Chapter 3
Victoria refused to call it theft.
“They're family artifacts.”
“They belonged to Celeste.”
“She married into this family.”
“And?”
Victoria looked irritated.
“Everything she brought into the house eventually became part of the family story.”
Rocco stared at her.
“My son is part of that story.”
“No one said he wasn't.”
“You threw him onto the floor for touching his mother’s toy.”
“I didn't know it was that specific toy.”
“You knew it came from his house.”
Victoria looked away.
That was enough.
Rocco asked why Celeste’s name had disappeared from the museum labels.
Victoria claimed the collection team simplified descriptions.
Helen contradicted her.
Victoria personally approved the revised text.
Then Rocco learned about the next planned change.
The Celeste Ventresca Children’s Gallery was scheduled for renovation.
His wife had created it seven years earlier.
It was where school groups handled reproduction toys, built wooden sets and learned how children played before electronics.
Victoria and Preston wanted to convert half of it into a private donor salon.
A board vote was scheduled for the following week.
Rocco had never seen the proposal.
Preston finally spoke.
“The museum needs money.”
“Then raise money.”
“The donor salon will.”
“At the expense of the program Celeste built.”
Preston shrugged.
“She’s been dead two years.”
The room changed.
Rocco stood.
Preston immediately raised both hands.
“Don't.”
Rocco remained where he was.
That restraint surprised both men.
“You're suspended from museum operations.”
Preston laughed.
“You can't do that.”
“The executive committee can.”
“Victoria runs development.”
“She’s suspended too.”
Victoria stared at him.
“Because Elliot cried over a toy?”
“No.”
Rocco looked around Celeste’s gallery.
“Because I finally looked at what you've been doing while I wasn't here.”
That admission mattered.
After Celeste died, Rocco stopped coming to the museum except for major events.
Every gallery reminded him of her.
Victoria and Preston filled the vacuum.
May you like
Now he had to determine whether they merely became entitled—
or whether pushing Celeste out of the museum’s history had been intentional from the beginning.
