Chapter 3 - The Mother's Bargain
With Camille en route to the downtown precinct in the back of a squad car, the hospital room fell into a heavy, suffocating silence. Only Eleanor remained, standing by the sink like a ghost in a designer Chanel suit. Her face was haggard, the mask of high-society elegance completely stripped away.
She took a hesitant step toward my bed, her eyes brimming with calculated tears. "Sydney, darling... you don't know what you're doing. This will ruin our family name. If the press gets hold of this, the stock value of your father's company will plummet."
"It's not our company, Mother," I said coldly, wincing as the orthopedic tech arrived to begin wrapping my forearm in fiberglass casting tape. "It’s the company Dad built with his own blood and sweat. And Camille was gutting it to fund her lifestyle."
Eleanor dropped into the visitor’s chair, wringing her hands. "She was just borrowing it! She made some bad real estate investments in Dubai last year. She was going to pay every cent back once the logistics contracts renewed in the fall! If you drop these charges, I will personally give you my shares in the trust. You'll have controlling interest!"
I looked at the woman who had watched my arm be snapped in half and then told me to lie to the doctors to protect my abuser. There was no maternal love in her eyes—only a desperate terror of social embarrassment and financial ruin.
"You sat there while she broke my bone, Mom," I said, my voice dropping to a low, trembling whisper. "You told her to make me sign the transfer with my left hand while I was screaming on your marble floor."
Harrison Grant stepped between Eleanor and my bed, his towering frame blocking her view of me entirely. "Mrs. Sterling, as of ten minutes ago, a federal judge granted an emergency temporary restraining order protecting Sydney from both Camille and yourself, citing the audio evidence of your participation in the assault."
Eleanor looked up, her jaw dropping. "You... you got a restraining order against me?"
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"If you do not vacate this hospital room immediately," Harrison said evenly, "I will have Sgt. Miller's partner arrest you for conspiracy to commit extortion and accessory to battery. You have thirty seconds to walk out that door before your social circle watches you get perp-walked out of an emergency room."
Eleanor grabbed her purse, her hands shaking violently, and fled the room without looking back.
