Chapter 9
Lenette asked to see Elias.
I said no.
Then corrected myself.
Celia’s decision too.
She also said no.
Good.
Lenette cried.
That did not create access.
She wrote a letter instead.
We kept it.
Not for Elias yet.
For later if he wanted it.
In it she admitted everything specifically.
I told your mother you doubted him.
I helped prepare the false urn.
I intercepted letters.
I turned you away from your father’s home.
I put you in the trunk because I was afraid four years of lies would end in one minute.
No excuses.
Then one sentence:
I told myself keeping you away from Alderbourne protected you from this family.
That contained some truth.
Alderbourne could be dangerous.
But then:
The truth is, I also wanted the life your existence complicated.
There.
That was the sentence I respected.
Not forgave.
Respected.
May you like
People become dangerous when they turn desire into morality.
Lenette had spent years calling ambition protection.
