Chapter 4
Selena denied ordering anyone to erase Isabella.
Her attorney used softer language.
Refreshing the nursery.
Preparing Ava for a blended family.
Reducing grief triggers.
Making room for the future.
Rebecca read the statement to Donato.
He almost laughed.
“She removed my wife’s photographs.”
“Late wife.”
Donato looked at her.
Rebecca did not apologize for the correction.
“That matters legally and emotionally. Isabella is gone. Selena will argue she thought the room needed to move forward.”
“Ava is three.”
“Yes.”
“She still asks for her mother.”
“Yes.”
“So why does Selena decide when that stops?”
Rebecca closed the statement.
“That’s the relevant question.”
The answer began in the wedding-planning documents.
Selena had hired an interior designer for several rooms.
Not unusual.
She and Donato were supposed to marry in eleven weeks.
The design proposal included changes to the master bedroom, guest wing, formal sitting room, and nursery hallway.
One section read:
FAMILY VISUAL CONSOLIDATION
Under it:
Remove duplicate memorial imagery from primary family spaces.
Centralize deceased spouse photographs in private archive or designated remembrance area.
Update nursery imagery to reflect active household.
Introduce future family portrait after marriage.
Donato stared at the page.
“Who wrote this?”
The designer, Clara Monroe, was interviewed.
“Mrs. Cross gave me the concept.”
“Did you think I approved it?”
“She said you didn’t want to discuss details.”
“That sound normal to you?”
Clara looked embarrassed.
“For husbands planning weddings? Yes.”
Even Rebecca smiled slightly.
Donato did not.
Then Clara mentioned Luca.
“He attended the second meeting.”
“Why?”
“I thought he represented family logistics.”
“What did he say?”
Clara searched her memory.
“That too many photographs of Mrs. Bianchi’s mother might make the marriage transition confusing for the child.”
Donato became still.
“Exact words?”
“Something close.”
Rebecca asked:
“Did he seem particularly interested in the nursery?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
The design file contained one more item.
A request to measure a small jewelry cabinet in Ava’s room.
The cabinet held Isabella’s personal keepsakes.
Not expensive things.
A scarf.
Letters.
A comb.
Two old jewelry boxes.
Baby photographs.
The designer had marked the cabinet:
REMOVE AFTER WEDDING — FAMILY STORAGE.
Donato had never seen that instruction.
May you like
The campaign was no longer only about photographs.
Someone was planning to move Isabella’s entire physical presence out of Ava’s daily life.
