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Chapter 6

Author: Bryn
Before the gala began, I sat in a conference room at the law firm.

Rosa was beside me. A cup of tea, long since cold, stood on the table.

The hotel’s public livestream was playing.

The camera swept across the ballroom. My father stood in front of the donor wall, shaking hands with several businessmen. Viola held his arm, a charity foundation pin fastened to her chest.

In a pale gold gown, Livia stood surrounded by reporters.

She told them how fortunate she had been to find a home with the Morante family after losing her parents.

I watched without looking away.

A message from Dario arrived.

“Where are you?”

Two minutes later, another.

“Your father is looking for you.”

I turned the phone facedown.

The lawyer came in with a statement he needed me to review.

“I can’t promise any outcome tonight concerning your mother’s accident. You may need to answer questions about it repeatedly as things proceed.”

I took the document.

“I understand.”

He sat across from me without urging me to sign.

On the livestream, Dario appeared at the edge of the frame. He held a wineglass but hadn’t taken a drink. Viola approached and seemed to ask him something. He shook his head and handed the glass to a waiter.

Slowly, I loosened my grip on the hem of my clothes.

He had listened to my warning.

How he would face the things he had taken part in was another matter.

The host stepped onto the stage and introduced the Morante family’s years of support for charity.

My father rose, smiling.

He spoke of responsibility. Of protection. Of how a family should care for its most vulnerable members.

Applause filled the room.

I looked down and turned a page. Its edge pressed against my burn, making me wince.

Rosa nudged the cup toward me.

“Should we turn it off?”

“No.”

When my father finished, the host invited Livia onto the stage.

She stepped up to the microphone and waved toward the head table.

“The film you’re about to see captures our family’s happiest, most genuine moments. My sister helped put it together, although she seems to be late again.”

People in the audience laughed.

Livia laughed too.

“It’s all right. She always comes back.”

She pressed the remote and turned toward the large screen with a smile. This was the video they had so carefully prepared to humiliate me.

The screen went dark.

The first image to appear was the warehouse at the old harbor.

The person filming sat in a car ashore. I stood at the far end of the pier. The boat had already left, and smoke was beginning to seep from beneath the warehouse door.

Someone asked, “Are we really lighting it?”

Enzo’s voice rang through the ballroom speakers.

“Let her see the smoke first. If she doesn’t sign, give her more time.”

Livia’s expression froze.

My father shot to his feet, shouting for someone to turn it off.
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  • They Wanted a Confession. I Seized Their Ship   Chapter 50

    “The original was in the personal albums,” Rosa said. “I thought you might like to display it.”I touched the frame.My mother’s smile was wide.Not the composed photograph on the headstone.Not the perpetually argumentative woman in my father’s stories.I placed it on the little cabinet beside the watch.Then returned to the table.Selena had poured my drink. Lucia was asking whether anyone was sitting in the chair by the window.“No,” I said. “Take it if you like.”The words reminded me of who I used to be.I had cared so much about seats.If I sat closer to my father, did that mean I mattered more?If Livia took my usual place, should I quietly move?Every dinner had been an examination whose answers I had to guess in advance.Now, my table had no head.Only the people I chose to invite.Halfway through the meal, my phone chimed.The work group.The next stage of the new project had been confirmed. I would chair Monday’s meeting.I checked it, acknowledged the message, and turned th

  • They Wanted a Confession. I Seized Their Ship   Chapter 49

    After taking it, she showed me first.I wore no makeup. My hair was untidy from moving. My sleeves were rolled to my elbows, and the scars on my arm were clearly visible.I looked twice.“This one is fine.”Selena smiled and put her phone away.No one asked me to cover the scars.No one made a point of staring.They simply said we had finished moving, and that was good.That night, I sat alone in my new living room.My keys hung beside the door.My mother’s watch stood on the small cabinet near the window.Just as I was about to turn out the light, an email arrived from the lawyer.Attached were the final archive notes.The matters concerning my father, Viola, Enzo, and Livia had each entered their respective enforcement and follow-up stages.My required participation in my mother’s case was complete too.At the end, he asked whether I still wanted to receive personal letters they sent through formal channels.My fingers paused.In the past, I always felt I should leave one route open.

  • They Wanted a Confession. I Seized Their Ship   Chapter 48

    It was raining when the keys to my new apartment were placed in my hand.The apartment wasn’t especially large.The living room faced the sea. Beside the window was room for the dining table I had spent so long choosing.Before signing, I read every document.When I didn’t understand something, I asked.The agent explained patiently. He didn’t hurry me to trust him.I suddenly remembered Dario’s words years earlier.Do you really need to be so guarded even with me?Reading a contract carefully should never have required an apology for being cautious.On moving day, my friends came to help.Some carried books. Others organized the kitchen.Selena took a day off and arrived with a large bag of food.When she reached the living room, she asked whether she could set it down.I said yes.Only then did she put it there.Such a small gesture.I stood watching for a long time.Rosa noticed and smiled without saying anything.At dusk, we opened the last box.Inside were the old hard drive and s

  • They Wanted a Confession. I Seized Their Ship   Chapter 47

    He told the people questioning him that he hadn’t approached or spoken to me. He only wanted to see from a distance that I was well.Hearing that, I felt nothing.Before, he said it was love.Now, concern.Every version required crossing a boundary I had clearly set.In the proceedings that followed, he admitted checking my work schedule.He also admitted knowing he shouldn’t have come.When the lawyer told me, I asked only one question.“What else do I need to do?”I confirmed the materials that required confirmation.I truthfully provided the records that needed supplementing.Beyond that, I didn’t meet him again.His violations were addressed, and the protective arrangements continued in light of the new circumstances.A few days later, he sent a brief statement through an authorized formal channel.He didn’t ask me to answer.He said he finally understood that what he had been waiting for wasn’t a chance to begin again.It was for me to nod and prove he wasn’t so bad after all.I r

  • They Wanted a Confession. I Seized Their Ship   Chapter 46

    I stared at the line for a long time before folding the letter.Then I picked up a pen.For the first time since leaving the estate, I wrote to her myself.Not much.“You don’t need me to validate your new beginning.”“But I won’t deny what happened for you, and I won’t provide a public statement of forgiveness.”“I’m no longer part of deciding how you live. Please stop contacting me as well.”I gave the letter to the lawyer.Rosa asked whether I felt lighter.“Not immediately.”I thought for a moment.“But I don’t have to worry about whether reading it will make her cry.”That was already a great change.A few months later, I heard Livia had stopped giving interviews.The consequences of her actions were still being carried out, and her personal assets had been reviewed and settled.I didn’t ask where she lived.For a while, I worried that not asking made me cold.Later, I understood.Not keeping track of someone who hurt me didn’t mean I wished her a bad life.It meant her future was

  • They Wanted a Confession. I Seized Their Ship   Chapter 45

    Later, the estate sold to strangers.Selena asked whether I wanted to see the final photographs.After thinking about it, I did.The empty living room.Marks on the wall where the family portraits had hung.The long table without its place settings.I didn’t feel triumphant.I didn’t want to go back.But in the corner of one photograph, I saw the chair that had once been mine.It was so small.And I had spent so many years trying to earn the right to sit in it.I closed the photographs and sent the measurements for my new dining table to the furniture store.This time, I would decide how many places to leave around it.Livia’s final letter arrived after the estate was sold.The lawyer asked first whether I wanted to read it.I thought about it and said yes.She didn’t write, “Are you satisfied now?”Nor did she ask me to say she had never deliberately harmed me.She admitted many of the ideas had been her own.She destroyed my mother’s letters because she disliked my having something s

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