Chapter 5 - THE CHILD IN THE RED MITTEN
“No.”
Elena stared at the paper.
“My birthday certificate says 1992.”
Vivian looked equally shaken.
“The photograph says Lucy existed in 1989.”
Adrien picked up the cassette.
“Then your records were changed.”
Elena shook her head.
“My father raised me from infancy.”
“Did he?”
Adrien’s question was gentle.
That made it worse.
Elena remembered childhood photographs.
There were dozens after she was six.
Only three before that.
She had always accepted Gabriel’s explanation that a flood destroyed the rest.
Suddenly she remembered something else.
A red mitten.
Not this one.
Its pair.
Kept for years in Gabriel’s dresser.
She had asked about it when she was seven.
He told her it belonged to a cousin.
Elena sat down.
“I need to see him.”
They returned to the hospital before dawn.
Gabriel was awake.
One look at Elena’s face told him everything.
She placed the red mitten on his blanket.
He began crying.
Not loudly.
Gabriel Moretti had never been a loud man.
“Say it,” Elena whispered.
He looked at her.
“Your name was Lucy Isabella Cross.”
Vivian sat down hard.
Elena remained standing.
“My father?”
“Richard Cross.”
“My mother?”
Gabriel closed his eyes.
“Marianne Cole. She died giving birth to you.”
Vivian covered her mouth.
Richard Cross had been married to Vivian’s mother at the time.
Elena understood the shame now.
The secrecy.
The changed records.
The desperate protection.
“Isabella took me?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Richard begged her. Conrad had discovered the affair. He threatened to tell Vivian’s mother and use the scandal to control Richard.”
Gabriel’s voice weakened.
“Isabella took you when she disappeared. She said saving one child might give her the courage to come back for Adrien.”
Adrien stood near the window.
His face gave nothing away.
Elena looked at Gabriel.
“And in 1994?”
“Isabella brought you to me.”
“You told us Richard did.”
“I lied.”
“Again.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Isabella was still alive.”
Adrien turned.
“When did she die?”
Gabriel looked at him.
“I don’t know.”
Adrien approached the bed.
“You saw her in 1994.”
“Yes.”
“Where did she go?”
“North.”
“Where?”
“She never told me.”
“Why?”
“Because Thomas had found her twice.”
Adrien’s jaw tightened.
Elena sat beside Gabriel.
“So you became my father.”
Gabriel looked at her.
“No.”
She frowned.
“I became the man who raised you.”
His eyes filled.
“That is different from becoming your father. I was your father the first night you woke crying and I walked the apartment floor until sunrise. I was your father when you broke your arm at nine. I was your father when you got your first job and bought me that ridiculous electric razor.”
Elena laughed through tears.
“It was on sale.”
“It was terrible.”
She took his hand.
“You should have told me.”
“I know.”
“I’m angry.”
“You should be.”
“But you’re still my dad.”
Gabriel closed his eyes.
For the first time that night, something broken became whole.
Then Vivian spoke.
“So Elena is my sister.”
Gabriel looked at her.
“Yes.”
Vivian stared at Elena.
The woman she had insulted.
Grabbed.
Tried to pay to disappear.
Her own sister.
“I’m sorry.”
Elena looked at her.
“That doesn’t fix it.”
“I know.”
“You treated me like I was beneath you before you knew who I was.”
Vivian flinched.
“That’s the part I’m ashamed of.”
Elena nodded.
“Good.”
Vivian blinked.
“Good?”
“Because if you were only sorry because I turned out to be Richard Cross’s daughter, your apology would mean nothing.”
Vivian lowered her eyes.
Adrien watched Elena.
She had spent eleven months in his home.
Quiet.
Competent.
Invisible when wealthy guests preferred her invisible.
He wondered how many times he had done the same thing Vivian had done in softer ways.
Not cruelty.
Indifference.
Sometimes the difference mattered less than people imagined.
Gabriel coughed.
Adrien poured water.
As Gabriel drank, Adrien noticed the hospital paperwork beside the bed.
Treatment estimate.
He read the number.
Then looked at Elena.
“Twelve thousand.”
She nodded.
“That’s what you asked for.”
“Yes.”
Adrien finally understood why she had volunteered to play.
Not ambition.
Desperation.
“I’ll cover the treatment.”
Elena immediately shook her head.
“No.”
“It isn’t charity.”
“It feels like it.”
“Then consider it eleven months of unpaid musical services.”
Despite herself, she smiled.
“No.”
Gabriel squeezed her hand.
“Elena.”
She looked at him.
“Pride is expensive.”
Adrien added, “And kidney treatment is more expensive.”
She gave him an irritated look.
“Was that supposed to help?”
“A little.”
It did.
She sighed.
“We’ll discuss repayment.”
“Fine.”
Adrien had no intention of accepting a dollar.
But she needed the dignity of the argument.
So he gave it to her.
Daniel entered the room.
He carried a sealed evidence bag.
“We found this in Miss Cross’s car.”
Vivian frowned.
“What?”
Inside was the missing piece of Isabella’s cassette tape.
Vivian stood.
“That isn’t mine.”
Adrien’s eyes went cold.
“You expect me to believe someone planted it?”
“Yes.”
Daniel looked uncomfortable.
“There’s more.”
He placed a photograph on the table.
Security footage from the mansion garage.
Thomas Moretti stood beside Vivian’s car.
Timestamp: 7:13 p.m.
Before he supposedly arrived at the gate.
Elena stared.
“He was already on the property.”
Adrien understood immediately.
“The old man at the gate was theater.”
Vivian looked at Daniel.
“Why?”
“To make us believe he arrived after the tape was discovered.”
Adrien picked up the evidence bag.
Thomas had known where the cut section was.
Perhaps because he had cut it.
Gabriel’s face went pale.
“He found Isabella in 1994.”
Adrien turned.
“You think Thomas did something to her.”
Gabriel looked terrified.
“I think my father has spent fifty years making his guilt look like helplessness.”
Elena remembered Thomas’s words.
I made a mistake.
Maybe he had confessed only to the smallest one.
Adrien called Daniel.
“Find him.”
Daniel stepped into the hallway.
Vivian sat beside Elena.
For once, neither woman moved away from the other.
Adrien examined the cassette fragment.
“There’s enough tape here to repair.”
Gabriel looked at him.
“Then repair it.”
Two hours later, a hospital technician borrowed equipment from the audiovisual department.
The recovered recording lasted forty-seven seconds.
Isabella’s voice filled the room.
“The accident they’re preparing to call an accident was Conrad’s idea, but the plan is mine. If it works, Adrien will be brought to me.”
Adrien closed his eyes.
Then another voice entered.
Thomas.
“You can’t take the boy.”
Isabella answered.
“He’s my son.”
“He’s Conrad Vale’s heir.”
“He’s a child.”
Thomas’s voice hardened.
“If you take Adrien, Conrad destroys all of us.”
Then came a sound.
A slap.
Isabella said:
“Get out.”
The tape crackled.
Thomas spoke again.
“If you force me to choose between one child and this entire family, Isabella, you already know which one I’ll choose.”
The recording ended.
Nobody spoke.
Then Gabriel whispered:
“He wasn’t protecting Isabella from Conrad.”
Adrien stared at the silent machine.
May you like
Gabriel’s eyes filled with horror.
“He was protecting Conrad from Isabella.”
