Chapter 6 - THE TRUTH ABOUT ISABELLE
Dr. Franklin Pierce confessed before sunrise.
Not because he developed a conscience.
Because Sebastian Laurent had tried to kill him.
Fear accomplished what morality had failed to do.
Pierce admitted everything.
Sebastian had approached him during Isabelle’s pregnancy.
The Laurent family was collapsing financially.
Sebastian owed millions to private lenders.
Camille knew that when Isabelle’s children were born, control of most remaining family assets would permanently move beyond Sebastian’s reach.
So they created a plan.
Not originally to kill Isabelle.
Pierce insisted on that repeatedly.
They wanted to frighten her.
Create a medical emergency.
Convince her that carrying triplets made her incapable of managing her own affairs.
Then Camille would persuade her to sign temporary financial powers.
Except Isabelle refused.
She became suspicious.
And when Pierce increased her blood thinner, her body reacted worse than they expected.
The hemorrhage began.
Pierce could have warned the delivery team about the excessive dosage.
He did not.
Because doing so would expose him.
Isabelle died protecting his secret.
I listened to the recorded confession in my study.
Then I walked outside.
I made it halfway across the garden before my knees failed.
I sat on the stone steps where Isabelle used to drink coffee.
For eighteen months, I had imagined a thousand versions of her final hours.
None included betrayal by her own family.
Elena found me there.
She did not speak at first.
She sat two steps away.
People feared silence around me.
Elena understood it.
After several minutes, I said,
“I should have known.”
“No.”
“She tried to warn me.”
“She didn’t know enough herself.”
“I should have seen Camille.”
“You were grieving.”
“I let her live with my children.”
“You believed she loved her sister.”
I laughed bitterly.
“She loved money.”
Elena looked toward the lawn.
“My husband used to say guilt is arrogant.”
I turned.
“That sounds insulting.”
“It is.”
A small smile appeared.
“He said guilt sometimes means we convince ourselves we had the power to prevent everything.”
I looked away.
“And did he live according to his own wisdom?”
“Absolutely not.”
That made me laugh once.
Then the laughter died.
“What was his name?”
“Daniel.”
“What happened?”
“Scaffolding collapse.”
Her hands tightened.
“He complained for months that the company was ignoring safety regulations. Then one morning, a support failed.”
“Was anyone prosecuted?”
“No.”
“Compensation?”
Elena gave me a look.
“Enough to pay for his funeral.”
My jaw tightened.
“Name of the company.”
“No.”
“Elena.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because that look in your eyes is exactly why.”
“What look?”
“The one where you decide somebody’s life is about to become a problem.”
“That company killed your husband.”
“The investigation said accident.”
“Do you believe that?”
She was silent.
I had my answer.
“I’m not asking you to kill anyone for me.”
“That is reassuring.”
“I’m serious.”
“So am I.”
She looked at me.
“I don’t want my life fixed because a powerful man feels sorry for me.”
“I don’t feel sorry for you.”
“What do you feel?”
The question landed between us.
Too close.
Too honest.
I looked at her.
Her hair was loose.
She had not slept properly since Sophie’s kidnapping.
There were shadows beneath her eyes.
She was beautiful.
Not because she looked polished.
Because she looked real.
Alive.
Strong in ways people like me often failed to recognize.
“I don’t know yet,” I said.
It was the safest truthful answer.
Elena looked surprised.
Then nodded.
“That’s fair.”
Marco interrupted twenty minutes later.
Camille had requested to speak with me.
I almost refused.
Then she said she had something belonging to Isabelle.
We met through reinforced glass.
Camille looked nothing like the elegant woman who once walked through my estate criticizing flower arrangements.
No makeup.
Hair pulled back.
Prison clothing.
She stared at me.
“You brought the children?”
“No.”
Her face tightened.
“They’re my sister’s babies.”
“You tortured them.”
“I never meant to hurt them.”
“You put high-frequency emitters under their mattresses.”
“To make them difficult.”
I stared.
She actually believed that sounded better.
“Why?”
“Because you were shutting me out.”
“You’re not their mother.”
“I was trying to help.”
“You tried to make me dependent on you.”
Her eyes filled.
“After Isabelle died, you had everyone.”
“What?”
“Your brother. Your security people. Employees who worship you. Those babies.”
Her voice cracked.
“I had nobody.”
“So you hurt children because you were lonely?”
“I wanted you to understand you needed me.”
I felt nothing for her.
No sympathy.
Only disgust.
“Did you know Sebastian planned Isabelle’s medication?”
Camille looked away.
“That’s why I came.”
She slid a sealed envelope toward the glass.
“Father told Pierce to adjust the dosage. I knew.”
“You knew?”
My voice became quiet.
She flinched.
“I thought it would make Isabelle sick.”
“You knew he was tampering with a pregnant woman’s medication.”
“I didn’t think she would die.”
“You watched your sister go into labor knowing.”
Camille began crying.
“I was afraid.”
“You were afraid?”
“Father said if we backed out, everything would collapse.”
“So you let Isabelle die.”
“I loved her!”
I stood.
“Do not use that word.”
She froze.
“Love does not knowingly poison someone and then complain that the result was worse than expected.”
I turned to leave.
“Adrien.”
I stopped.
“The envelope.”
I looked back.
“What is it?”
“Isabelle wrote it the week before she died.”
“Why do you have it?”
“She gave it to me.”
“What does it say?”
“I never opened it.”
For the first time, I believed Camille.
I took the envelope.
That evening, I opened it beside my children.
Adrien,
I’ve been thinking about something you said when we first learned there were three babies.
You said you were terrified because you knew how to protect people from enemies, but you had no idea how to raise children.
Here is my answer.
You don’t raise them by protecting them from every wound.
You raise them by giving them enough love that wounds do not become their whole story.
Please remember that if I’m not there.
And remember this too:
You are allowed to love again.
I stopped reading.
My vision blurred.
Isabelle had written those words before she knew she would die.
You are allowed to love again.
I looked toward the doorway.
Elena stood there.
She immediately stepped back.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
“Stay.”
She hesitated.
Then entered.
Sophie came behind her and climbed onto the rug with the triplets.
Theo handed her a wooden block.
Nora stole it.
Sophie negotiated its return with remarkable seriousness.
Elena smiled.
And for once, when I remembered Isabelle, the memory did not feel like a locked door.
It felt like permission.
Then Marco entered with a folder.
His expression was grim but satisfied.
“Sebastian’s financial records.”
“What about them?”
“We found the people he owed.”
“Dangerous?”
“Very.”
“Connected to me?”
“No.”
“Good.”
Marco placed another document beside it.
“And something about Elena’s husband.”
She froze.
I looked at Marco.
“What did you do?”
“You asked me to look into the construction company.”
Elena stared at me.
“I told you not to.”
“I know.”
Anger flashed across her face.
Then Marco spoke.
“Daniel Ramirez’s death may not have been an accident.”
Elena went completely still.
“What?”
Marco opened the file.
“The company falsified inspection records. Daniel reported them three times.”
Her hand moved to her mouth.
“The morning he died, a supervisor ordered him onto scaffolding Daniel had personally marked unsafe.”
Elena whispered,
“Oh my God.”
“The supervisor received fifty thousand dollars one week later.”
“From whom?”
Marco looked at me.
Then Elena.
“Sebastian Laurent Development.”
The room became silent.
Sebastian had not only known who Elena was because she witnessed Camille at the hospital.
His company had been connected to her husband’s death.
Sophie looked up from the rug.
“Mommy?”
Elena’s knees nearly collapsed.
I caught her before she fell.
And as she shook in my arms, another truth became impossible to ignore.
Sebastian Laurent had been destroying families long before he touched mine.
May you like
Now Elena and I had the same enemy.
And this time, he would answer for both of them.
