She told a lie because she had pinky sworn to Byran that she wouldnât tell Balfour that he had let her in.
If she said she broke in by herself, that would sound fishy, and she could be booted out on the spot.
So, she had to say it was Patricia who brought her in.
Only when Patricia was mentioned did Balfour not get his knickers in a twist. Even if he was a bit miffed, he couldnât go blaming his sister.
âPatricia brought you in?â Balfour furrowed his brow Ellinorâs guess was spot on, Balfour didnât blame Patricia, and he didnât kick her out right away.
Just then, Quinton hurried in, spotting Balfour. He beeâlined over and said, âMr. Howard, thereâs a pressing call for youâ
Balfour shot Ellinor a chilly glance, then took Quintonâs phone, âWhatâs up? Found it? Where?â
All she could hear was Balfour speaking a few terse words into the phone, then he turned and walked to a quieter spot to continue his call.
After that, he never came back.
Ellinor hung around in the banquet hall for a bit, got the lay of the land, then got up and moved around, on the hunt for any clues about her motherâs disappearance As she wandered about, she spotted a massive family portrait in the mansion.
Many faces were painted on it, perhaps dozens. Ellinor didnât recognize most of them but did pick out old Mr. Bagley, old Mrs. Bagley, her mom, Mr. Howard senior, and a seemingly tenâyearâold Balfour And herself.
Back then, she was a tiny baby cradled in her motherâs arms.
There was no mistaking the brush strokes on the painting for Ellinor. It was a family portrait that her mother had painted herself At that time, she was a newborn. She was a child with a family and a mother by her side.
Alas, life was unpredictable. Some stuff she didnât understand happened and her mom was framed by the Howard family as a loose woman and got the boot. Her mom then took her and hightailed it out of there.
Later on, she was separated from her mom, and they havenât met since.
One thing that didnât add up for Ellinor was why her mom, after being kicked out by the Howard family, didnât take her back to her maternal grandparents. Why didnât she leave her with them but instead handed her over to an old classmate with no blood relation?
She had too many questions about what happened back then, and it was super confusing.
Suddenly, Ellinor felt something was off in the air, she spun around and spotted a figure trying to skedaddle.