Chapter 6 - The Work TripI could have come home more often.
There.
No villain needed for that sentence.
The hospital project was important.
A $280 million expansion.
A new trauma wing.
Two surgical floors.
I was the executive director for the contractor consortium.
When the schedule collapsed, I moved temporarily to the project city.
Aurelia encouraged me.
“You've worked ten years for something this big,” she told me.
“Go.”
Sorrel cried when I left.
I almost canceled.
Aurelia said:
“She'll adjust.”
That sentence became a ghost.
I came home twice.
Or thought I did.
In June, Aurelia said Sorrel was at a lake weekend.
In July, she said Sorrel was staying with my aunt.
Both were lies.
I had trusted intimacy more than verification.
That was my failure.
The evaluator later asked:
“Why did you leave your daughter with your fiancée rather than a licensed caregiver or relative?”
“Because we were getting married.”
“That answers relationship, not qualification.”
I had no answer.
Aurelia handled school schedules.
Household bills.
Staff.
Sorrel's smartwatch.
Caregiver reimbursements.
My travel arrangements.
Everything became easier.
That was precisely why I gave her more.
She wasn't a legal guardian.
But on paper, she increasingly looked like one.
Then investigators discovered Aurelia had toured three residential programs.
She had used my surname.
“Mrs. Sutton.”
She told admissions staff she expected to become Sorrel's legal guardian.
One school rejected Sorrel because she was too young.
Another offered future consultation.
A third discussed intensive family services.
There was no evidence Aurelia had physically planned to send Sorrel away immediately.
But she was building a future.
And Detective Ellis had found another recording.
Aurelia was speaking to a man.
“We'll get Hadrian to sign permanent authority after the wedding.”
The man's voice replied:
“He doesn't read statements.”
Aurelia laughed.
“I know.”
May you like
We didn't know who the man was.
Yet.
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