Chapter 5 - THE GOOD DAUGHTER
Detective Lena Cross arrived before midnight.
She had investigated Isabella’s crash and never believed bad weather explained everything.
Now she sat at Emiliano’s kitchen table with the pink phone sealed in an evidence bag.
“This isn’t a wedding fight anymore,” she said. “Someone lured a seven-year-old child to an isolated building using your voice.”
Grace sat nearby with hot chocolate. Ava sat beside her, shoulders folded inward.
Celeste entered with her lawyer.
“I want my daughter upstairs.”
Ava didn’t move.
“Ava,” Celeste repeated.
“No.”
Everyone looked at her.
The thirteen-year-old’s eyes flooded. “I’m tired of lying.”
Celeste froze.
Ava turned to Emiliano. “Mom told me Grace was spoiled. She said when we got married, I had to act like the older daughter.”
Grace stared at her.
“What does that mean?” Emiliano asked.
Ava wiped her face. “She made me practice standing next to your chair. She said photographers decide what people believe about a family.”
Celeste snapped, “Enough.”
Ava flinched but kept going.
“She said once people got used to seeing me beside you, they’d stop asking where Grace was.”
Grace whispered, “Why?”
Ava looked at her. “I don’t know. I’m sorry.”
Grace reached across the table and took her hand.
That kindness seemed to destroy Ava faster than anger could have.
She started sobbing.
Then she said, “There was a doctor.”
Detective Cross leaned forward. “What doctor?”
“Dr. Harlan. Mom took me to his office. She made me tell him Grace pushed me down the stairs.”
Emiliano’s jaw tightened. “Did Grace push you?”
Ava shook her head violently. “I fell. Mom said if I didn’t say it, she’d send me to my dad.”
Celeste went pale.
Detective Cross stood. “Why would you need a doctor to think Grace was violent?”
Celeste said nothing.
Emiliano’s phone rang.
His attorney, Victor Chen.
Victor did not bother with hello.
“Emiliano, I found a petition drafted three weeks ago. It asks the court to declare Grace emotionally unstable and appoint a temporary guardian after your marriage.”
Emiliano looked straight at Celeste.
May you like
Victor continued.
“And the proposed guardian is your new wife.”
