Chapter 5
We ran to the car, Lila’s unicorn left forgotten on the kitchen table.
Nathaniel drove even faster than he had the night of Lila’s asthma attack.
We burst into Eleanor’s hospital room ten minutes later.
She was awake.
Her face was still bruised. Her left arm was in a cast. But her eyes were open. Clear. Alert.
She saw Nathaniel first. A small, tired smile tugged at her lips.
“Nate,” she whispered, her voice hoarse.
Nathaniel was at her side in two steps, taking her good hand in both of his.
“Mom,” he said, crying openly now. “God, Mom, I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”
She squeezed his hand, weak but firm.
“Not your fault,” she said.
Her eyes moved past him, to me. Then to Lila, who was hiding half behind my leg, peeking out.
Eleanor’s smile got a little bigger.
“Lila,” she said.
Lila stepped forward, shy. She walked to the bed and held out her hand.
“Hi, Grandma Eleanor,” she said. “I brought you a drawing. But I left it at home. I can bring it tomorrow.”
Eleanor laughed, a soft, breathy sound.
“I’d like that very much,” she said.
Her gaze moved back to me. Her expression turned serious.
“Clara,” she said. “She threatened you, didn’t she? Victoria. Threatened Lila.”
I nodded, my throat too tight to speak.
Eleanor’s jaw tightened. She looked at Nathaniel.
“I need a pen and paper,” she said.
Nathaniel grabbed a notebook and a pen from the bedside table and handed them to her.
She wrote slowly, her good hand shaking a little.
When she was done, she turned the notebook around so we could all see.
VICTORIA PUSHED ME.
I let out a breath I didn’t know I’d been holding. Tears ran down my face.
Nathaniel leaned down and kissed his mother’s forehead.
“We have her, Mom,” he said. “We have the charm. We have Lila’s statement. We have Clara’s. We have the life insurance policy. She’s going away for a very long time.”
Eleanor nodded. She wrote something else.
SHE WILL NOT STOP. SHE WILL COME AFTER THEM.
She underlined the words twice.
I shivered. She was right. I’d known it from the start.
Nathaniel stood up, his face hard.
“Then we’ll make sure she can’t,” he said.
He called his lawyer from the hallway. An hour later, we had a temporary restraining order against Victoria. She couldn’t come within five hundred feet of any of us. The estate. The hospital. Lila’s school.
But even with the restraining order, I didn’t feel safe.
Not when Victoria was out on bail. Walking around free.
My fears were justified three days later.
I was in the kitchen making Lila an after-school snack when the front doorbell rang.
I checked the security camera screen by the door.
It was Victoria.
She was wearing a tight red dress, her hair perfectly done, a fake sweet smile on her face.
I hit the intercom button, my hand shaking.
“You need to leave,” I said. “You have a restraining order. I’ll call the police.”
Victoria laughed. It sounded cold. Ugly.
“Let me in, Clara,” she said. “I just want to talk. To you. To Nathaniel. To that little lying brat of yours.”
My blood boiled.
“Get off my property,” I said.
“Or what?” she said, leaning closer to the camera. “You’ll push me down the stairs? That’s your thing now, isn’t it? Framing innocent people for your own mistakes?”
I reached for the phone to call 911.
Before I could dial, Nathaniel came barrelling down the hall. He’d heard everything.
He threw the front door open so hard it slammed against the wall.
Victoria stumbled back, her eyes wide.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Nathaniel screamed. He stepped outside, getting in her face. “You have a restraining order! You come within five hundred feet of this house again and I will make sure you rot in a cell before your trial even starts! Do you understand me?”
Victoria’s face twisted with rage.
“You’ll regret this, Nathaniel,” she spat. “All of you will regret this. You think a little girl’s word and a broken charm are enough to put me away? I have the best lawyer money can buy. He’ll tear that kid apart on the stand. Make her look like a confused, lying little freak. And you? You’ll be the idiot who chose a maid and her bastard over the woman who loved you.”
Nathaniel grabbed her arm and marched her down the front steps to the gate.
“Get out,” he said, shoving her toward the sidewalk. “And if I ever see you again, I will kill you myself. Do you hear me?”
Victoria got in her car and peeled out, tires screeching.
Nathaniel stood at the gate, his chest heaving, watching until her car was gone.
When he came back inside, I was holding Lila, who’d heard the yelling and was crying.
Nathaniel knelt in front of us. He took Lila’s small hand in his.
“She’s gone, sweetheart,” he said, his voice gentle. “She can’t hurt you. I promise.”
Lila wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.
“Is she going to come back?” she whispered.
Nathaniel looked at me. His eyes were hard, determined.
“Never,” he said. “Not ever again.”
That night, he had two more security guards posted at the front gate. He installed new locks on every door. New cameras covering every inch of the property.
He sat on the end of Lila’s bed until she fell asleep.
Then he sat with me on the couch in the west wing living room, in the dark.
“I’m scared, Nathaniel,” I whispered.
He pulled me into his arms. I rested my head on his chest, listening to his heart beat. Strong. Steady.
“I know,” he said, kissing the top of my head. “But we’re almost there. The trial starts in two weeks. And after that? She’s gone. Forever. And we can all finally breathe again.”
May you like
I closed my eyes.
For the first time in weeks, I let myself believe him.
