Chapter 3 - The Interrogation in the East Wing
While Damian tended to Clara's wounds, Julian Reyes had already relocated Eleanor Sterling to the cold, concrete confines of the basement interrogation block—a soundproofed room originally built by the estate's previous owners during the prohibition era.
Eleanor sat tied to a metal chair, her silk blouse ruined, her makeup smeared into grotesque smudges.
The heavy steel door swung open, and Damian walked in. He had changed out of his coat into a simple black button-down shirt, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He pulled up a metal chair, sat down backward straddling it, and rested his chin on his crossed arms.
"Let's talk about your father," Damian said softly.
Eleanor spat a glob of blood onto the concrete floor. "You're making a massive mistake, Damian. My father finances half your political leverage in the Senate. If he finds out you locked me in a basement—"
"Your father already knows," Damian interrupted smoothly.
Eleanor’s defiant expression faltered for a fraction of a second. "What?"
"I called Senator Sterling ten minutes ago," Damian continued, his voice devoid of emotion. "I played him the surveillance audio from the hallway. I let him hear his daughter scream that she locked a six-year-old child in an oxygen-deprived vault to teach her a lesson."
"You... you called my father?" Eleanor whispered, horror finally piercing through her narcissism.
"Senator Sterling is a pragmatic man," Damian replied. "He told me that he has no daughter named Eleanor. He told me that a woman named Eleanor Sterling tragically passed away of a sudden aneurysm this morning, and that her body will be shipped out of the country by midnight."
Eleanor lunged forward against the ropes, her eyes wide with unadulterated terror. "You can't do that! You can't just make me disappear!"
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"In my world, Eleanor, people who hurt children don't get trials. They get erased," Damian stood up, smoothing his sleeves. "Julian will take you to the airstrip. Don't pack a bag. You won't need clothes where you're going."
As Damian turned and walked out of the room, Eleanor’s hysterical screams echoed off the concrete walls, swallowed completely by the heavy soundproof insulation.
