Chapter 5: The Child Who Refused to Lie
Elaine copied the message and audio file onto her secure tablet.
Dad stood beside her, staring at the floor.
“Who gave Chloe my number?” I asked.
“I did,” Dad said.
“Months ago, in case she ever needed family.”
Mom gripped her handbag.
“Natalie will say Claire pressured her.”
“Chloe sent it from her own device,” Elaine replied.
“The original data will matter.”
Matthew’s phone rang.
He answered, listened, then placed it on speaker.
“Mr.
Bennett?” a man said.
“This is Daniel Price, Chloe’s father.
Chloe called me from a neighbor’s phone.
Natalie took away her tablet.”
“Is Chloe safe?” I asked.
“She locked herself in the neighbor’s bathroom.
I’m driving there now.”
Elaine picked up her folder.
“I’m coming with you.”
Forty minutes later, Daniel led Chloe into the hospital waiting room.
She clutched a cracked tablet to her chest and stopped when she saw me.
“Aunt Claire, I’m sorry.”
I crouched in front of her.
“Did your mother tell you to push Lily?”
Chloe nodded.
“She said the candles would make a loud flash and Lily would cry.
She said everyone would finally see Lily wasn’t perfect.”
“Did you know about the medicine?”
“No.
I saw Mom put something in the cup.
She told me it was vitamins.”
Daniel rested a hand on Chloe’s shoulder.
“Show them what you saved.”
Chloe unlocked the tablet.
“Mom deleted the first recording, but I sent it to my friend Paige because I was scared.”
A video began.
Natalie was standing in her kitchen with the silver candle package on the counter.
“Push her when I nod,” Natalie said on the screen.
Chloe’s recorded voice answered, “What if she gets hurt?”
“She won’t.
Claire will make a scene, and Grandma will finally understand what she’s really like.”
The video ended.
Mom sat down so quickly that her chair scraped the floor.
“She planned to make Claire look responsible,” Dad said.
Mom pressed both hands over her face.
“I told Natalie we were reconsidering the family trust.”
“What trust?” I asked.
Dad looked at Mom before answering.
“The education trust for the grandchildren.
Your mother and I planned to divide it equally between Lily and Chloe.”
Mom lowered her hands.
“Natalie said Lily should receive nothing because you and Matthew were financially secure.
She wanted complete control of Chloe’s share.”
“So she created an emergency involving Lily?”
“She said she only wanted us to see that you were irresponsible,” Mom whispered.
A slow clap sounded behind us.
Natalie stood near the elevator with a man in a gray suit.
“My attorney,” she said.
“Since all of you have apparently decided to interrogate my child without me.”
Daniel moved in front of Chloe.
“She called me.”
“You barely see her.”
“Because you cancel my visits.”
Natalie pointed at the tablet.
“That recording was made in my home and taken without permission.”
Her attorney raised one hand.
“Do not answer further, Natalie.”
Elaine faced him.
“A child’s immediate safety takes priority.”
Natalie looked directly at Chloe.
“Come here.”
Chloe hid behind Daniel.
“I said come here.”
“No.”
Natalie’s smile disappeared.
“You think they’ll protect you after you’ve ruined everything?”
I stepped between them.
“Do not threaten her.”
Natalie leaned close enough that only the adults heard her.
“Give me the tablet, Claire, and I will withdraw the report against you.
Refuse, and I’ll make sure everyone hears what you did the night Lily was born.”
Matthew’s head snapped toward her.
May you like
Natalie smiled.
“You never told him, did you?”
