Chapter 5 - WHAT HAPPENED ON THE STAIRS
Santiago followed Vincent into the hall.
“Why is Hale calling you?”
“Because you dismissed him without explanation.”
“I asked for a second opinion.”
“After seven years, I’d call that an insult.”
“Then he can be insulted.”
Vincent’s expression hardened.
“Be careful who you let into this house. Grief makes people desperate.”
Santiago held still.
“I didn’t tell you Ruby had lost anyone.”
A brief silence.
“Adrian mentioned her.”
“When?”
Vincent adjusted his cuff.
“You’re exhausted. We’ll talk tomorrow.”
After he left, Santiago ordered the gate staff to require his approval before admitting him again.
Tomas nodded without asking why.
Upstairs, Ruby sat several feet from Sophia, giving her room.
“You don’t have to explain anything tonight.”
Sophia looked toward the open door.
Then she typed.
“Close it.”
Ruby did.
Sophia’s fingers hovered over the tablet.
Finally, she began.
“The night Mom died, I wasn’t asleep.”
Ruby kept her face still.
For seven years, the family had said Elena Moretti fell down the rear staircase while everyone else slept.
Sophia had supposedly found her afterward.
“I was in the little hallway.”
Ruby read the next sentence.
“Mom had a bag.”
“What happened after that?”
Sophia stopped typing.
Her breathing grew shallow.
Ruby lowered her voice.
“We can stop. We can sit here. You choose.”
Sophia shook her head and kept going.
“Uncle Vincent said she wasn’t taking us.”
Ruby felt cold move across her back.
Sophia typed faster.
“They fought. He grabbed the bag. She said she had copies.”
Then she closed the tablet.
Hard.
Ruby did not ask another question.
She waited until Sophia’s breathing slowed, then asked whether she wanted Santiago.
Sophia nodded.
He came immediately.
His sister handed him the tablet and opened the saved text.
He read it twice.
“No,” he whispered.
Sophia recoiled.
Ruby spoke quietly.
“She needs to know you’re listening.”
Santiago looked at his sister.
“I’m sorry. I meant I don’t want it to be true.”
Sophia watched him.
“I believe you were there.”
Her eyes filled.
He sat on the floor beside her bed.
“What do you need?”
She typed.
“Don’t make me stay alone.”
“I won’t.”
Much later, while Santiago sat outside her room, Tomas called from downstairs.
“Someone just accessed the household medical files remotely.”
“Hale?”
“His office credentials.”
“What did they do?”
May you like
Tomas paused.
“They’re deleting them.”
