Chapter 6 - The Guests Who Came to Invest
By noon on Easter Sunday, cars filled the driveway.
Vanessa decorated the dining room with white tulips, gold napkins, and crystal glasses Eleanor had inherited from her mother.
She wore an ivory dress and greeted guests as the hostess.
Eleanor had been cooking since six that morning.
She prepared ham, potatoes, glazed carrots, fresh rolls, and three desserts.
Vanessa rejected two table arrangements and sent Eleanor back to the kitchen.
Daniel brought investors through the house.
He showed them Robert’s study.
He described plans for removing walls.
He told one banker the elderly family member living onsite would relocate before renovations began.
Eleanor heard the words through the partially open kitchen door.
The “elderly family member” was her.
A developer named Charles Benton asked when Daniel expected title control.
“Very soon,” Daniel replied.
“Any family resistance?”
“Nothing that can’t be managed.”
Eleanor gripped the spoon in her hand.
She wanted to walk into the dining room and expose everything.
Ruth had advised patience.
The cameras needed to record what Daniel and Vanessa intended.
During appetizers, Vanessa entered the kitchen and tasted the orange sauce.
She made a face.
“It’s bitter.”
“It isn’t finished.”
“You always have an excuse.”
Daniel appeared in the doorway with Charles behind him.
Vanessa lowered her voice but kept it loud enough for the guest to hear.
“Your mother forgot the rolls and nearly left the oven on.”
Neither claim was true.
Daniel sighed theatrically.
“She’s been struggling.”
Eleanor looked at him.
He avoided her eyes.
Vanessa placed a basket of eggs beside the stove.
She had spent the morning arranging them for the children’s table.
But there were no children at the dinner.
Eleanor realized the basket had another purpose.
Vanessa glanced toward the small camera she believed was hidden inside a decorative clock.
Daniel had installed it that morning.
He did not know Ruth’s camera was recording from another angle.
Vanessa reached for one of the eggs.
“Maybe if we show people what we deal with, they’ll understand.”
May you like
Daniel did not stop her.
👉 Eleanor finally understood that Vanessa intended to provoke her in front of witnesses—and Daniel had positioned his own camera to capture only Eleanor’s reaction.
