Chapter 9 - THE HAND ON THE TERRACE
Victoria stood.
“You weren’t there.”
“No.”
Paul looked at Alexander.
“But Raymond came to me after.”
Alexander’s attention locked onto him.
“What did he say?”
Paul answered carefully.
Raymond grabbed Rebecca’s wrist.
She fought him.
Victoria tried to separate them.
Marcus entered from the corridor.
Sophia was behind him.
Rebecca saw her daughter.
She shouted for everyone to stop.
Then the terrace lights went out.
Raymond claimed Victoria used the darkness to pull Sophia backward.
Rebecca reached toward her child.
Someone collided with her.
She went over the low stone edge.
Alexander stared at Marcus.
“You were there.”
Marcus looked sick.
“Yes.”
“You told me you left Rebecca alive.”
“She was alive when I left the first argument.”
“But you came back.”
“Yes.”
“Why lie?”
Marcus looked toward Victoria.
“She begged me.”
Alexander almost laughed.
Of course.
Marcus continued.
He returned because Sophia had wandered from the nursery.
He found her near the west corridor.
They heard shouting.
He carried her toward the terrace.
Then Rebecca saw them.
“Who hit Rebecca?”
“I don’t know.”
“Marcus.”
“I don’t.”
The lights failed.
Everything became movement.
Victoria pulling Sophia.
Raymond grabbing Rebecca.
Marcus reaching toward both.
Then Rebecca screamed.
When emergency lighting came on, she was below.
Sophia was crying.
Raymond disappeared through the side stairs.
Victoria looked at Marcus.
Then said:
“You did this.”
Marcus stared at her.
“I believed her.”
Alexander turned slowly toward his mother.
“You told Marcus he pushed Rebecca.”
Victoria covered her mouth.
Marcus’s voice broke.
“For eight months.”
She looked at him.
“I was trying to keep you from remembering the rest.”
“What rest?”
Silence.
Alexander stepped closer.
“What happened in the dark?”
Victoria looked toward the floor.
She had grabbed Sophia.
The child fought.
Rebecca reached for her.
Victoria refused to release Sophia.
Rebecca pulled harder.
Marcus stepped between them.
Raymond seized Rebecca from behind.
Then somebody shoved.
Victoria could not see who.
But she felt something.
A hand against her own shoulder.
Raymond.
He used Victoria’s body to knock Rebecca off balance.
Rebecca fell backward.
Victoria did not push her.
Marcus did not push her.
Raymond did.
Indirectly.
Cowardly.
Using someone else as the force.
Alexander stared.
“Why protect him?”
Victoria’s answer came immediately.
“Because Sophia saw me holding her mother’s arm.”
The child kept screaming:
Grandma hurt Mommy.
Victoria panicked.
Raymond told her the child would destroy the family.
Then he reminded her Alexander might die from the ambush.
If he did, Marcus would need the family united.
Victoria made the choice she had made her entire life.
She protected the structure.
Not the child.
Not Rebecca.
Not truth.
She convinced Marcus he caused the fall.
She told Sophia Daddy died.
She removed Elizabeth.
She locked the west wing.
She punished Sophia every time the child mentioned Rebecca.
Alexander looked toward his mother.
“The food.”
Victoria closed her eyes.
Sophia started refusing meals after being told Alexander was dead.
She would only eat bread because Rebecca used to give her small pieces from the kitchen while cooking.
Victoria became furious.
She called it manipulation.
Then started taking the bread away.
Sophia learned to collect discarded pieces herself.
The fifty thousand dollars had not vanished.
The child’s wardrobe was full.
Her nursery untouched.
The house had everything.
Victoria simply made sure Sophia could not have it.
Not theft.
Control.
Alexander found that worse.
Then Daniel entered quickly.
“Sir.”
Alexander turned.
“We located Raymond.”
“Where?”
Daniel looked toward Victoria.
“At the old Sterling chapel.”
Alexander frowned.
Then Daniel continued.
“He has someone with him.”
“Who?”
Daniel’s answer changed the room.
“Sophia.”
Alexander turned toward the staircase.
Elizabeth came running down.
Her face was white.
“She was in the playroom thirty seconds ago.”
Victoria started shaking.
May you like
Raymond had returned to the estate while everyone was confessing.
And once again, the adults had been so focused on the old secret that they stopped watching the child standing inside it.
