PART 4 — THE RECORDING
On it Juliette’s voice, unmistakable and cold, said, If she stays in the will, none of this is ever truly ours. Christopher was still trying to understand the meaning when the real scene exploded outside. By the time he reached the pool, suspicion had become evidence made flesh. Emma clung to him, wet hair pasted to her cheeks, while Juliette backed away in satin and disbelief. The staff’s silence shifted from fear to judgment. “Security will escort you out,” Christopher said. Juliette’s mouth trembled. “No,” she whispered. “Please, I can explain.” Emma pressed against his side and, through sobs, said the sentence that forced every eye onto Juliette. “She told me Grandma said I shouldn’t be here.”
Christopher’s face changed at once. The name that detonated under the scene was not Juliette’s, but Estelle’s. Christopher’s mother was upstairs recovering from a cardiac episode and had not left her room all morning. Juliette heard the child’s words and went visibly pale. “She’s confused,” Juliette said too fast. “Your mother loves her.”
