Chapter 1 - The Rule of Julian Vale
Three days before Karen entered the villa, Lily had learned that silence could have rules.
Rule one was never speak while Julian was on the phone.
Rule two was never enter his office, even when the door was open.
Rule three was never ask why her mother cried in the downstairs bathroom with the faucet running.
The final rule had never been spoken aloud.
Never tell Grandma Karen.
Lily sat at the dining table with a mathematics workbook open in front of her. The numbers blurred whenever she looked toward the living room.
Julian stood beside the enormous windows with his phone pressed to his ear.
“No,” he said quietly. “Move the money before the quarterly review.”
He listened.
His eyes shifted toward Lily.
She immediately looked down.
“The old woman isn’t coming back,” he continued. “She signed away everything.”
Lily knew he meant her grandmother.
Karen had been living in Switzerland for almost a year, recovering from heart surgery and attending what Julian called private medical treatment. Lily had not spoken to her in six weeks.
Whenever Lily asked to call, Julian said Karen needed rest.
Whenever Elena tried to call, the number went directly to voicemail.
Julian ended his conversation and walked toward the table.
“Why are you still on that page?”
Lily stared at her workbook.
“I don’t understand the last question.”
Julian looked at the page.
“It’s simple.”
“I tried.”
“You always say that.”
Elena entered from the kitchen carrying a glass of milk.
“She’s been working for nearly an hour,” she said. “She can finish after dinner.”
Julian’s expression changed only slightly, but Elena stopped walking.
Lily noticed everything now.
She noticed the way her mother measured every sentence before speaking.
She noticed the way Julian checked Elena’s phone each night.
She noticed that the relatives who visited the villa laughed loudly at Julian’s jokes but became quiet whenever Elena entered the room.
Most of all, she noticed that her mother had stopped wearing the gold necklace Karen had given her.
Julian closed Lily’s workbook.
“You’re becoming lazy.”
“She’s eight,” Elena said.
“She is a Westbrook. People expect more from that name.”
Lily looked up.
“My name is Vale.”
Julian smiled without warmth.
“Exactly.”
Elena placed the milk on the table.
“Go upstairs, Lily.”
Lily collected her workbook.
As she passed Julian, he caught her arm.
His grip was not hard enough to leave a bruise, but it was hard enough to make her stop.
“Your mother and I are speaking.”
Lily lowered her voice.
“She told me to go upstairs.”
“And I told you that you need discipline.”
Elena stepped closer.
“Let her go.”
Julian released Lily.
“Take her,” he said. “You’ve made her weak enough already.”
Lily ran upstairs.
She did not go to her room.
Instead, she stopped behind the railing above the living room.
Below, Elena stood across from Julian.
“You promised you would never speak to her that way.”
“I promised to repair what your mother ruined.”
“My mother built this company.”
“Your mother abandoned it.”
“She nearly died.”
“And while she was lying in a hospital bed, I saved every employee who depended on us.”
Elena looked toward the hallway before lowering her voice.
“Then why can’t I access my own trust account?”
Julian’s face became still.
“Because you are not well enough to manage it.”
“You told the bank I was mentally unfit.”
“I protected the family.”
“You lied.”
Julian moved closer to her.
“You should be careful with that word.”
Lily pressed herself against the wall.
Inside her cardigan pocket was a tiny silver recorder shaped like a pen.
Karen had given it to her before leaving for Switzerland.
“For your stories,” Karen had said. “Record every idea before it disappears.”
Lily had used it to record songs, jokes, and the sound of rain striking her bedroom window.
That evening, for the first time, she used it to record Julian.
She pressed the small button.
A red light appeared beneath her thumb.
Below, Julian said something that made Elena turn pale.
“The company is mine now. This house is mine. Even your daughter stays here because I allow it.”
Elena whispered, “You forged those papers.”
Julian smiled.
“Prove it.”
Lily held the recorder tighter.
Then another voice came from Julian’s phone, which was resting on the glass table with the call still connected.
A man laughed softly.
“She can’t prove anything. I made sure of that.”
Lily recognized the voice.
May you like
It belonged to someone who visited the villa every Sunday.
Someone who called Karen family.
