Chapter 3
The bracelet belonged to my mother.
Renata had no right to it.
That changed the question.
Not why she thought Maisie stole it.
Why she had it at all.
“My mother left that to me.”
Renata looked away.
Frank did not.
“She left many things.”
I stared.
“Not to you.”
His face hardened.
“She was family.”
“So am I.”
Silence.
I picked up the bracelet.
My mother wore it at every formal Caruso gathering when I was a child.
Maisie had seen it in photographs.
Maybe she touched it because she recognized it.
Maybe Renata knew that.
“Why was it in your room?”
Renata shrugged.
“Frank gave it to me.”
I turned.
He held my gaze.
“Why?”
“It was sitting unused.”
I almost smiled.
“That’s theft.”
Frank scoffed.
“Don’t be dramatic.”
There it was.
Take something that belonged to me.
Call my reaction excessive.
Same method they used on Maisie.
I leaned against the table.
“How long have you been taking things from this house?”
Frank’s eyes sharpened.
“This house was mine before it was yours.”
“No.”
“It was my brother’s.”
“My father.”
“Yes.”
“And after he died?”
His jaw tightened.
“You inherited too early.”
There.
Not about jewelry.
Not really.
I waited.
Frank continued.
“You were twenty-seven. You had no understanding of what a family like this requires.”
I almost laughed.
“And you did?”
“I kept this organization standing before you could read.”
Old patriarch pride.
Always offered as permission.
Renata looked at him.
Then me.
“Maisie shouldn’t have been in my room.”
I turned.
“She wasn’t.”
Her face changed.
“What?”
“The camera shows you bringing her into the laundry room from the hall.”
Silence.
“She never entered your room.”
I stepped closer.
“So why did you need a theft story?”
Renata looked at Frank.
Again.
Too quickly.
I followed her eyes.
The bracelet was not evidence against Maisie.
It was bait.
May you like
They needed a reason to isolate my daughter.
The only thing I did not know yet was why.
