Chapter 3
Dominic listened to the recording three times.
The words did not change.
Margaret doesn’t come back.
The third time, Margaret stood.
“I’ve heard enough.”
Dominic stopped her.
“Mom.”
“No.”
Her voice remained steady.
“I’m seventy-four years old. I don’t need to sit here while two people discuss removing me from my own son’s life like I’m an old sofa.”
Dominic rose.
“You’re not leaving.”
Margaret looked at him.
“Now you want me here?”
That landed exactly where she intended.
Dominic did not defend himself.
Margaret picked up her handbag.
“I’m going upstairs to Ava.”
One bodyguard reached to accompany her.
Margaret looked at him.
“I survived raising Dominic. I can manage one staircase.”
She left.
Anthony turned back to the computer.
“There are forty-four more.”
Dominic nodded.
“Play them.”
The next several recordings were less dramatic.
That made them worse.
Valeria discussing Margaret’s visits.
Lucian asking whether Dominic had complained about his mother.
Valeria saying no.
Lucian telling her to stop complaining first.
“Let him notice things himself.”
Another file.
Valeria deliberately moved a folder Margaret had left in the kitchen.
Later, Dominic could be heard asking where it went.
Valeria answered:
“Your mother keeps leaving things everywhere lately.”
Another.
Lucian:
“Don’t tell him she’s difficult. Ask whether she seems tired.”
Valeria laughed softly.
“You’re terrible.”
“Effective.”
Dominic leaned back.
Five months.
They had not simply excluded Margaret.
They had manufactured an explanation for excluding her.
Small mistakes.
Misplaced objects.
Changed schedules.
Repeated suggestions that Margaret was becoming forgetful.
Dominic remembered every conversation.
Valeria asking whether his mother had always repeated stories.
Lucian mentioning an uncle who became confused in his seventies.
A housekeeper reporting Margaret had forgotten an appointment.
Dominic had begun noticing things that were not there because other people taught him to look for them.
Anthony played another file.
Valeria sounded irritated.
“She noticed the rabbit.”
Dominic straightened.
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
“No. She said the stitching looked different.”
Lucian’s voice became sharper.
“Why was Margaret close enough to inspect it?”
“She wasn’t. Ava dropped it.”
“You need to keep that toy away from her.”
Valeria exhaled.
“You promised this would never touch Ava.”
Dominic stopped the recording.
Something had changed.
Valeria sounded afraid.
Not guilty.
Afraid.
Dominic looked toward the drawing room where his fiancée was being kept separate from Lucian.
He entered alone.
Valeria stood immediately.
“You heard something.”
Dominic shut the door.
“You knew about the recorder.”
She went pale.
“I knew there was monitoring.”
“Inside my daughter’s toy.”
“No.”
He watched her carefully.
“No?”
“Lucian said he had placed devices in your office.”
“Why?”
Valeria closed her eyes.
“Because he said someone was leaking conversations.”
“Who?”
“He didn’t know.”
“And you accepted that?”
“He handles security.”
“So do I.”
“You let him handle security.”
That was true.
Dominic disliked the truth enough to notice it.
Valeria continued.
“I never agreed to Ava being recorded.”
“You knew he was secretly recording me.”
Her eyes filled.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
She looked toward the door.
Dominic followed her gaze.
“Why are you looking for your brother before you answer me?”
“I’m not.”
“You’ve been doing it all day.”
Valeria sat slowly.
Dominic remained standing.
“Margaret found evidence that you were trying to push her out of this family.”
Valeria’s face tightened.
“That wasn’t supposed to happen like this.”
“How was it supposed to happen?”
No answer.
Dominic leaned closer.
“What does Lucian have on you?”
Valeria stared at him.
He saw the moment she understood that he had noticed the wrong thing.
Not what she had done.
Why she seemed terrified of the man supposedly helping her do it.
Dominic lowered his voice.
“My mother walked into this house and you shoved her into marble because she had that recorder.”
Valeria swallowed.
“Dominic—”
“You weren’t protecting yourself.”
Silence.
“You were protecting him.”
May you like
Valeria whispered:
“You don’t understand what happens if Lucian loses control.”
