Chapter 6
Elowen told Dr. Hart about the bedroom folder before she told Alaric everything.
That was appropriate.
When she was ready, Dr. Hart asked whether Elowen wanted Alaric in the room.
She said yes.
He sat beside the door.
Elowen sat on the couch holding a stuffed fox.
“What happened when you found the papers?” Dr. Hart asked.
Elowen looked at Alaric.
Then down.
“I saw Daddy’s name.”
“What did you think?”
“That he wanted me gone.”
“Did anyone tell you that?”
Elowen nodded.
“Seraphine.”
Alaric’s hands tightened.
Dr. Hart saw it.
He loosened them.
Elowen continued.
“She said Daddy was too nice to tell me.”
“When?”
“The night before the stairs.”
Alaric looked up.
Dr. Hart continued gently.
“What else did she say?”
“That the school takes girls who ruin families.”
Alaric closed his eyes.
Elowen whispered:
“She said if I was good, maybe you’d change your mind.”
That was why the girl went pale on the staircase.
Not because she had done something wrong.
Because Seraphine had already convinced her that the forged document represented her father’s real decision.
“What did you do after she told you?”
“I said I’d ask Daddy.”
“And then?”
“She said no.”
Elowen’s voice became smaller.
“She took the folder.”
The next day, Elowen searched for it again.
Seraphine caught her coming out of Alaric’s bedroom.
An argument began upstairs.
Elowen said she would tell Alaric everything.
Seraphine grabbed her shoulders.
Then Alaric entered below.
The shove followed.
It was not discipline.
It was panic.
But another detail mattered.
“Why did you think Daddy was coming home then?” Dr. Hart asked.
Elowen shrugged.
“Seraphine said he wasn’t.”
Alaric looked at Rebecca later.
“My schedule changed.”
“How?”
“A meeting canceled.”
“Who knew?”
“My assistant.”
“And Seraphine?”
“Maybe.”
Rebecca checked.
Seraphine had asked Alaric’s assistant that morning whether his dinner meeting was still expected to run late.
That was the third clue.
May you like
Seraphine did not expect Alaric home when she confronted Elowen.
He had interrupted something.
