Chapter 3
I opened the oldest recording on Isabella’s phone.
Khloe appeared walking through the west gallery at home. Nothing happened in the first clip. She simply passed a long runner rug and disappeared beyond the camera.
The next clip showed Isabella standing in the same place with Victor.
Victor pointed toward the rug.
“Too much grip.”
Isabella nodded.
“What if it’s damp?”
“Too visible.”
“What if the heel catches?”
“Better.”
I stopped the recording.
Khloe had gone pale.
I remembered that fall.
She caught the banister before hitting the floor. I had been in another room, and by the time I reached her, Isabella was already beside her.
Helping.
Comforting.
Calling it a scare.
“You were there,” I said.
Isabella shrugged. “I was the one who caught her.”
“No,” Khloe said quietly. “You were behind me.”
Isabella turned.
“You were clumsy.”
Khloe stared at her.
“Still?”
I looked between them.
“What?”
Khloe’s eyes filled.
“She said that afterward. That I was too clumsy to carry a child safely.”
Isabella rolled her eyes.
“You almost fell in flat shoes.”
“I was wearing heels.”
“Same thing.”
That tone.
I knew it.
Isabella had always been good at making cruelty sound like obvious truth. If someone reacted badly, the reaction became proof that she was right.
Khloe continued.
“She told me if I couldn’t cross a hallway without tripping, maybe I wasn’t ready to be a mother.”
I looked at Isabella.
She did not deny it.
Victor sighed.
“You’re turning words into crimes.”
I turned toward him.
“No.”
I held up the phone.
“The recordings did that.”
Elaine opened another folder.
Voice notes.
W1.
W2.
W3.
I pressed the first.
Isabella’s voice filled the room.
“Attempt one failed because she grabbed the railing.”
Silence.
Then Victor.
“Adjust the next setup.”
I looked at the file list again.
Three attempts.
Three separate locations.
The foundation suite was W3.
May you like
And suddenly I understood that what I had interrupted that afternoon had not been their first mistake.
It had been their third experiment.
