Chapter 13 - Beatrice’s Phone Call Is Recovered
A recorded call became the clearest window into Beatrice’s thinking.
It was not my recording.
Elaine had recorded it.
Apparently she no longer trusted Beatrice either.
On the call, Beatrice complained that I kept refusing the tea.
Elaine said:
“Then the mother won’t look impaired.”
Beatrice answered:
“We only need enough confusion to show Ryan is the stable parent.”
Elaine warned that Leo’s response could not be perfectly controlled.
Beatrice said:
“Then keep Mariana from taking him out of the room.”
There it was.
The sentence that explained the pressure.
The locked attention.
Ryan asking where Leo was.
His panic when he learned Dad saw the neck mark.
They had needed Leo inside the suite long enough for the camera to
capture the story they had already written.
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Instead, Dad saw the camera through a video call.
And I walked out.
