesn't forgive."
She looked at the empty crib. "He knew you were going to leave the entire company to Lily in a trust. He told me to give her a mild sedative. Just to make her sick enough so you would transfer temporary power of attorney to me. But I didn't know he switched the vials."
Arthur felt the blood drain from his face. "He gave you the poison. He wanted you to kill her."
"He wanted you to feel the exact pain we felt," Eleanor sobbed, dropping her face into her hands. "To bury your family. To lose your future. I didn't know until the funeral. When I saw her in that coffin, I realized what he had done. He used me to murder my own stepdaughter."
Arthur looked at Leo, then back at Eleanor. "And Maria? What happened to the housekeeper?"
Eleanor wiped her eyes, her mascara running down her cheeks. "She found Marcus’s stash of vials. She confronted him. He told me he paid her off and sent her to Chicago. That’s why the train ticket is there."
"My mom wouldn't leave me!" Leo yelled, stepping out from behind Arthur.
Before Eleanor could answer, a slow, mocking clap echoed from the hallway.
May you like
Heavy footsteps stepped onto the hardwood floor. Marcus filled the doorway, blocking the only exit. In his left hand, he held a heavy, silver lighter. In his right, he held Arthur’s grandfather’s gold pocket watch—the heirloom Arthur had been told was lost in a burglary five years ago.
"You always were too sentimental, El," Marcus sneered, clicking the pocket watch open. "A beautiful confession. Too bad no one is going to survive to hear it."
