Chapter 3
June had noticed the pattern before I did.
That embarrassed me.
Good.
Embarrassment is useful when it points toward something true.
She sat across from me after the doctor finished with Maisie.
“She’s okay.”
I nodded.
“Tell me everything.”
June had worked at the estate only eight months.
Young.
Quiet.
Easy for people like Celeste to treat as furniture.
Three weeks earlier, she heard Celeste telling Maisie:
“Daddy gets angry when little girls spill things.”
June thought it was strange.
Then another time:
“If Daddy shouts, you come find me.”
I frowned.
“I don’t shout at her.”
“I know.”
That was why June started paying attention.
Celeste began telling staff not to enter rooms when she and Maisie were alone.
Gavin visited more often.
Silas appeared during council nights but rarely stayed inside the actual meeting.
Then two days ago June overheard the fireplace conversation.
Not the whole plan.
Enough.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Her face tightened.
“I tried to tell Mr. Gavin.”
Of course.
He controlled household access when my council door was closed.
“What happened?”
“He told me I was misunderstanding family matters.”
I looked toward the lounge.
A familiar system.
The person near the truth reports upward.
The gatekeeper decides whether truth deserves to travel farther.
“And then?”
June stopped asking permission.
She started recording.
Good.
“Why tonight?”
“Because I heard Miss Celeste tell Mr. Gavin, ‘If Maisie won’t say it naturally, we make her say it frightened.’”
My hands tightened.
June’s voice became quieter.
“I thought they meant yelling.”
Then she walked into the lounge and saw Maisie’s hand being pushed toward the grate.
She recorded first because she knew the moment she intervened, they would deny everything.
Then I entered.
June looked ashamed.
“I should’ve stopped them immediately.”
“No.”
She looked up.
“You made sure the truth survived the room.”
That mattered.
May you like
Because without her phone, I would have still believed Maisie.
But half my council had already been prepared not to.
