Chapter 6
The button belonged to a coat.
A black service coat worn only by Sterling guards assigned to the lake house.
I knew because I designed them.
Marcus knew too.
He stared at the metal.
“Could belong to anyone.”
I looked at him.
“Name one.”
Silence.
Isabella crossed her arms.
“Again with objects.”
“What?”
“A button. A key. Letters.”
She laughed.
“You're building a murder story out of household junk.”
Emma stared at her.
Isabella noticed.
“What?”
Emma's fear had changed.
It was becoming anger.
“You called Bunny trash too.”
Isabella smiled.
“It is.”
Emma looked toward the stairs.
“Charlotte sleeps with it every night.”
“So?”
Another casual little word.
Emma's jaw tightened.
Isabella continued.
“Children attach themselves to filthy things all the time.”
I stepped closer.
“And you tore it looking for letters.”
“She wouldn't hand it over.”
“You fought a three-year-old over a stuffed rabbit.”
“She needed discipline.”
There.
Again.
Every cruel act renamed.
I looked at Emma.
“What else did Charlotte tell you?”
Emma hesitated.
Isabella smiled.
“Careful.”
Emma flinched.
I looked at Isabella.
“Do that again.”
“What?”
“Threaten her with your eyes.”
Silence.
Emma straightened.
“Charlotte said Isabella wouldn't give her dinner.”
My blood went cold.
“When?”
“Tonight.”
Isabella rolled her eyes.
“She refused to answer.”
“How long since she ate?”
Emma swallowed.
“Breakfast.”
I turned.
Isabella said:
“She had fruit.”
Emma shook her head.
“You threw it away.”
Isabella stared.
Emma continued.
“You said she could eat when she remembered where the letters were.”
My hands tightened.
Marcus sighed.
“This is becoming sentimental.”
I looked at him.
“A hungry three-year-old is sentiment?”
“She missed one meal.”
“Two.”
Emma's voice.
Marcus turned.
She didn't stop.
“Yesterday too.”
Isabella snapped:
“She was being stubborn.”
Emma stared.
“She asked for water.”
Silence.
I looked at Isabella.
“What?”
Emma continued.
“Isabella told her…”
Her voice shook.
I waited.
“She said children who lie don't get served like family.”
My jaw locked.
Isabella smiled.
“She remembered it, didn't she?”
I stared.
“You are proud.”
“Of setting boundaries?”
“Yes.”
She laughed.
“You've made Charlotte soft.”
I looked toward the staircase.
“No.”
“She expects comfort every time she's uncomfortable.”
“Yes.”
“She expects food when she's hungry.”
“Yes.”
“Water when she's thirsty.”
“Yes.”
Isabella laughed.
“And you call that parenting?”
“I call it being alive.”
Her face hardened.
Good.
I looked at the staff button.
“Who wore this at the lake house?”
Marcus said nothing.
I turned toward my oldest bodyguard.
“Find the assignment list from memory.”
No records needed.
Men remember who stands beside them when things go wrong.
He thought.
Then his face changed.
“Luca Arden.”
Marcus went still.
I knew Luca.
Former lake-house guard.
Disappeared six months after Vivian's death.
“Where is he?”
The bodyguard shook his head.
“No one knows.”
Marcus laughed.
“Convenient.”
I looked at him.
“You know.”
“No.”
“You reacted.”
“Because this is ridiculous.”
“Where is Luca?”
Nothing.
Isabella looked at Marcus.
He looked back.
There.
A shared secret.
I waited.
Then Emma whispered:
“I've seen him.”
Everyone turned.
“When?”
“At this house.”
My chest tightened.
“How recently?”
“Three weeks ago.”
Marcus went pale.
Isabella stopped breathing.
Emma continued.
“He came through the service courtyard after midnight.”
I stared at both villains.
The guard tied to Vivian's death hadn't disappeared.
May you like
He had been coming to my house.
And my fiancée and cousin had known exactly where he was.
