CHAPTER 8: Elena Opens the Little Notebook

Elena had kept a notebook in the pocket of her uniform.
Not a diary. A record.
Dates Lily refused dinner. Times Vivienne dismissed the nanny. Notes from teachers saying Lily arrived anxious and exhausted. Small sentences the child whispered after nightmares and forgot by morning.
Elena had written everything because she had once grown up in a house where adults called fear imagination.
She never planned to use the notebook. She planned only to remember accurately if anyone asked.
Now Sebastian asked.
The room watched Elena reach into her pocket and pull out the narrow blue book with trembling fingers.
Vivienne's laugh came too fast. 'A maid's little notebook? That is your evidence?'
Elena opened to a folded page and placed it on the console.
A school counselor's email was taped inside. So was a receipt for the child therapist Vivienne canceled. So was a copy of the boarding assessment appointment scheduled for the Monday after the wedding.
Sebastian looked at the page, and the foyer seemed to lose air.
'Boarding assessment,' he read.
Vivienne's diamonds flashed as she moved back one step.