The Thornes

Chapter 2

The drive back home was in silence. Josephina, realizing Anthony was deep in his thoughts, just let him be. Pulling over at her house, Anthony told Josephina he wasn't spending the night with her. At that point one thing was clear; whatever happened that evening had her fiancé worried. Anthony hated staying at home that was why he bought his own place in the city's capital, Gleensfield - a bit far from home. He turned towards her, kissed her on the forehead and asked her to go inside. Josephina nodded in response and got out of the car as Anthony watched her go inside, then he drove off. As she got into her apartment, Josephina stood still in the darkness trying to process all that had happened that night, especially the part where Elora was the one to plan her wedding. She could not even argue about that with Anthony due to his sudden mood swing upon finding out about Eliazer. Her thought-filled head somewhat made her forget that the lights in her apartment were still off. Quickly, she removed her heels, put on the lights, and sat on the couch extremely exhausted and angry. Elora choosing her wedding dress, colors, and menu, to her, really was hurtful and unimaginable.
Just then her mum rang in. She picked up, spoke to her, and told her about Elora overseeing her wedding preparations. Her mum, though a bit disappointed upon hearing that, brushed it off, encouraging her that marrying the love of her life was all that mattered. She knew her mum made a valid point, and of course, it was their money and however they chose to spend it couldn't necessarily be her problem. Right after speaking to her mother, an unknown number called and picking up, she realized it was Elora. The sarcasm in her voice clearly proved that she was going to enjoy the role that had been given her. In an angered voice, Josephina asked her the reason for calling and in response, Elora told her that neither was she elated to call but then since she would be overseeing the wedding preparations, it was enough reason to call her. Elora had also called to invite her for a brunch the following day at the Starcity restaurant to discuss her wedding preparations and choose also from the list of dates that Wyll had provided, which one she'd prefer for the wedding. The fact that her father in-law chose her wedding date was not strange at all, she thought.
Back at the Thorne mansion, Anthony had called a meeting with Mathéo and Elora on his way back. When he got there, they were already in his room. As he was about entering, he saw a large brown envelope addressed to his sister, Elora, lying at the doorstep. He took it and gave it to her asking why she wouldn't pick that up while she was entering the room. Apparently, the envelope was not there when she got in and this was confirmed by Mathéo who came with her. Anthony knew something was up when an envelope addressed to her sister was left at his doorstep. He then suggested to his siblings that they find out from Maxith the reason for leaving Elora's parcel at his doorstep. When Maxith was asked, he surprisingly told them that he hadn't received anything that evening and therefore knows nothing about the said parcel. Anthony then let her sister open the envelope. Immediately Elora opened the envelope, he asked Maxith to leave.
Elora's parcel contained two smaller envelopes addressed to Mathéo and Anthony. Mathéo smiled broadly after opening his envelope, and so did Elora. Anthony's facial cues were not readable. Elora's envelope contained two documents, one on Eliazer and the other, not what she had expected. The documents received by the siblings indicated that Eliazer was not who he claimed he was. His business was suffering, he was an ex-convict who also had multiple allegations leveled against him. Eliazer's source of wealth, per the documents, came from his gambling business. This was their ticket and chance to drive Eliazer out of the family. Elora just started laughing so hard that she told her brothers how easy her job had been made. When she asked her brothers about the content of their letters, they both claimed it was the exact documents she had received on Eliazer. Well they lied and Elora could tell when both lie. Mathéo's eye twitches while Anthony tends to scratch his head. Elora's second envelope contained something else aside Eliazer's documents, which was her two brothers dirtiest secrets. It suddenly dawned on Elora that something wasn't adding up. Then she claimed also that her envelopes only contained Eliazer's details and nothing more.
Each one of them quickly closed their second letters looking very much as if all were hiding something. The truth was that none of them was willing to tell the other the content of their second letter. Anthony asked Elora what she was going to do with the documents. She bluntly told her brothers she was going to leak the documents to the press. The truth however would be altered a bit to serve a greater purpose. Anthony warned her to tread cautiously and investigate before taking any action. Elora was overly excited, running impatient, and therefore ignored his brother's advice. When Mathéo finally asked about the reason for the meeting, Anthony told him it had already been settled as it was about Eliazer. Anthony was a bit happy but very uncomfortable. "Who could have possibly brought this, what was his or her reason for sending them such documents" - these questions kept bugging him. Something was wrong but he couldn't figure out what. One thing looked quite certain; whoever sent these documents lived with them. That was scary enough. This partly was the reason for cautioning his sister who was just eager to destroy Eliazer. When Elora and Mathéo left for their chambers, Anthony called Josephina and apologized for not calling earlier. She told him about the brunch, as well as his sister's sarcastic tone over the phone. Anthony asked her to be patient with Elora and get to know her better. To Josephina, that was not going to happen but she agreed anyway.
The next day came with a massive blow. The Thornes were at breakfast when Maxith brought in the newspapers. When Wyll read its front page, he was extremely furious. He asked his children about how this had gotten out. Surprisingly, Elora asked her father what he meant by that. Wyll showed her the papers and she as well acted very surprised. Maxith added that the news was on tabloids, mainstream media, and other social media. When Eliazer saw the news, he wasn't bothered in anyway, although his business was going to be investigated and closed if this was found to be true. He then looked at his father and sighed. Harletta looked at Wyll and asked that he let the kids know. Wyll then told his family that he was already aware of these developments but what bothered him that moment was the fact that other people had also become aware. He was therefore going to pull some strings to halt the supposed investigations on Eliazer's business.
The next incident was more surprising. Wyll directed that Eliazer take up Elora's position as the CEO of the Thorne Business Empire while Elora serve as his Deputy Chief Executive Officer because Eliazer's business was going to be eventually closed. This came as a huge shock because Elora couldn't believe that the person, she planned on getting rid of, has now become someone she needs to answer to at work. The expression on Elora's face was coupled with anger, disbelief and hurt. She quietly got up from the dining table and straight into her room. That was when everything became clear to Anthony. Whoever sent the documents was out to destroy Elora. Wyll vowed to find out the person behind the spread of this news which he had kept hidden for some time now. He then left with Harletta to work while the other siblings decided to check up on Elora.
When Anthony, Mathéo and Dofia got to Elora's room, it was locked and upon all the knocking, she refused to open the door. Elora sat still infront of her mirror just staring at her reflection. She didn't move nor did she say a thing. She just sat there hoping everything would just be a joke. Then she started laughing hysterically. She was on the verge of losing her mind at the mere thought of subjecting to a stranger who came in just yesterday. Elora then remembered her brunch with Josephina and called her to cancel. "Who the hell does she think she is to cancel the brunch?" - Josephina thought. Haven gone through her closet to find a suitable dress for the occasion, she was even more annoyed thinking about the effort she put in just to get that one dress.
Night time came pretty quickly but Elora had still locked herself up in her room sitting at the exact spot, not moved an inch. She refused to eat anything neither did she come out to talk to anybody. Her siblings were a bit worried but her husband was not bothered at all. Truth be told, their marriage was on the verge of collapsing. He was also involved with someone else who he had earlier introduced to Elora. He and Elora already had an agreement that the divorce would be finalized after Elora had gotten hold of her inheritance, even though Wyll deemed failed marriages as a sign of immaturity and irresponsibility. Also, they had both agreed on a fair share of thirty million dollars should Elora's inheritance plan be successful. That indeed was the only thread stitching together their marriage; the money, and not even the kids.
Dofia took her picnic basket and packed in lots of fruits, drinks, and food. When Mathéo came into the kitchen, he smiled and asked; "Going to your favorite hideout?". She turned, gave him a hug, and answered that she will be back at the main house in two days. Dofia had a fully furnished and very cozy tree house which was situated in the woods. That was a gift from her brothers on her 17th birthday. She often stayed there to avoid drama and tension at home. She took her basket and backpack, and headed to her tree house. Upon arrival, after a long walk, Dofia placed her packed food in the fridge and decided to stargaze.
Just when she was about to, something caught her eye. She saw Eliazer walking towards the woods from the main house. She found it a bit strange since it was quite late. She stood there looking, and again realized that a female figure was also heading towards the woods but from a different direction. Dofia then, out of curiosity, decided to find out who. She hastily got down, waited a bit, and followed the lady from a distance. Quietly, she crawled and hid in the bushes. Peeping through the bushes by making a small opening, to her surprise, the other lady was Harletta. Why was her Stepmom talking to her brother in the woods? – she thought. Fortunately for her, the moon and stars had shown beautifully that night which made the woods a bit clearer. The pathways also did help a lot as it provided suitable conditions for Dofia to be able to take shots and record the current proceedings. Things got even weirder when Eliazer began kissing Harletta.