Chapter 13
Vanessa changed her plea after Silas testified.
Guilty.
Accessory to murder.
Child abuse.
Conspiracy.
Obstruction.
False imprisonment related to Ellie.
She agreed to testify against Eleanor.
The deal made me sick.
Julian reminded me that testimony could bury Eleanor forever.
I knew he was right.
I hated that justice often arrives wearing compromises.
Vanessa took the stand with swollen eyes.
She described Eleanor’s control.
The money.
The threats.
The way Eleanor trained her to enter my life.
“She said Arthur needed a gentle woman,” Vanessa whispered. “She said grief makes men easy.”
I gripped the bench.
The prosecutor asked, “Did you love him?”
Vanessa looked at me.
“Yes.”
The prosecutor did not blink.
“Did loving him stop you from helping cover up his wife’s murder?”
Vanessa flinched.
“No.”
“Did loving his children stop you from hurting them?”
“No.”
“Did loving your own daughter stop you from leaving her with Eleanor?”
Vanessa broke.
“No.”
There it was.
Love without protection.
Love without courage.
Love that deserved no name.
Eleanor watched her daughter testify with icy disgust.
No tears.
No fear.
Only disappointment that her tool had cracked.
When Vanessa stepped down, she looked at me once.
I looked away.
Not because I was weak.
Because she no longer had the right to my eyes.
That evening, I told Ethan and Maya only what they needed to know.
“Vanessa told the truth in court.”
Ethan asked, “Because she’s sorry?”
“I don’t know.”
Maya asked, “Does it matter?”
I thought about that.
“For the court, yes. For us, not today.”
Maya nodded.
“Can we still hate her?”
I sat between them.
“You can feel anything you feel.”
Ethan whispered, “I feel glad she’s gone.”
“That is allowed.”
Maya leaned against me.
“I feel sad she was fake.”
I kissed her hair.
“That is allowed too.”
Ethan took my hand.
For the first time since the night I came home, he let himself cry.
Not quietly.
Not bravely.
May you like
Just like a child.
And I held him like Clara would have wanted.
