Chapter 7 - The Locked Drawer)
Vanessa ran.
Rebecca shouted her name.
Alexander told Henry to stay with the girls and followed.
Vanessa's heels struck the stairs hard enough to make her stumble.
She kicked them off halfway down.
Guests scattered when she rushed through the hallway.
Alexander followed at a controlled pace.
He knew where she was going before she turned.
His office.
Vanessa reached the door.
Locked it.
Alexander stopped outside.
"Open the door."
No answer.
He heard drawers opening.
Rebecca arrived behind him.
"What is she doing?"
Alexander stepped back.
Then drove his shoulder into the door.
It held.
He tried again.
Wood cracked.
The third impact broke the latch.
Vanessa stood beside the desk holding the leather folder.
The fireplace was burning.
She threw the folder toward it.
Alexander caught one edge.
Papers spilled.
Several landed near the flames.
Rebecca rushed forward and stamped them away from the fire.
Vanessa grabbed another document.
Alexander took it from her.
"What is this?"
She said nothing.
He read the heading.
Residential Enrollment Authorization.
Valerie Santillan.
January third.
He looked at the signature.
His signature.
Except he had never seen the document.
He turned the page.
Camila.
Regina.
Sophie.
Four enrollment packages.
A private residential academy in Switzerland.
Alexander looked up.
"You were sending my daughters out of the country?"
Vanessa's voice shook.
"It's a school."
"I didn't sign this."
"You agreed."
"No."
"We discussed boarding schools."
"We discussed one possibility for high school. They are six."
Vanessa backed toward the desk.
"They need discipline."
Rebecca picked up another page.
Her expression sharpened.
"Alexander."
He looked over.
She held a trust document.
"What is it?"
"A proposed guardianship amendment."
Vanessa lunged toward her.
Rebecca moved away.
Alexander stepped between them.
Rebecca read quickly.
"This would designate Vanessa as educational guardian during overseas enrollment."
Alexander looked at Vanessa.
"You wanted control."
"No."
"Of their trusts?"
"I couldn't touch the trusts."
"But you were trying."
Vanessa shouted,
"I was trying to build a life with you."
Alexander laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
"A life without my children."
"They are not normal children."
The sentence landed heavily.
Rebecca lowered the document.
Vanessa realized too late what she had said.
Alexander approached.
"What did you call them?"
Vanessa shook her head.
"That's not what I meant."
"Say it again."
"They're four identical reminders of your dead wife."
Alexander stopped.
Vanessa continued because rage had finally broken through calculation.
"Every room in this house belongs to Isabel. Every tradition belongs to Isabel. Every time one of those girls looks at me, I see her."
Alexander stared at her.
"You knew I was a widower."
"I thought you would move on."
"I did."
"No, you didn't."
Vanessa pointed toward the hallway.
"You married me and still kept her photographs everywhere."
"She's their mother."
"And what am I?"
Alexander looked at the forged documents.
"A mistake."
Vanessa's face twisted.
"You think you're innocent?"
The accusation surprised him.
She stepped closer.
"You left."
Alexander said nothing.
"You traveled."
His expression changed.
"You knew they were grieving and you left them with me because business mattered."
The words struck because part of them was true.
Vanessa saw it.
She pressed harder.
"You want a monster because then you don't have to admit you gave me the keys."
Alexander's face became pale.
Rebecca said,
"Vanessa."
"No. He should hear it."
Alexander looked at the papers scattered across the floor.
He thought of missed calls.
Short video chats.
The times he accepted Vanessa's explanations because accepting them was easier than stopping a meeting.
Guilt opened inside him.
But guilt did not make Vanessa less responsible.
He looked at her.
"I trusted my wife."
"You abandoned them."
"I was wrong to trust you."
Vanessa laughed.
"There it is."
Alexander continued.
"And I will spend the rest of my life making sure they never pay for my mistake again."
Her laugh stopped.
Police sirens sounded in the distance.
Vanessa glanced toward the window.
Rebecca had made the call downstairs.
Vanessa's shoulders dropped.
Then she smiled again.
"You still don't have the recordings."
Alexander did not answer.
"The pictures show nothing."
"You locked them in a freezing room."
"I disciplined them."
"You withheld food."
"Prove it."
Alexander stared.
Vanessa's confidence returned.
"Those girls will say anything because you came home angry and frightened them."
Rebecca looked at her in disbelief.
Vanessa continued.
"And you destroyed a table with a baseball bat in front of witnesses."
Alexander understood.
That was why she had smiled earlier.
She believed she could turn his anger into evidence that he was unstable.
"You raised a weapon," Vanessa said. "Everyone saw it."
Alexander nodded.
"Yes."
Rebecca looked at him sharply.
Vanessa smiled wider.
"You admit it?"
"I picked up a bat."
"You threatened me."
"I broke a table."
"You terrified four children."
Alexander's voice softened.
"I did."
Vanessa did not expect that.
He looked toward the doorway.
Valerie stood there.
Henry was behind her.
Alexander's face collapsed.
"Sweetheart."
Valerie walked in.
He crouched.
"I'm sorry."
She stared at him.
"For what?"
"For scaring you."
"You were mad."
"I was."
"At us?"
"No."
"At Vanessa?"
"Yes."
Valerie considered that.
Then she touched his face.
"Mommy used to say mad people still choose."
Alexander closed his eyes.
Isabel had said that.
When the girls threw tantrums, Isabel taught them that feelings were not choices but actions were.
Anger was allowed.
Hurting people was not.
Alexander opened his eyes.
"Your mommy was right."
Valerie hugged him.
Vanessa looked away.
Then Daniel's voice came through Alexander's phone.
"I found something else."
Alexander picked it up.
"What?"
"The backup isn't only images."
Vanessa froze.
Daniel continued.
"One camera microphone stayed active."
Rebecca turned toward Vanessa.
Alexander stared at the phone.
"How much?"
"Enough."
A recording began playing.
Vanessa's voice filled the office.
If your father asks, you ate dinner. Understand?
Then a child's voice.
I'm hungry.
Vanessa again.
Then learn to behave.
The room went silent.
Vanessa's confidence disappeared.
Daniel stopped the recording.
"There's more."
May you like
Alexander looked at his wife.
For the first time that night, she had nothing to say.
