Chapter 16
Six months later, Mira started laughing.
Real laughter.
Not newborn reflex.
A ridiculous squeal whenever I made the same stupid sound near her ear.
Elena hated the sound.
Mira loved it.
Naturally, I continued.
Tessa returned full-time.
The household changed in quiet ways.
Staff entered my study when something mattered.
Elena made nursery decisions without checking whether Camille’s old preferences lingered.
I attended fewer dinners and more breakfasts.
Apparently babies are morning people.
Terrible judgment.
Camille remained away.
She had started working with a small arts foundation outside Bellaforte circles.
No staff to command.
No family name to borrow.
Tessa heard she was doing well.
I did not investigate.
Change watched too closely becomes performance.
One morning Elena found the old phone in my desk.
“You kept it?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
I thought.
“Because I wasn’t ready to throw away the thing that exposed the truth.”
She looked at me.
“That still gives it power.”
Annoying.
Correct.
We erased the remaining personal footage together after preserving only what the directly involved people had agreed should remain.
Then Elena placed the phone on the desk.
“What now?”
I picked it up.
“Trash?”
She shook her head.
“Donate it.”
I laughed.
Of course.
An object used to manufacture false stories would become someone else’s ordinary phone.
Good ending for an object.
May you like
Not the story.
Not yet.
