Chapter 5 - NORA’S ASSIGNMENT
Nora finally contacted Elena nine days after the attack.
Not directly.
Through an attorney.
She wanted to speak.
Maya advised Elena that she did not have to.
Elena agreed anyway, but only in Maya’s conference room.
Nora arrived in a beige suit with no jewelry and no makeup.
She looked younger than twenty-nine.
Elena felt nothing when she saw her.
That frightened her.
Nora sat across the table.
“I’m sorry.”
Elena waited.
“I didn’t think he would go that far.”
“You watched.”
Nora’s eyes dropped.
“I froze.”
“You filmed.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Nora looked toward her lawyer.
Then back at Elena.
“Mom asked me to.”
Helena.
Not Victor.
Not Raul.
Elena leaned back.
“For what?”
“At first she said we needed proof of your moods.”
“My moods.”
“She said Victor might need it someday.”
“For what?”
Nora swallowed.
“Custody.”
The word landed harder than Elena expected.
Her hand moved instinctively over her stomach.
Nora started talking faster.
“Mom said if you ever left, you’d accuse Victor of abuse and use the baby to punish him.”
“Had I threatened to leave?”
“No.”
“When did Helena ask you to start filming?”
“February.”
Elena stared at her.
She had learned she was pregnant in March.
Nora realized what she had revealed.
Elena’s voice became quiet.
“February?”
Nora nodded.
“Mom said your marriage was becoming unstable.”
“Elena,” Maya warned softly, keeping her from spiraling into questions.
Elena forced herself to slow down.
“What did Helena tell you to capture?”
“Yelling. Breaking things. Anything that looked… unpredictable.”
“Did she tell you to record Victor?”
Nora hesitated.
“No.”
“Did she tell you to start before arguments?”
“No.”
The edited clips suddenly made sense.
Nora was not documenting incidents.
She was collecting reactions.
Elena asked:
“What happened to the full versions?”
Nora’s eyes filled.
“I still have most of them.”
Maya leaned forward.
“Where?”
“My cloud account.”
Elena almost laughed.
“You gave Victor the edited folder and kept originals?”
“I didn’t trust him.”
“Yet you helped him.”
Nora flinched.
“Yes.”
It was the most honest thing she had said.
Before leaving, Nora added one more fact.
“Dad didn’t know.”
“Raul?”
“He knew I filmed sometimes. He didn’t know Mom was building a folder.”
Elena thought of Raul watching from the sofa.
His silence did not make him innocent.
But his exclusion now had an explanation.
Helena had started a private project months before Elena became pregnant.
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Which raised a larger question.
If the custody excuse came later, what was Helena originally preparing the videos for?
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