Chapter 7 - THE RECKONING AT THE ESTATEBy sunset, federal marshals entered the estate.
The guests who had once arrived in designer cars now left through a line of police vehicles.
Some cried.
Some pleaded.
Others claimed they had known nothing.
Victoria watched from the terrace.
Eleanor was escorted from the mansion in handcuffs.
Her silver hair was disheveled.
Her dress was wrinkled.
She looked smaller.
Almost ordinary.
As she passed Victoria, Eleanor stopped.
“You think you've won.”
Victoria said nothing.
“You're just like me.”
“No.”
“You destroy people to get what you want.”
Victoria looked at her mother.
“No. I destroy systems that hurt people.”
Eleanor laughed bitterly.
“Power is power.”
Victoria's eyes hardened.
“That is where you're wrong.”
Eleanor stared at her.
Victoria continued:
“You used power to make people afraid of you.”
She glanced toward the mansion.
“I use mine to make sure people don't have to be afraid anymore.”
Eleanor was led away.
For the first time in decades, she was alone.
But Victoria knew the story wasn't finished.
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Because somewhere inside the files was the truth about her mother.
And until she found it, the past remained alive.
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