Chapter 10
Lydia denied having the phone.
Heather ruined the lie.
“It’s in the blue Christmas box.”
Lydia turned on her.
“You miserable little idiot.”
Heather laughed.
“You let Dad call me emotional five minutes ago.”
Their alliance was dying quickly.
I sent my bodyguard upstairs.
The blue Christmas box came down ten minutes later.
Old leather phone inside.
Adam’s.
My hands shook when I touched it.
I hated that they saw.
Lydia smiled cruelly.
“Still grieving.”
I looked at her.
“Yes.”
That answer confused her.
I wasn’t ashamed.
The phone was dead.
Martin remembered the passcode.
Louisa’s birthday.
Of course.
When the screen finally opened, there were three unsent voice recordings.
The first was twelve seconds.
Adam breathing hard.
“Joanna… they forced me back to the lodge.”
My eyes burned.
The second:
“Walter blocked the road. Heather hit the car.”
Heather started sobbing.
Walter stared ahead.
The third recording lasted almost a minute.
Adam’s voice weaker.
“They want me to remove you.”
A pause.
“I won’t.”
Lydia whispered:
“Turn it off.”
I didn’t.
Adam continued:
“If I don’t come home, don’t believe it was the road.”
Nobody moved.
Then:
“Take Louisa and keep her away from them.”
My daughter lifted her head.
She heard her name.
Adam’s final sentence:
“My family thinks love makes us weak.”
A breath.
“They’re wrong.”
Recording ended.
Silence.
Lydia stared at the floor.
Walter looked furious.
Not ashamed.
Furious Adam had spoken.
Heather covered her mouth.
Louisa whispered:
“Daddy?”
I crouched.
“Yes.”
“That was Daddy?”
“Yes.”
She touched the phone.
“He knew me?”
I almost broke.
“Yes.”
Lydia interrupted:
“He barely knew anything by then.”
I stood slowly.
“You kept this for eighteen months.”
“It changed nothing.”
“It changed everything.”
“No.”
She looked at Louisa.
“It only makes her cry.”
I understood then why they punished my daughter today.
Louisa had entered Adam’s study.
Found the blue Christmas box.
May you like
Heard part of her father’s voice.
And they needed a three-year-old terrified enough to stop looking.
