Chapter 6 - Eleanor’s Threat
The morning sun had barely begun to filter through the blinds of my private hospital room when the heavy door swung open without a knock. My father had stepped out five minutes earlier to grab coffee and meet with the arriving NCIS investigators in the lobby. I turned my head on the pillow, expecting to see Dr. Aris returning for rounds, but my blood ran cold as I recognized the woman standing in the doorway.
Eleanor Vance looked like she hadn’t slept a wink. Her designer suit was Rumpled, her hair was sprayed stiffly into place, and her eyes were red-rimmed and venomous. She slipped into the room, closing the door firmly behind her before advancing toward the side of my bed like a bird of prey.
“You have destroyed this family, you ungrateful little wretch,” she hissed, her voice vibrating with suppressed rage. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done? My son spent the night in a concrete cell! The local news is already running stories about an unnamed naval officer arrested in Newport! Our friends are calling my phone non-stop!”
I reached out and pressed the nurse call button resting on my mattress, keeping my eyes locked on hers. “You shouldn’t be here, Eleanor. The state police told you to stay away from me.”
“I don’t care what those glorified traffic cops said!” she snarled, slamming her expensive leather handbag onto my bedside table. “I am here to give you one final opportunity to fix this mistake before I unleash my family’s legal team on you. You will call the district attorney today, say that you suffered a psychological break, and recant those absurd accusations against Julian.”
“I will never recant the truth,” I said coldly, refusing to shrink back into the mattress. “Your son fractured my rib and tried to isolate me from everyone I love. He belongs in a cell.”
Eleanor leaned over the bed guardrail, her face inches from mine, smelling of stale martini and expensive perfume. “If you proceed with these charges, Elena, I swear to God I will spend every single dollar of my late husband’s fortune to destroy you in domestic relations court. I will hire the most aggressive psychiatric experts in New York to testify that you are emotionally unstable, paranoid, and completely unfit to raise a child.”
She pointed a trembling finger at my draped stomach. “When that baby is born, I will petition the family court for full temporary custody on behalf of Julian’s family. We will prove that a woman with a history of documented 'hysteria' cannot be trusted with a newborn heir. You will be stripped of custody before you even leave the maternity ward!”
“You’re pathetic, Eleanor,” I said, my voice shockingly steady even as my heart hammered against my ribs. “You really think you can buy your way out of felony abuse footage?”
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Before she could utter another toxic threat, the hospital room door was kicked open with tremendous force. My father stood on the threshold, holding two steaming cups of coffee, flanked by a tall, broad-shouldered woman wearing an NCIS badge clipped to her belt and two uniformed hospital security guards.
My father’s eyes locked onto Eleanor, cold as Arctic ice. “You have exactly three seconds to get away from my daughter’s bed before I have you arrested for witness tampering and violating a hospital protective order.”
