Chapter 3
The room went dead silent.
Even Leo stopped crying for a second.
Then Margaret laughed.
It was a cruel, brittle sound.
“Elena died from complications. Everyone knows that.”
I looked at her.
“She was twenty-eight.”
“She was weak.”
Daniel flinched.
I did too.
Because I had heard those words before.
In Elena’s letter.
In voicemails.
In the last call she made to me, when her voice shook and she said, “Clara, they keep telling Daniel I’m fragile.”
I had told her to stay calm.
I had told her to talk to her husband.
I had told her not to panic.
I hated myself for that every day.
Daniel looked at Mr. Hayes.
“What do you have?”
Mr. Hayes opened the envelope.
“Canceled doctor appointments. Changed medication records. A missing hospital report. And a key.”
He placed a tiny brass key on the table.
My breath caught.
“Elena’s music box.”
Daniel turned to me.
“What music box?”
“Our father made it for her when we were little. She kept letters in it. Photos. Anything important.”
Mr. Hayes nodded.
“Elena’s personal inventory listed it after her death. But it disappeared before storage.”
Daniel looked at Margaret.
His voice lowered.
“Where is it?”
Margaret’s face hardened.
“I don’t know.”
Leo whispered, “Grandma bad?”
My heart cracked.
Margaret’s eyes flashed toward him.
“Don’t you dare say that.”
Daniel stood between them.
“Don’t speak to him.”
She stared at her son like he had slapped her.
“Daniel.”
“No,” he said. “You hurt him.”
“He needed correction.”
“He is three.”
“He called the maid Mommy!”
“She is his aunt.”
Margaret pointed at me.
“She is poison.”
I held Leo tighter.
Daniel’s face changed.
For years, maybe he had bent under that voice.
That day, something inside him straightened.
“Leave,” he said.
Margaret froze.
“What?”
“Leave my house.”
She smiled coldly.
“You will regret choosing her.”
Daniel looked at Leo.
“I already regret not choosing Elena sooner.”
May you like
Margaret’s smile vanished.
And for the first time, I saw fear.
