Chapter 4 - MARA’S VOICE
Lenora denied everything until Dominic placed Adrian in the room.
Then she stopped.
Not because she feared Dominic.
Because Adrian had broken rank.
That mattered more to her.
“You told him.”
Adrian stood beside the fireplace.
“Yes.”
Lenora looked disgusted.
“You always were the weakest Bellini.”
Dominic almost laughed.
There it was again.
Weak.
The family’s favorite weapon.
Dominic placed the brass key on the table.
“What did Mara leave?”
Lenora stared at him.
“A message.”
“For Eli.”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
Dominic leaned forward.
“Then why have you been searching?”
“Because she told me it existed.”
“When?”
Lenora’s face hardened.
“The week before she died.”
Mara confronted Lenora in the conservatory.
She told her she had recorded enough conversations to prove how deeply Lenora interfered in the marriage.
Lenora dismissed her.
Mara replied that the recordings were not for Dominic.
They were for Eli.
“Why would she leave them to a baby?” Dominic asked.
“Because she expected to leave you.”
Lenora enjoyed saying it.
Dominic did not react.
“She wanted Eli to hear them someday and understand why she took him away from the estate.”
Dominic stared.
“But she didn’t take him.”
“No.”
“She came back.”
Lenora’s expression changed almost imperceptibly.
Dominic saw it.
“You knew she was coming back.”
Silence.
“Adrian told you.”
Lenora looked toward him.
Adrian lowered his eyes.
“Yes.”
Dominic leaned back.
“Yet you let me believe she died running from me.”
Lenora’s jaw tightened.
“You needed to remain functional.”
“No.”
Dominic’s voice stayed calm.
“You needed me angry at a dead woman instead of asking what she was trying to escape.”
Lenora said nothing.
Good.
Dominic searched Mara’s room until dawn.
No recording.
He checked books.
Furniture.
Old coat pockets.
Eli’s baby boxes.
Nothing.
Then Ruthie entered with coffee.
She watched him tear through another drawer.
“What are you looking for?”
Dominic told her.
Ruthie went still.
He caught it immediately.
“You know.”
She hesitated.
Then crossed the room.
She went to Mara’s old vanity.
Not the drawers.
The mirror.
Ruthie lifted a small wooden panel behind it.
Inside was a green cloth pouch.
Dominic stared.
“You knew.”
“Mara showed me.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because she told me not to.”
Dominic almost snapped.
Then stopped.
Mara had not trusted him.
That was the truth.
Ruthie handed over the pouch.
Inside was a small voice recorder.
And a note.
For Eli when he is old enough to ask what happened to us.
Dominic sat.
He did not press play.
Ruthie watched.
“Are you going to listen?”
“No.”
She looked surprised.
“It’s for Eli.”
Dominic placed it back in the pouch.
Then noticed something else.
A second note.
This one addressed to him.
Dominic.
He opened it.
If you find this before I give it to you myself, then either I lost courage or something happened.
Please understand this first.
I never wanted Eli to hate you.
Dominic stopped.
His throat tightened.
He kept reading.
I wanted him to understand that love does not mean staying inside a family structure that keeps hurting us.
I wanted you to come with us.
I still do.
Dominic closed his eyes.
Then came the final paragraph.
Lenora will tell you I wanted to take your son away.
That is not true.
She will tell Eli someday that I died because you chose the family over me.
That is also not true.
If she ever starts using my death to turn our child against you, listen to the second recording.
Dominic froze.
Second recording.
He searched the pouch.
Nothing.
Ruthie stared.
“Mara made another?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
Dominic looked toward the mirror.
No second compartment.
Then Eli appeared in the doorway.
He had woken early.
Dominic softened.
“What are you doing up?”
Eli walked inside.
He pointed toward the pouch.
“Mommy talking thing.”
Dominic stared.
“You’ve seen it?”
Eli nodded.
“Aunt Lenora has one too.”
The room went silent.
Dominic crouched.
“Where?”
Eli looked toward the hallway.
“Kitchen wall.”
Ruthie frowned.
“What kitchen wall?”
Eli pointed downstairs.
“The bad wall.”
Dominic stood.
There was only one place a three-year-old called the bad wall.
The old service pantry.
Lenora made him stand facing it when he cried.
Dominic went downstairs.
He found scratches low on the wood.
Eli had apparently picked at one panel while being punished.
Dominic pressed it.
The panel opened.
Inside lay another green cloth pouch.
He removed the recorder.
Then noticed the label.
Not Mara’s handwriting.
Lenora’s.
PLAY ONLY IF DOMINIC FINDS THE FIRST.
Dominic stared.
Lenora had found the second recording long ago.
May you like
She had hidden it.
And she had left him instructions.
