Chapter 2 - VIVIAN HAD SEEN THIS BEFOREVivian recovered quickly.
She always did.
Within ten minutes she had ordered the curtains closed, instructed Margaret to send the remaining staff home, and disconnected the estate’s front intercom.
Caleb watched every movement.
None of it looked improvised.
That disturbed him.
“What are you doing?”
“Protecting Lila.”
“You just said she shouldn’t be in this house.”
“And now she is.”
Vivian crossed toward the windows and checked that no gap remained between the curtains.
“We need to control who knows.”
Caleb stared at her.
“Who knows what?”
Vivian gave him a look that suggested the answer was obvious.
Elena remained on the sofa, exhausted.
Lila slept against her chest.
Caleb sat beside them.
“When did you first see her?”
Vivian did not respond.
“Elena?”
His wife hesitated.
“At the hospital.”
“My mother?”
“Yes.”
“How soon?”
“Maybe an hour after she was born.”
Caleb frowned.
“That doesn’t make sense. I called Mom after the delivery. She told me she was still in Newport.”
Elena wiped her face.
“She was already at the hospital.”
Caleb turned slowly toward Vivian.
His mother did not deny it.
“How?”
“I heard Elena had gone into labor.”
“From whom?”
Silence.
Caleb stood.
“How did you know which hospital?”
“Caleb, this is not the important issue.”
“It is becoming extremely important.”
Vivian sighed.
“I have contacts.”
“In Providence maternity wards?”
“I have contacts everywhere.”
That sounded exactly like the kind of answer Vivian had used throughout his childhood whenever she believed wealth could substitute for explanation.
This time it did not work.
Elena spoke quietly.
“She came into the room before I even understood what was happening.”
Caleb sat again.
“What happened?”
Elena looked down at Lila.
“When she was born, the room changed.”
“What do you mean?”
“The doctor went silent.”
Elena’s voice shook.
“One of the nurses dropped something. I remember hearing metal hit the floor. Nobody moved for a few seconds.”
Caleb hated imagining her alone in that moment.
“I kept asking if Lila was breathing. She was. She cried normally. Her heart was normal. Everything they checked was normal.”
Except the impossible tail beneath the blanket.
“The doctor asked everyone except one nurse to leave,” Elena continued. “He wrapped her immediately.”
“And Mom appeared?”
“Minutes later.”
Vivian interrupted.
“Because someone had to make sure the hospital didn’t turn your daughter into a laboratory specimen.”
Caleb looked at her.
“That almost sounds protective.”
“I am protective.”
“You told my wife to get rid of her.”
“I told Elena to remove her from this house before the staff saw.”
“That is not what you said.”
Vivian’s mouth tightened.
Elena looked at Caleb.
“She said something else at the hospital.”
Vivian’s head snapped toward her.
“Elena.”
Caleb noticed.
“What?”
“It may have meant nothing.”
“Tell me.”
Elena swallowed.
“When Vivian looked under the blanket, she didn’t gasp. She didn’t ask what happened.”
“What did she say?”
Elena hesitated.
“She said, ‘Not again.’”
The words settled into the room.
Caleb stared at his mother.
Vivian looked suddenly older.
“Not again?”
“It was an emotional moment.”
“That is not an emotional sentence.”
“Caleb.”
“Again means before.”
Vivian walked toward the fireplace.
“I am asking you, for once in your life, to trust me without forcing me to explain things you are not prepared to understand.”
Caleb almost laughed.
“You demanded that my wife abandon our newborn.”
“I was trying to prevent a disaster.”
“What disaster?”
Vivian turned.
“Photographs. Doctors. Reporters. Researchers. Government agencies. Do you believe people will see that child and simply leave her alone?”
Caleb had no answer.
Because beneath the cruelty was something true.
If Lila’s existence became public, there would be no normal childhood.
But that still did not explain Vivian.
“How many times have you seen this?”
Vivian looked away.
“Elena needs rest.”
Caleb blocked her path.
“How many?”
“Move.”
“No.”
His mother’s eyes hardened.
“You are still my son.”
“And she is still my daughter.”
Neither moved.
Finally Vivian stepped back.
“Keep her inside tonight.”
“Why tonight?”
Another mistake.
Vivian realized it immediately.
Caleb did too.
“What happens tonight?”
“Nothing.”
“You just told me specifically to keep her inside.”
“I meant generally.”
“No. You didn’t.”
Vivian picked up her handbag.
“I’m leaving.”
Caleb followed.
“You’re not done.”
“I am.”
“Mom.”
For the first time her hand trembled while fastening the bag.
Caleb saw it.
Vivian headed toward the hallway.
“I need to make a call.”
“To whom?”
She did not answer.
He let her go.
Not because he trusted her.
Because something told him following openly would only make her more careful.
Twenty minutes later, Vivian stood alone inside the estate’s library.
She believed the room was empty.
She dialed a number from memory.
Caleb stood silently in the shadow of the half-open corridor door.
His mother’s voice dropped to a whisper.
“It’s Vivian.”
A pause.
“No. You listen to me.”
Another pause.
Her shoulders stiffened.
“It happened.”
Caleb stopped breathing.
Vivian looked toward the closed curtains.
“The baby.”
Silence.
“Yes.”
Her next words were barely audible.
Caleb still heard them.
May you like
“It happened again.”
And whoever was on the other end already knew exactly what she meant.
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