Chapter 2
The recital schedule had been altered that morning.
Ava was originally supposed to rehearse in the music room on the other side of the estate.
Rebecca moved the children’s rehearsal into the gallery adjoining the council chamber.
Her explanation at the time was practical.
Better acoustics.
Easier access for guests.
Closer to the reception hall.
The estate events coordinator had approved the move without concern.
Then Elena found another change.
The low rehearsal riser had been positioned against the shared wall nearest the council doors.
Normally it stood at the far end of the gallery beneath the tall windows.
Rebecca specifically asked staff to move it.
“Why?” Elena asked the stage manager.
“She said Mr. Moretti would want to hear Ava rehearsing while he worked.”
Lucien’s expression hardened.
He had never asked for that.
The rehearsal had also been delayed twice.
First by ten minutes.
Then another twelve.
That placed Ava’s final practice directly inside the period when Lucien was scheduled to present the most important item on the council agenda.
The Moretti Transition Charter.
Elena drew the timeline on a legal pad.
“Charles knew the council schedule?”
“He helped set it.”
“Rebecca?”
“She received the program yesterday.”
“Mason?”
“He was supposed to attend the second half.”
Everything placed the three adults around the same thirty-minute window.
Then Ava’s therapist provided a carefully limited summary from the child’s first session.
Ava said Rebecca had made her repeat the same entrance several times.
Ava wanted to stop.
Charles told Rebecca:
“Again.”
The therapist did not ask Ava to repeat every adult sentence she heard.
Ava volunteered one.
“Grandpa said Dad won’t leave unless I scream.”
Lucien stood so quickly his chair scraped backward.
Elena raised a hand.
He remained standing.
“Ava is four,” she reminded him. “Her wording may not be exact.”
“But she heard enough.”
“Yes.”
There was another sentence.
Ava remembered Mason entering the gallery before the council meeting started.
He spoke quietly to Charles.
Ava heard:
“When he comes out, I keep him out.”
That was closer to the physical sequence everyone witnessed.
Lucien left.
Mason blocked him.
Mason grabbed his jacket.
Mason told him to forget Ava’s words.
Then Mason swung.
Elena asked the security team to preserve Mason’s phone.
His attorney objected.
Formal process followed.
Nobody seized devices simply because Lucien demanded them.
That delay irritated him.
It also prevented the investigation from becoming a Moretti family punishment disguised as evidence collection.
That evening Lucien sat beside Ava while she colored.
She drew the recital gallery.
Ava.
Rebecca.
A square that was apparently the riser.
And a large black rectangle on the other side of the paper.
“What’s that?”
“Daddy room.”
“The council room?”
She nodded.
Then drew a line between herself and the rectangle.
“Grandpa said I make Daddy come.”
Lucien stared at the line.
May you like
There was no longer much doubt about the lure.
But he still did not know why leaving his chair mattered.
