Chapter 14
The rain had intensified into a downpour by the time Emma returned to the ancestral estate that evening. As she parked her car in the private garage, a figure stepped out from the shadows of the hedges. Emma insulin-triggeredly stiffened, reaching into her purse, but relaxed slightly—though her guard remained fully up—when she recognized the soaked, disheveled blonde hair. It was Elaine.
The older woman looked nothing like the polished, pearl-wearing socialite from Thanksgiving dinner. Her mascara was running down her cheeks, and she was shivering in a thin trench coat.
"Emma, please," Elaine sobbed, taking a step forward. "They froze our credit cards. The hotel declined our payment this morning. We have nowhere to go."
Emma did not step out of the rain, remaining under the dry overhang of the garage. "You have liquid assets, Elaine. The jewelry you're wearing is worth more than most people make in a decade. Sell it."
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"You don't understand!" Elaine cried, moving closer, her hands pleading. "Richard is losing his mind. He's frantic. He owes dangerous people money. He dragged me into this!"
"You are only abandoning a sinking ship because you helped drill the holes, Elaine," Emma said coldly. "I am not unfreezing anything. If you want a lawyer, apply for a public defender." Emma turned and walked into the house, leaving her stepmother weeping alone in the cold rain.
