CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 8
The Man Who Created Her
Nathan had spent days trying to understand Eleanor.
The woman who entered his life.
The woman who destroyed his family.
The woman who claimed everything she did was part of a plan.
But the more he learned...
The more he realized something terrifying.
Eleanor Whitmore was not the beginning of the story.
She was the result of it.
Someone had shaped her.
Someone had trained her.
Someone had turned a person into a weapon.
And that person was Victor Hale.
Nathan first saw Victor in person three days after the phone call.
Not in a dark alley.
Not in some hidden location.
Not surrounded by criminals.
He found him sitting peacefully in a quiet café.
Reading a newspaper.
Drinking coffee.
Like an ordinary man.
That disturbed Nathan more than anything.
People expected monsters to look like monsters.
They expected cruelty to have an obvious face.
But Victor Hale looked like someone's grandfather.
Calm.
Educated.
Patient.
That was what made him dangerous.
"You came."
Victor said without looking up.
Nathan sat across from him.
"You knew I would."
Victor smiled slightly.
"I knew you would want answers."
Nathan placed a file on the table.
"Eleanor."
Victor looked at the file.
No emotion.
"She was very good."
Nathan's expression hardened.
"She destroyed people's lives."
Victor looked up.
"She destroyed a family that destroyed mine."
"That doesn't make it right."
Victor studied him.
"Interesting."
"What?"
"You sound exactly like Rebecca."
Nathan froze.
The name changed everything.
"You knew her."
Victor looked away.
"She was my sister."
For the first time, Nathan saw something behind Victor's anger.
Pain.
Real pain.
"Tell me about her."
Nathan said.
Victor laughed quietly.
"You want to know about Rebecca?"
A pause.
"After everything my family suffered?"
Nathan didn't answer.
Victor leaned back.
"She was the only person in our family who still believed people could change."
Victor looked out the window.
"She believed your family could admit what they did."
"She believed your father could tell the truth."
"But he didn't."
Nathan remained silent.
"Instead, he chose power."
Victor's fingers tightened around his coffee cup.
"And Rebecca paid the price."
Nathan looked directly at him.
"Did you kill her?"
The question sat between them.
The café suddenly felt too quiet.
Victor looked surprised.
Then he smiled sadly.
"No."
A pause.
"But I know who did."
Nathan leaned forward.
"Who?"
Victor looked at him.
"The same person who has been protecting the Whitmore name for decades."
Nathan thought of Margaret.
His mother.
"No."
Victor said nothing.
That silence scared him.
"Why Eleanor?"
Nathan asked.
Victor's expression changed.
Because that was the question he had been waiting for.
"Because Eleanor was already broken."
Nathan frowned.
"What?"
"Before she became Eleanor Whitmore..."
Victor said.
"She was Elena Voss."
"I know."
"No."
Victor shook his head.
"You know the name."
"You don't know the girl."
Victor opened another file.
Inside were photographs.
A young woman.
A teenager.
A child.
Nathan looked through them.
Elena Voss.
But not the woman he knew.
The girl in those pictures looked afraid.
"Her parents died when she was young."
Victor explained.
"She entered the system."
"Nobody wanted her."
"Nobody protected her."
Nathan looked up.
"And you did?"
Victor nodded.
"I found her when she was seventeen."
"Why?"
Victor's answer surprised him.
"Because she reminded me of Rebecca."
A young woman who had been abandoned.
A young woman who had lost everything.
Victor had taken Elena in.
But he had not saved her.
He had transformed her.
"I taught her how the world worked."
Victor said.
"How?"
"How people lie."
"How they manipulate."
"How they use kindness as a weapon."
Nathan's expression darkened.
"You taught her to become like you."
Victor did not deny it.
"Yes."
The honesty shocked Nathan.
"Why admit that?"
"Because it is the truth."
Victor looked at him.
"And truth is the only thing your family has never been able to handle."
Nathan thought about Eleanor.
The smile.
The charity events.
The perfect wife.
"Did she ever love me?"
Victor was silent.
For the first time, he seemed uncertain.
"At first?"
"No."
Nathan looked down.
The answer still hurt.
"But later?"
Victor looked away.
"That was her mistake."
Nathan looked up.
"What?"
"She started caring."
The words surprised him.
Victor continued.
"She was supposed to destroy you."
"But she started protecting you."
"She delayed things."
"She changed plans."
"She made excuses."
Nathan stared.
"Why?"
Victor's voice became quiet.
"Because she became human again."
For the first time, Nathan wondered if Eleanor's betrayal was not the entire story.
Maybe there had been a battle inside her.
A fight between who Victor created...
And who she wanted to become.
"Then why did she continue?"
Nathan asked.
Victor looked at him.
"Because people like Eleanor don't escape easily."
"What does that mean?"
Victor's expression hardened.
"She was afraid of me."
The words shocked Nathan.
"You?"
Victor nodded.
"I knew her weaknesses."
"I knew her fears."
"I knew exactly how to control her."
Nathan realized something.
Eleanor was not only the person who hurt people.
She was also someone who had been controlled.
"Where is the evidence?"
Nathan asked.
Victor looked at him.
"What evidence?"
"The evidence about my family."
Victor smiled.
"Still thinking like a Whitmore."
Nathan frowned.
"What does that mean?"
"You want proof before you accept the truth."
Victor stood.
"Your mother has the proof."
Nathan froze.
"Where?"
Victor walked away.
Before leaving, he stopped.
"Ask Margaret about the night Rebecca disappeared."
A pause.
"Ask her who was holding Rebecca's hand when she died."
Nathan felt his blood turn cold.
Because Victor had not said:
Who killed Rebecca.
He had said:
Who was holding her hand.
That night, Nathan returned to the mansion.
Margaret was waiting.
She knew.
She always knew.
"You met Victor."
Nathan nodded.
"Tell me the truth."
Margaret looked terrified.
"About Rebecca?"
"About everything."
A long silence.
Then Margaret whispered:
"I was there the night Rebecca died."
May you like
Nathan stopped breathing.
End of Chapter 8
