Chapter 9 - What Eleanor Finally Said
The police did not drag Scarlett away dramatically.
Real life was colder than that.
They questioned everyone separately. They photographed the scattered crystal, the heel mark on Olivia’s dress, the locked doors, and the security footage. They took Olivia’s statement while Nathan sat beside her, one hand wrapped around hers.
Scarlett kept insisting it was a misunderstanding.
Then the recording played again.
After that, she asked for her attorney.
By midnight, Olivia was checked by a private doctor at Nathan’s insistence.
She and the baby were safe.
Only then did Olivia finally break.
She sat on the edge of their bed at home, still wearing Nathan’s tuxedo jacket over her dress, and sobbed into her hands until her whole body shook.
Nathan knelt in front of her.
“I’m so sorry,” he whispered.
“You told me not to go.”
“I should’ve gone with you.”
“She’s my sister,” Olivia cried. “Why did she hate me that much?”
Nathan had no gentle answer.
So he gave her the true one.
“Because your father trusted you with what she wanted.”
The next morning, Eleanor came to their house.
Olivia almost refused to see her.
Nathan opened the door but did not invite her in until Olivia nodded.
Eleanor stood in the living room looking older than she had the night before.
“I failed you,” she said.
Olivia’s face tightened. “Yes.”
Eleanor flinched, then nodded. “I protected Scarlett when I should have protected you.”
“Why?”
The question was soft.
That made it worse.
Eleanor’s eyes filled. “Because Scarlett was loud with her pain. You were quiet with yours. I mistook your silence for strength.”
Olivia looked down at her belly.
“I was a child,” she said.
Eleanor covered her mouth.
For years, Olivia had waited for her mother to understand that.
Not that Scarlett was difficult.
Not that the family was complicated.
That Olivia had been a child too.
Eleanor placed a folder on the coffee table.
“It’s my sworn statement,” she said. “Everything I know. The accounts. The vendors. The locked doors. All of it.”
Olivia stared at the folder.
Then at her mother.
“Don’t do it for forgiveness,” Olivia said.
May you like
Eleanor’s voice broke. “I’m doing it because it’s late. But not too late to tell the truth.”
For the first time, Olivia believed her.
