Chapter 2
June was fine.
That was the first thing the pediatrician established the next morning.
No contact from the collar.
No physical injury.
Normal feeding.
Normal temperature.
Normal newborn reflexes.
Nora felt ridiculous for nearly crying when the doctor said it.
Then the doctor looked at her.
“How are you?”
“Tired.”
“I mean emotionally.”
Nora almost gave the automatic answer.
Fine.
Instead:
“Furious.”
That was more accurate.
Her attorney, Elena Brooks, met her afterward.
Elena watched Caroline’s video.
It began thirty seconds before Margaret opened the velvet box.
Several guests were gathered around June.
Wesley stood near the fireplace.
Margaret lifted the collar.
People laughed awkwardly.
Nora’s expression changed immediately.
Then the approach.
The warning.
Margaret reaching again.
Nora catching her wrist.
The slap.
Clear.
Not flattering to Nora.
Also not ambiguous.
Elena paused.
“You struck her after you already had control of her wrist.”
“Yes.”
“Good that you’re not disputing it.”
“I shouldn’t have hit her.”
“That may be the legal conclusion too.”
Nora nodded.
Elena restarted the clip.
Margaret called it a joke.
Nora emptied the gift table.
Wesley blocked the exit.
Nora knocked his hand away.
Then came the second box.
That moment mattered most.
Margaret lunged toward it before Nora opened it.
Wesley went visibly pale when he saw the box in Nora’s hand.
Elena rewound.
“Why would he react before knowing what was inside?”
“He knew.”
“Maybe.”
Nora stared at her.
Elena smiled faintly.
“You will learn to hate that word.”
Nora already did.
Then the Whitmore home-security footage arrived through preservation request.
The main sunroom camera had a wide angle.
Margaret’s body partly blocked her second reach toward June.
Nora’s slap, however, was perfectly visible.
The camera also showed Nora sweeping objects from the table.
Without Caroline’s phone clip, it looked far worse for Nora.
Elena asked:
“Who controls the cameras?”
“Wesley’s mother owns the house.”
“Who requested retention?”
They checked.
At 11:16 that morning, Margaret’s assistant had told security to preserve all sunroom footage for ninety days.
The party began at four.
Nora stared at the timestamp.
“Why?”
The written reason:
Potential insurance concern involving valuable gifts.
There had been no reported theft.
Elena looked at Nora.
“Was anything else happening in your family before the party?”
Nora leaned back.
A lot.
She and Wesley had been fighting for nearly three weeks.
May you like
Not about June.
About June’s money.
