Chapter 7 - THE GALA
The charity gala had been postponed after the bathroom incident.
Renata rescheduled it for Friday.
The event would announce her engagement to Grant and the creation of a new children’s trauma foundation.
The hypocrisy made me nauseous.
Detective Ellis believed Renata intended to use the gala to control the narrative.
A statement had already been prepared.
It described me as a mentally unstable employee who attacked a grieving family.
It described Renata as a courageous future stepmother protecting a traumatized child.
Grant had not approved the statement.
Renata planned to release it anyway.
The police could not arrest her for the old accident without stronger evidence.
They also could not explain how Lily’s latest drawing had reached my apartment.
Only someone inside the estate could have delivered it.
At seven that evening, my phone rang from an unknown number.
No one spoke.
Then I heard breathing.
Small.
Uneven.
“Lily?”
The breathing stopped.
I heard a door close in the distance.
Then Lily whispered one word.
“Emma.”
It was barely audible.
But it was her voice.
My eyes filled with tears.
“I’m here.”
“Where are you?”
“Closet.”
“Are you hurt?”
“She knows.”
The line went dead.
I called Detective Ellis.
Police were dispatched to the estate.
Renata claimed Lily was asleep.
Grant refused to let officers search without a warrant.
Then Detective Ellis played the recording of Lily’s call.
Grant’s face changed.
He led them upstairs himself.
They found Lily inside a locked dressing-room closet.
Renata said the child had hidden there.
Lily refused to speak again.
But Grant found a bruise on her wrist.
For the first time, he did not accept Renata’s explanation.
He ordered Renata to leave the estate until the investigation ended.
She cried.
She begged.
She accused him of choosing a servant over the woman he loved.
Grant remained silent.
Then she turned toward Lily.
The hatred in her eyes was unmistakable.
“You have always ruined everything,” she said.
Grant heard her.
So did the police.
Renata realized her mistake too late.
She walked out of the estate carrying three suitcases and wearing a diamond engagement ring she had not earned.
Everyone assumed she had lost.
They were wrong.
At midnight, Grant entered Lily’s room and found her bed empty.
The bedroom window was open.
A strip of silk from Renata’s gala dress was caught on the latch.
On the pillow sat a note.
May you like
It contained one sentence.
DROP THE INVESTIGATION OR YOU WILL LOSE HER THE WAY YOU LOST CLAIRE.
