Chapter 10 - Blueprints of a Stolen Dream: What Elizabeth Kept Hidden
Maya spent forty-eight hours in the hospital for observation before the doctors cleared her to go home.
Those two days changed everything.
I didn’t check the financial news. I didn’t take calls from the press, who were running frantic headlines about my sudden resignation from Vance Enterprises. I spent every second in that room—feeding Maya her formula, learning how to change diapers from the patient nurses, and watching Elizabeth slowly let her guard down.
When we finally returned to the Lake Forest house, a peaceful calm settled over us.
That evening, after Maya fell into a deep, healthy sleep in her crib, Elizabeth led me down to the basement of the house.
“There’s something you need to see,” she said quietly, turning on the basement lights.
In the center of the finished room sat a large drafting table covered in white tracing paper, alongside several large storage containers filled with architectural models.
I walked over to the table.
Spread out before me were complete, meticulously detailed blueprints for the Chicago River Cultural Pavilion—a massive public community center and park that the city had commissioned four years ago.
“You finished it?” I breathed, tracing the exquisite hand-drawn elevations with my fingertips.
“I worked on it at night, after Maya went to sleep in that tiny apartment,” Elizabeth said, standing beside me, her eyes reflecting the overhead fluorescent light. “When your mother sabotaged my firm and had my credentials blacklisted, I thought about quitting. But then I looked at Maya, and I realized I couldn’t let Eleanor Vance steal my passion. I designed this entire complex for the city’s public arts foundation.”
She paused, swallowing hard.
“The city council is voting on the final design proposals this Friday at the Metropolitan Civic Gala,” Elizabeth continued softly. “The Sterling Foundation submitted their own commercial high-rise proposal. If the Sterlings win, this land will be turned into luxury condos that ordinary families can never access. If my design wins, it becomes a free public park, library, and arts center for the children of Chicago.”
I looked from the blueprints to Elizabeth’s face.
She wasn’t just a brilliant architect; she possessed the kind of visionary soul that created lasting beauty for the world, while I had spent my life building financial cages to hoard wealth.
“Why didn’t you submit it officially?” I asked.
“Because the entry fee and the mandatory insurance bond require a fifty-thousand-dollar deposit,” Elizabeth said, looking down at her hands. “I had eighty-seven dollars in my checking account.”
A fierce, protective smile spread across my face.
May you like
I reached out, taking both of her hands into mine.
“Ellie,” I said, looking deeply into her eyes. “Your design is going to win. And we are going to that gala together to make sure of it.”
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