Chapter 4 - THE TABLET
I did not go back myself.
Rebecca would not allow it.
Instead, we sent a licensed property officer with building security.
The apartment was mine.
My personal items could be retrieved.
But everything had to be documented.
At 9:20 a.m., the officer entered.
At 9:37, he called Rebecca.
“The tablet isn’t here.”
My stomach dropped.
“Where was it usually kept?”
“In my office drawer.”
He checked.
Empty.
My laptop dock remained.
Old chargers remained.
Tax files remained.
Only the tablet was missing.
Then the officer found something else.
A recently emptied box.
The label read:
DOCUMENT SHREDDING SERVICE.
Rebecca looked at me.
“Did you order that?”
“No.”
At 10:05, Ethan called.
This time, Rebecca instructed me to answer.
“Keep your voice calm.”
I put him on speaker.
“Elena.”
His tone was gentle.
Almost wounded.
“What are you doing?”
“Taking care of Sophie.”
“You’re tearing apart our family.”
“You lied to me about where she was.”
“Because I knew you’d overreact.”
I looked at Rebecca.
She raised one finger.
Keep going.
“You saw her on the balcony?”
A pause.
“I knew Mom was disciplining her.”
“For how long?”
“Elena—”
“How long, Ethan?”
“Maybe twenty minutes.”
It had been much longer.
The building footage proved it.
“Was she fed?”
“She ate.”
“What?”
Another pause.
“Bread. Something else. I don’t know.”
“You don’t know what your three-year-old ate?”
“You’re trying to trap me.”
“No.”
I stared at the recorder Rebecca had placed on the table.
“I’m trying to understand why six adults ate lobster while Sophie was outside.”
His voice hardened.
“There you go again.”
“Again?”
“Making everything dramatic.”
I felt my heartbeat slow.
It was strange.
The calmer I became, the more furious he sounded.
“You always do this,” he continued.
“You work all the time, then come home and act like you’re the only person who cares about Sophie.”
“Do you care?”
“That’s insulting.”
“Then tell me what she weighs.”
Silence.
“What?”
“What does Sophie weigh?”
“Elena, that’s ridiculous.”
“What is the name of her pediatrician?”
“I know her doctor.”
“Name her.”
Silence again.
Rebecca’s eyes remained on me.
I asked, “When is Sophie’s next vaccination?”
“Stop interrogating me.”
“Which preschool teacher does she run to every morning?”
His breathing changed.
“Elena.”
“Her name is Ms. Daniela.”
“I know that.”
“You didn’t.”
He cursed under his breath.
Then he said something that changed everything.
“You think paying for everything makes you her mother.”
I stared at the phone.
“No.”
My voice was barely above a whisper.
“Being there when she needs me makes me her mother.”
“And where were you all those months you were traveling?”
There it was.
The argument he had been preparing.
Before I could answer, Ethan continued.
“My mother was raising Sophie while you were collecting promotions.”
Rebecca wrote something.
I remained silent.
“You chose your career,” Ethan said.
“Now you don’t get to rewrite history because you came home early one night.”
One night.
I thought about the toast in Chloe’s video.
The red cup.
Sophie saying “lots.”
Then I asked the question Rebecca had told me not to ask unless the conversation naturally reached it.
“Where is my tablet?”
Silence.
The call ended.
Rebecca and I looked at each other.
“That answered that,” she said.
An hour later, something stranger happened.
Robert called me.
I nearly ignored him.
Rebecca stopped me.
“Answer.”
His voice sounded older than usual.
“Elena.”
“Robert.”
“I’m sorry.”
I said nothing.
“I should have stopped Patricia.”
“Yes.”
“I know.”
I waited.
He breathed heavily.
“Ethan told us you were going to take Sophie away from the family.”
“When?”
“Months ago.”
My fingers tightened around the phone.
“What exactly did he say?”
“That your company was moving you abroad.”
I frowned.
“My company never planned that.”
“He said you were going to London.”
I stared at Rebecca.
There had been a London position.
I had declined it before anyone in the family knew.
Anyone except Ethan.
Robert continued.
“He said if you left him, he needed proof that Patricia had been the stable caregiver.”
My mouth went dry.
“Proof?”
“He asked us to keep receipts.”
“What receipts?”
“Food. Clothing. Things for Sophie.”
“But I paid for everything.”
“I know.”
His voice cracked.
“Patricia said it didn’t matter who paid. The receipts showed who bought things.”
I stood from my chair.
“So they were building a custody record.”
“I think so.”
“For how long?”
Robert whispered the answer.
“Almost a year.”
I closed my eyes.
Then he added, “Elena, there’s something else.”
“What?”
“The tablet is not the worst thing Ethan took.”
A chill moved through me.
“What did he take?”
Robert hesitated.
May you like
Then said:
“Your signature.”
