Chapter 5 - The Confession of an EmpressEleanor Vance arrived at the hospital room unannounced, accompanied only by a cane and an umbrella she did not need. The grand dame looked smaller, stripped of the retinue of housekeepers and sycophantic cousins who usually surrounded her.
Clara adjusted her pillows, watching Eleanor with steady, cautious eyes. "Mrs. Vance."
"You never called me Grandmother," Eleanor observed, sitting in the armchair beside the bed. "Even after David married you in secret."
"Because you treated David like an asset, not a grandson," Clara replied evenly. "And you treated Marcus like a liability the moment he refused to cook the books."
Eleanor closed her eyes, the silence stretching long and heavy between them. When she opened them, her eyes were wet.
"I thought control was protection," Eleanor murmured. "When my husband died, the creditors hovered like vultures. I taught my children that power was the only shield against poverty. I taught Victoria too well. I gave her cruelty and called it business acumen."
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"She tried to kill your great-grandchild on your own floor," Clara said without bitterness, only stating fact.
"I know," Eleanor whispered, bowing her head. "And for that, the Vance name deserves whatever ruin follows."
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