Chapter 6 - The Good GrandmotherEleanor Carter had always understood that children trusted simple stories.
Heroes.
Villains.
Good people.
Bad people.
Sophia complicated everything.
That was why Eleanor disliked her.
Sophia asked questions where polite people accepted explanations.
She read contracts before signing them.
She remembered numbers.
Worst of all, Daniel listened to her.
Eleanor sat in the rear of her car while Ross Mercer drove.
“Did Hale contact them?”
Ross glanced in the mirror.
“I don’t know.”
“That means yes.”
“I warned you we should have dealt with him years ago.”
Eleanor’s voice became cold.
“Choose your words carefully.”
Ross said nothing.
Her phone vibrated.
A message from Liam.
Can I come to your house?
Eleanor smiled.
She typed:
Always.
Then another message arrived.
Dad says no.
Her smile faded.
At the Carter mansion, Daniel had temporarily blocked Eleanor’s number on Liam’s tablet.
Liam discovered it within twenty minutes.
“You can’t stop me from talking to Grandma!”
Daniel stood at the kitchen island.
“Until I understand who has been sending you anonymous messages, yes, I can.”
“Grandma didn’t do it.”
“I didn’t say she did.”
“You think she did.”
Sophia entered.
Liam immediately turned away from her.
That tiny movement hurt more than the pool.
Sophia sat across from him.
“Liam.”
“I don’t want to talk.”
“I do.”
“I said no.”
Daniel started to intervene.
Sophia raised a hand.
“Let him be angry.”
Liam looked at her.
She had worn less makeup that morning.
The scars were still concealed, but imperfectly.
A faint uneven line remained visible near her jaw.
Liam noticed.
His eyes dropped.
Sophia noticed him noticing.
“I’m not going to make you look at my face.”
“I don’t care.”
“Yes, you do.”
He pushed his cereal bowl away.
“Why do you keep lying?”
Sophia inhaled.
“What do you think I lied about?”
“The fire.”
“I never told you anything about the fire.”
“That’s lying too.”
Sophia looked at Daniel.
The child was right.
Not completely.
But enough.
“Something happened when you were two,” she said.
Daniel straightened.
“Sophia.”
“No.”
She kept her eyes on Liam.
“There was a car accident.”
“I know.”
“I was there.”
“I know.”
“You were there too.”
Liam froze.
Daniel shut his eyes.
“What?”
“You were in the car.”
Liam looked toward his father.
“Dad?”
Daniel nodded.
Liam’s face went pale.
“Why didn’t anyone tell me?”
“Because you were very young,” Sophia said.
“Did someone die?”
“No.”
“Did you start the fire?”
“No.”
“Then how did you get burned?”
Sophia’s throat tightened.
This was the line.
Once she crossed it, there was no going back.
Before she could speak, Liam suddenly stood.
His chair scraped across the floor.
“I remember something.”
Daniel moved toward him.
“What?”
Liam stepped backward.
“A sound.”
“What sound?”
He put both hands over his ears.
“Glass.”
Sophia’s heart pounded.
“And smoke.”
“Liam—”
“And somebody screaming.”
His breathing accelerated.
Sophia rose slowly.
“You don’t have to remember.”
“Yes, I do!”
He looked directly at her.
For one terrible second, fear filled his face.
Then he whispered:
“I remember your face.”
Sophia stopped.
Liam began crying.
“You looked like a monster.”
He ran from the kitchen.
Sophia did not follow.
Daniel started after him.
She caught his arm.
“Give him a minute.”
Daniel looked at her.
The pain in his face mirrored hers.
Upstairs, Liam locked himself in his room.
He crawled beneath his bed.
From underneath the mattress, he pulled out something Daniel had not found.
A second note.
This one had arrived before the photographs.
SOME MONSTERS SAVE YOU ONLY SO THEY CAN OWN YOU LATER.
Liam had never understood that sentence.
May you like
Now, after Sophia admitted he had been in the car, it terrified him.
Because somebody knew the truth before he did.
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