Chapter 2
The doctor examined Emma in my library.
No fracture.
No serious damage.
Bruising.
Swelling.
Pain that would fade.
The fear would take longer.
She sat on my lap with a cold pack wrapped around two fingers.
“Tell me what you heard.”
Camille was not in the room.
Miles was.
Under guard.
Emma looked at him anyway.
That told me something.
She was more afraid of Camille.
“What did Camille say?”
Emma thought carefully.
“After wedding…”
She frowned.
Children remember sounds before structure.
“Miles goes east.”
I looked at him.
His face tightened.
“The east wing?”
Emma nodded.
“And me go Ash… Ash…”
“Ashford?”
Miles closed his eyes.
There.
Ashford House.
A Bellucci property two hours north.
Used for music retreats years ago.
Mostly empty now.
“Emma goes to Ashford?”
She nodded.
“Camille said I listen too much.”
My chest tightened.
“What else?”
Emma looked at Miles.
“She said, ‘Husband, she keeps hearing us.’”
Miles lowered his eyes.
“And you heard something before that?”
Emma nodded.
“Daddy marries Camille.”
“Yes.”
“Then Uncle Miles tells guards.”
“What does he tell them?”
“Who comes in.”
Of course.
Security.
Miles controlled the outer circle.
Camille would control the house.
My fiancée and my bodyguard.
Inside and outside.
I looked at him.
“What happens after Emma goes to Ashford?”
Miles said nothing.
“Miles.”
“She was supposed to stay there temporarily.”
There it was.
Always temporarily.
“Why?”
“Because Camille believed Emma complicated the transition.”
I smiled without warmth.
“What transition?”
He stared.
“Your marriage.”
“No.”
I leaned forward.
“My daughter does not complicate my marriage.”
Silence.
“A woman who needs my daughter removed does.”
Emma tugged my vest.
“Daddy?”
“Yes?”
“Am I going?”
I looked at her.
“No.”
“Ever?”
“Not because they decided.”
She considered that.
Then leaned against me.
Miles watched.
Something changed in his face.
Guilt.
Good.
May you like
He would need it.
Because whether Camille designed the cruelty or not, Miles had stood close enough to hear the plan and allowed it to live.
