Chapter 20 - THE HOSPITAL CONFRONTATION
At seven o'clock in the morning, Clara and Ethan walked down the sterile, fluorescent-lit hallway of Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan.
Two armed federal marshals stood guard outside Room 402, where Eleanor Sterling lay hooked up to heart monitors.
Clara stepped into the room alone, leaving Ethan to watch from the glass window in the door.
Eleanor looked frail and small in the white hospital bed, her short silver hair messily spread across the thin pillow.
Her dark eyes opened slowly as Clara’s footsteps approached the side of the bed, a bitter smile touching her dry lips.
"Came to watch me die, Clara?" Eleanor rasped out, her voice weak but still filled with her signature malice.
"The doctor says you had a mild stress-induced panic attack, Eleanor... you’re not dying today," Clara answered calmly.
"You took everything from me... my company, my reputation, my son," Eleanor coughed out, her fingers clutching the bedsheet.
"You took those things from yourself when you chose greed over human life, Eleanor," Clara corrected without emotion.
Clara leaned down over the bed rail, coming face-to-face with the woman who had terrorized her entire childhood.
"I found the safe in Greenwich, Eleanor... I know what my mother did," Clara whispered softly.
Eleanor’s bitter smile widened slightly, a sinister glint appearing in her tired eyes.
"Then you finally know... you are the daughter of a traitor," Eleanor croaked out triumphantly.
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"No," Clara answered smoothly, her face radiating absolute, victorious peace. "I am the daughter who finished the fight."
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