Chapter 5 - The Grandmother They Wanted Everyone to Doubt
Valeria never admitted she had followed Margaret.
Instead, she did something more effective.
She began making Margaret look unreliable.
At Sunday brunch, Margaret arrived at the mansion to find eight people seated around the dining table.
Dominic.
Emma.
Lucian.
Valeria.
Two board members.
A family attorney.
And Dr. Warren Mills, the physician who had treated Angelo during his final years.
Margaret stopped in the doorway.
"What is this?"
Dominic stood.
"Mom, come sit down."
Her instinct told her to leave.
Then she saw Valeria's expression.
Satisfied.
Margaret walked to the table.
Dr. Mills smiled politely.
"How have you been sleeping?"
"Why?"
Dominic looked uncomfortable.
"Valeria said you seemed confused yesterday."
Margaret looked at Valeria.
"Did she?"
Valeria touched her chest.
"I was worried."
"How thoughtful."
Lucian spoke gently.
"Margaret, nobody is attacking you."
"Then why is my husband's doctor sitting at breakfast?"
Dominic intervened.
"Mom."
Margaret turned toward him.
"Did you ask him to come?"
Dominic hesitated.
That was answer enough.
Pain moved across Margaret's face.
Valeria saw it and pressed harder.
"Yesterday you claimed somebody followed you."
"Somebody did."
"You told the housekeeper it was me."
"It was you."
Valeria laughed softly.
"I was at the foundation offices all afternoon."
Lucian slid his phone across the table.
A security log showed Valeria entering the offices at 1:07 p.m. and leaving at 5:46 p.m.
Margaret had been at the archive shortly after three.
Impossible.
Unless the log was false.
Or Margaret was wrong.
Dominic studied his mother.
"Are you certain?"
"Yes."
Dr. Mills leaned forward.
"Grief and prolonged stress can occasionally affect perception."
Margaret looked at him.
"I know what I saw."
Emma suddenly pushed away her breakfast.
She climbed down from her chair and walked toward Margaret.
"Nana sad."
Margaret picked her up.
Valeria watched the child cling to her.
Something cold passed across her face.
Dominic noticed.
Dr. Mills asked Margaret a series of questions.
Date.
Location.
Names.
Medication.
She answered all of them.
Then he asked whether she had experienced memory gaps.
"No."
"Misplaced objects?"
"Everyone misplaces objects."
"Unusual suspicions?"
Margaret almost smiled.
"Doctor, if people are forging my signature, following me into archives, and trying to make my son believe I'm losing my mind, suspicion is not unusual."
Silence.
Dominic looked sharply toward Lucian.
Lucian spread his hands.
"Forging?"
Dominic had not told him about Elise Gardner.
That reaction mattered.
Margaret saw her son's expression change.
Valeria recovered first.
"This is exactly what I mean."
Dominic stood.
"Enough."
He looked at Dr. Mills.
"Thank you for coming."
The doctor understood he had been dismissed.
The board members followed him.
When only family remained, Dominic closed the doors.
"Lucian, where did you get the three documents supposedly signed by my mother?"
"Legal archive."
"Who uploaded them?"
"I'd have to check."
"Check now."
Lucian's jaw tightened.
"Dominic, this is becoming absurd."
"Then prove it's absurd."
Margaret watched the two men.
Valeria moved toward Emma.
"Come here, sweetheart."
Emma buried her face against Margaret.
Valeria's mouth tightened.
Margaret saw it.
So did Dominic.
"Leave Emma alone," he said.
Valeria stared at him.
"I was only helping."
"She doesn't want you."
Lucian stood.
"Don't speak to my wife like that."
Dominic turned.
"Then tell your wife not to treat my daughter like a prop."
The room changed.
For months, Dominic had allowed Lucian and Valeria to occupy more space in his home, business, and personal life because he trusted them.
Now that trust had developed a crack.
Margaret could almost hear it spreading.
Lucian looked at Margaret.
"This started when she came back around."
Margaret went still.
"Back around?"
"You moved out after Angelo died. Dominic was rebuilding his life. Now suddenly you're suspicious of everyone."
Dominic stepped forward.
"My mother does not need permission to be in my life."
Lucian raised both hands.
"That's not what I meant."
"It sounded exactly like what you meant."
Valeria picked up her purse.
"Come on, Lucian."
Before leaving, she walked near Margaret.
She leaned close enough that only Margaret could hear.
"You should have signed the papers."
Margaret whispered, "You should have left my husband's records alone."
Valeria stopped.
Their eyes met.
Neither blinked.
That night, Margaret returned home.
Her front door was unlocked.
She knew she had locked it.
Nothing seemed stolen.
The television remained.
Jewelry remained.
Cash remained.
Then she saw her bedroom.
Every drawer had been opened.
Every box searched.
The mattress had been lifted.
Margaret rushed toward the kitchen.
Her handbag was not there.
Panic seized her.
Then she remembered.
She had taken it upstairs before showering.
Margaret ran to the wardrobe.
The bag sat behind an old blanket.
Untouched.
She pressed it against her chest.
Her phone vibrated.
A message from Dominic.
Mom. Pack a bag. You're staying with me tonight.
Margaret stared at the screen.
Then another message appeared.
And bring the old handbag.
May you like
Her breath stopped.
Dominic had finally noticed it too.
