Vengeful adults

“Where are we going?” Eleanor stared out the window as the cars branched away from the route that should have led them to Môshon.

“The police station,” Kan said calmly.

“What?” She turned her wide eyes to him.

He laughed at her surprised expression, “You don’t think I am going to turn myself in, do you?”

She gave him an angry look, and looked away, “You’ve got jokes, Chairman Sullivan.” 

and that transported him back to Ariel, saying ~yes chairman~ last night. 

He exhaled, blood rushing down to his groin.

“When did you become so feisty?” he said quietly.

“Since I realized that is the exact type you like.” 

“What?”

“Your wife is one fireball, and you fell in love with her in under two years. I am serving and quiet and submissive and have been in this..” She trailed off, her lips puckering like she just tasted something bad. “This situation for over a decade.”

Kan laughed, and she stared at him with wide eyes, perhaps shocked that he would find this funny.

“Ariel is no fireball. She is actually really sweet and calm, and would rather not have a disagreement.” He said, his smile sad now.

Besides the horrible things Ophelia did to the woman, it had taken his own coldness to her to toughen her up and turn her into the woman she was today. 

But she only showed that side to strangers. 

Evil strangers that were out to get her first.

She was still the same sweet woman at home, with their son, him, their domestic staff and there was even the knocked-up maid from yesterday. 

He had all the money in the world, but it would never have crossed his mind to do what she did yesterday, not because he was wicked, but just because he could not be bothered to want to hear her side of the story that confirmed she was not a kidnapper.

As they neared the high-rise brick building of the police station, he thought he saw a lone Tucker private plate-numbered car, driving in.

He frowned, that was odd. 

The Tuckers and Sullivans almost never drove alone, especially in daylight when they knew the other family could strike at any time in their never-ending struggle for complete power over Mõshon.

And what could they possibly need at the police station?

The car took a bend, but he could not see who was sitting in the driver’s seat because of the angle he was sitting in. 

He began to speak into the microphone at the same time as Eleanor spoke.

“Slow down, I want to see who that is.”

“Is that not Mrs Tucker?”

Kan jerked his head sideways to look at her. 

She could only be talking about one person, but there were several Mrs Tuckers in that family, so he clarified,

“Who?”

“Ophelia?” Eleanor said with a frown, as if to say who else could she possibly be talking about. 

The other cars in his convoy wisely stood back while only the car he was in drove into the garage and parked on the other side.

He waited, watching to see whether Ophelia would truly step out. 

He did not wait for long when he saw her get out of the car and lock the door.

So Ariel had been right after all. Last night’s sting operation had all been Ophelia's plan. 

It was too huge a coincidence. 

Why else would she be at the same police station the officers came from, the very next morning?

“What is going on?” Eleanor finally spoke up.

“A lot,” Kan responded, keeping his eyes pinned on Ophelia. 

He decided then that there was no need to go to the police station. He could get all the evidence for Ariel the smart way.

He pulled his phone out, “Ren?”

“Yes chairman.”

“Have the most nondescript person in one of the cars hurry to the garage and follow Ophelia Tucker. I need a record of who she sees in that building, even better if you can find out what they talk about.”

“Yes chairman,” and the call ended.

This was good. This was way better than what he had hoped to achieve today. If his men could find even one person connected to this whole thing, they were set.

There were many creative ways to make that person talk and tell them all that they know.

“What’s a lot?” Eleanor pressed beside him, and he turned to smile at her. 

He fingered her scarf that was still in his hands.

“We think Ophelia has found out about Oliver,” Kan said, and launched into an explanation of the bugged ring, the poisoned vent, the suspicious aristans that kept calling at his mansion till the sting operation last night.

“It’s all like a movie,” Eleanor said quietly.

"Our lives have always been like a movie,” he said quietly, the image of his twin flashing through his mind.

“What do you think she plans to do when she finds your son?” Eleanor turned to look at him. 

And as he stared back at her, he wondered whether it had been wise to trust her with that secret. 

But this was Eleanor. 

She knew every last detail of all the things he had been involved in, even the terrible ones, and she had not squeaked.

Especially after he married Ariel so suddenly. 

Despite her disappointment and pain, she still had not squeaked.

“Does Ophelia strike you as a good stepmother? Or one who would love to share?”

Eleanor sighed and looked away, “So she might hurt a child?” She asked, and he saw the look of disgust in her eyes. 

A similar look to the one Tucker had given him when he realized he was aware that his daughter would be in that car, but gassed it anyway.

“This is war, and there are casualties in war, my pretty.”

“With children?”

“Who’ll be vengeful adults in no time? Look at us. We were children once,” he said, and Eleanor was looking at him like she did not know who he was anymore, and that annoyed him a little.

Why was she suddenly acting like she had not been here, like she had not been a witness to all he had to do to save his family name and honor all these years?