Chapter 6 - THE CAMERA
Eleanor spoke first.
“That is private footage.”
Stallone laughed once.
A cold, humorless sound.
“That’s what you’re worried about?”
“I am worried about this family humiliating itself.”
“You locked a four-year-old in a dark room.”
“I disciplined her.”
“You ordered one child to strike another.”
“I taught hierarchy.”
Stallone stared at her.
“No.”
His voice softened.
“You taught fear.”
Michael moved toward Marcus.
“Did they delete the recordings?”
“No.”
Marcus held up his phone.
“The account is in both names. They require authorization from both Mr. and Mrs. Bennett for permanent deletion.”
Eleanor closed her eyes.
Stallone almost smiled.
For once, her obsession with legal control had worked against her.
“Get the footage.”
Marcus nodded.
Eleanor stepped toward him.
“You do that and you’re fired.”
Marcus met her eyes.
“Then I’m fired.”
Ten minutes later, a laptop sat open on the dining room table.
Nobody spoke.
The first clip showed Olivia spilling milk.
A tiny accident.
Nothing more.
Eleanor entered.
She pointed to the floor.
The audio was clear.
“On your knees.”
Olivia shook her head.
“No.”
Eleanor grabbed the back of the child’s shirt.
Sarah began sobbing.
Stallone stopped the video.
His hands were shaking.
“I can’t…”
Sarah whispered.
“Yes.”
Everyone looked at her.
She forced herself to breathe.
“I need to see it.”
Stallone looked at his daughter.
Sarah’s eyes were wet.
“If I look away now, I’m doing it again.”
He pressed play.
Sophie entered.
She pulled Olivia away from Eleanor.
“She’s four, Grandma!”
Eleanor turned on Sophie.
“You don’t challenge me in my home.”
“I will if you’re scaring a little kid.”
Claire cried silently.
Her daughter had been braver than all of them.
The next video showed Eleanor leading Olivia down the basement stairs.
The third showed the basement door closing.
The fourth showed Olivia emerging twenty-three minutes later.
Her face swollen from crying.
Then came footage nobody expected.
Eleanor crouched in front of her.
“You tell your mother you were in that room and she’ll know you’ve been lying again.”
Olivia nodded through tears.
Eleanor continued.
“And if Grandpa finds out, he’ll be disappointed in you.”
Stallone stopped the recording.
“No.”
His voice broke.
Olivia stared at him.
He walked to her.
He knelt.
“Sweetheart, look at me.”
She did.
“Nothing you could tell me would ever make me disappointed because you told the truth.”
Olivia’s lips trembled.
“Even if Grandma gets mad?”
“Especially then.”
She threw her arms around him.
Stallone held her tightly.
Behind him, Eleanor spoke.
“You’re destroying this family.”
He slowly stood.
“No.”
He looked directly at her.
“I’m discovering what already destroyed it.”
Marcus closed the laptop.
“There’s more.”
Michael frowned.
“More?”
Marcus nodded.
“I found footage from three weeks ago.”
His eyes moved toward Ethan.
The boy stiffened.
“This one isn’t about Olivia.”
Michael crossed the room.
“What is it about?”
Marcus looked at Ethan.
May you like
Then at Eleanor.
“She made Ethan hurt himself.”
