Chapter 3
Robert tried to recover quickly.
Too quickly.
“I was guessing.”
Sarah turned the silver coin between her fingers.
“No.”
She looked at him.
“You knew there was a second coin.”
Robert laughed.
“Everyone knew Daniel collected family junk.”
“No one called it a coin.”
Silence.
Sarah stood.
“You did.”
Helen stepped beside Robert.
“You're turning nothing into theater.”
Sarah looked at her.
“Then explain why you withheld food from a three-year-old over it.”
Helen’s face sharpened.
“Because she was being disobedient.”
“About what?”
“About everything.”
Sarah almost smiled.
“Convenient.”
Ethan tugged gently at Lily’s sleeve.
The younger girl leaned closer to him.
Sarah noticed.
Children formed alliances when adults became dangerous.
That alone told her too much.
She looked at Ethan.
“Where did Daniel put the coin?”
“In her cardigan.”
“When?”
“The last harvest dinner.”
Sarah's breathing slowed.
Daniel had died six days after that dinner.
“What else did he say?”
Ethan hesitated.
Robert leaned forward.
“Boy.”
Sarah's voice cut across him.
“Robert.”
He stopped.
Ethan swallowed.
“He told Lily it was a game.”
“What game?”
“He said if anybody asked about the orchard room, she should say she forgot.”
Lily looked at Sarah.
“I did good?”
Sarah's chest tightened.
“Yes.”
Helen laughed.
“Look at that. Rewarding a child for lying.”
Sarah turned.
“You starved her because Daniel told her not to trust you.”
Helen's mouth tightened.
“He filled that girl’s head with nonsense before he died.”
There.
Sarah caught it.
“Before he died?”
Helen froze.
Sarah stepped closer.
“How do you know when he gave her the instruction?”
“He was always whispering around the children.”
“That wasn't my question.”
Robert slammed his palm against the table.
“Enough.”
Sarah looked at him.
He pointed toward the coin.
“Daniel was paranoid.”
“About you?”
“About everyone.”
“Interesting.”
Robert’s face reddened.
“He was becoming unstable.”
Sarah’s eyes hardened.
Daniel had been many things.
Reckless.
Proud.
Too willing to protect people who did not deserve it.
Unstable was not one of them.
Helen sighed.
“Sarah, your husband is dead.”
Lily flinched.
Helen saw it.
And kept going.
“He can't come running every time you or that child feel hurt.”
Sarah’s voice lowered.
“Leave Daniel out of this.”
Helen smiled.
“Why? Because dead men can't defend themselves?”
Lily started crying again.
Helen looked at her.
“Oh, please.”
She pointed at the burned steak still on the carpet.
“There are children who would be grateful for that.”
Sarah stared.
“Then you eat it.”
Helen stopped.
A capo near the end of the table coughed into his hand to hide something that might have been a laugh.
Robert heard it.
His anger sharpened.
“This family used to understand hierarchy.”
Sarah turned the coin over again.
“And apparently hierarchy means feeding one grandchild and humiliating another.”
“She isn't like Ethan.”
Sarah stopped.
“What does that mean?”
Helen looked at Robert.
Another mistake.
Sarah stepped closer.
“What does that mean?”
Robert answered.
“Ethan listens.”
Sarah stared.
“And Lily?”
“She carries Daniel's blood and none of his discipline.”
Sarah's expression went cold.
“She is Daniel's daughter.”
“That’s exactly the problem.”
The room went silent.
Robert realized it.
Too late.
Sarah set the coin on the table.
“What problem?”
Robert said nothing.
Ethan looked scared.
Lily hid behind Sarah’s leg.
Helen stepped forward.
“You're twisting words.”
“No.”
Sarah looked directly at Robert.
“He just said my daughter being Daniel's child is a problem.”
Robert's face hardened.
“He trusted her with something he should have given to adults.”
“A silver coin.”
“Not the coin.”
There.
Another slip.
Sarah waited.
Robert closed his mouth.
She smiled faintly.
“Thank you again.”
Robert stared at her.
Sarah bent and picked up the coin.
“Where does NORTH open?”
Helen scoffed.
“It opens nothing.”
Ethan whispered:
“The apple door.”
Every adult looked at him.
Sarah turned.
“What apple door?”
The boy pointed vaguely toward the north side of the estate.
“The one under the old press house.”
Robert stood.
“Enough.”
Sarah's bodyguards immediately moved.
He stopped.
Ethan continued.
“Uncle Daniel took us there.”
“When?”
“Before he died.”
“What did he show you?”
Ethan shook his head.
“He wouldn't let me inside.”
Sarah looked at Lily.
The little girl pressed closer.
“Did Daddy take you inside?”
Lily nodded.
“What was there?”
She thought.
“Boxes.”
“What boxes?”
“Black ones.”
Robert’s face drained.
Sarah saw it.
“So did Helen.”
Lily continued.
“And a man.”
Sarah's eyes narrowed.
“What man?”
The little girl frowned.
Then pointed toward Robert.
“Grandpa called him Mr. Vale.”
Robert closed his eyes.
Sarah knew the name.
Marcus Vale had once moved weapons for the Bellinis.
Then Daniel banished him from the estate seven years earlier.
No explanation had ever been given publicly.
Sarah looked at Robert.
“You met Marcus Vale in the orchard room.”
Robert said nothing.
Ethan whispered:
“Uncle Daniel saw them too.”
Sarah turned.
“And?”
Ethan's voice dropped.
“He got really angry.”
Robert pushed back his chair.
“That's enough for tonight.”
Sarah looked at him.
“No.”
Her voice was almost gentle.
“You've spent months deciding when my daughter eats.”
She picked up the silver coin.
“Now I decide when you leave.”
Robert stared at her.
Then at Helen.
For the first time, Sarah saw something pass between them.
Not anger.
Urgency.
May you like
They weren't afraid of the coin.
They were afraid of what was still under the orchard.
