Chapter 2 - The Vase Was FakeKiara did not touch the fragment.
She photographed it.
Then another.
Then the entire foyer.
Loretta watched from several feet away.
“What are you doing?”
“Documenting everything.”
“This is ridiculous.”
Kiara looked at her.
“My son has two red marks on his face, and the antique vase you just assaulted him over says ‘reproduction’ underneath.”
Loretta folded her arms.
“That label could mean anything.”
“It means the vase is not the one Dad bought.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I grew up with that vase.”
Kiara turned back toward Malik.
He stood close enough that his shoulder touched her hip.
She put one hand on him.
“Did Grandma say anything about the vase before it broke?”
Malik swallowed.
“She told me not to touch it.”
“That’s normal.”
He shook his head.
“She said especially that one.”
Loretta interrupted.
“Because he breaks things.”
Kiara looked at her sharply.
“Stop answering for him.”
Malik lowered his eyes.
Kiara noticed.
“When did she tell you that?”
“Yesterday.”
“Anything else?”
Malik hesitated.
Then whispered:
“She said if something happened to it, we’d all have a problem.”
Loretta laughed once.
“He’s turning a simple warning into a conspiracy.”
Kiara ignored her.
Police arrived nine minutes later.
Two officers separated the adults.
A paramedic checked Malik.
No serious injury.
No need for emergency transport unless Kiara wanted additional evaluation.
She did.
Malik’s physical injuries were minor.
His fear was not.
Before leaving, one officer photographed the dog crate and shattered vase.
Kiara pointed out the reproduction label.
The officer documented that too, though he made clear that the possible property issue was separate from the immediate child-safety investigation.
Loretta insisted she had only “corrected” Malik after he destroyed a family heirloom.
The officer asked:
“Did you put him inside the crate?”
Loretta hesitated.
“For less than a minute.”
“Did he want to go inside?”
“That isn’t the point.”
“It is one of the points.”
Kiara looked away.
At the pediatric urgent-care center, Malik sat wrapped in a light blanket.
Kiara remained beside him.
“Mom?”
“Yes?”
“Am I in trouble about the vase?”
“No.”
“But Grandpa liked it.”
Kiara’s heart tightened.
Everett Hayes had died four years earlier.
Malik had been five.
He remembered his grandfather mostly through photographs and stories.
“He did.”
“So I ruined it.”
Kiara took his hand.
“You broke something by accident.”
Malik looked at her.
“That’s different from hurting someone on purpose.”
He nodded slowly.
Then:
“But it wasn’t really Grandpa’s vase.”
Kiara glanced toward the door.
“No.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know yet.”
Malik looked down.
“I saw boxes.”
Kiara froze.
“What boxes?”
“In the garage.”
“When?”
“Last week.”
“Whose?”
“I don’t know.”
He rubbed his thumb across the blanket.
“Grandma was putting things in them.”
“What things?”
“One of Grandpa’s silver horse things.”
Kiara’s pulse changed.
Her father had collected American decorative art.
One object had been a nineteenth-century silver racehorse sculpture displayed in the library.
Appraised at more than $90,000.
Kiara had not looked closely at it in months.
“What else?”
“A clock.”
The French mantel clock.
Another heirloom.
“Did she see you?”
“Yes.”
“What did she say?”
Malik’s shoulders tightened.
“That I wasn’t supposed to spy.”
Kiara’s stomach sank.
“Were you spying?”
“No. I was looking for my basketball.”
“I know.”
Malik looked toward her.
“She made me promise not to tell you.”
“Why?”
“She said you had enough to worry about.”
Kiara closed her eyes.
Loretta had used that phrase before.
Your mother has enough to worry about.
It sounded caring.
Now Kiara heard it differently.
“When did the boxes leave?”
“I don’t know.”
“There was a truck?”
Malik nodded.
“A white van.”
“Did Grandma go with it?”
“No.”
Malik paused.
“A man did.”
Kiara leaned closer.
“What man?”
“The one with the glasses.”
She had no idea who he meant.
Her phone rang.
It was the officer still at the mansion.
“Ms. Hayes?”
“Yes.”
“We need to ask you something about the property.”
Kiara stood.
“What?”
“We checked the other vase on the matching console table.”
Her father had purchased them as a pair.
Kiara held her breath.
The officer continued.
“It has a reproduction sticker too.”
Kiara stared through the hospital window.
“How many things did you check?”
“Only what was visible without disturbing anything.”
“And?”
“There’s a metal sculpture in the library.”
“The horse.”
“Yes.”
“It’s fake too, isn’t it?”
A pause.
“There’s a manufacturer’s mark underneath dated last year.”
Kiara closed her eyes.
This was no longer one replaced vase.
May you like
Someone had been removing Everett’s collection piece by piece.
And Loretta had attacked Malik the moment one of the replacements shattered.
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