Chapter 14 - Rosa’s Hands Begin to Shake
"Señora Emily," Rosa’s voice came across the wire, frayed and frantic. "They came to my house. Two men. They were not police."
Emily grabbed the receiver tightly. "Rosa? Are you safe? Where are you?"
"I am at my sister’s apartment in Queens. I took my grandson and we left through the fire escape." Rosa was weeping—a sound that shattered Emily’s heart. Rosa was the rock of their lives; this was the woman who had dove across the flagstone terrace, skinning her elbows to the bone, catching Grace mere inches before the infant struck the stone urn below the balcony. "They had papers from immigration, Emily. They said my visa renewal from ten years ago was fraudulent. They said if I testify at the retrial, the federal agents will be waiting outside the courtroom doors."
Daniel took the phone from Emily’s hand, his voice thick with rage. "Rosa, listen to me. My father set up your legal status fifteen years ago. Your green card is permanent. They are bluffing. They are trying to intimidate you because without your testimony, the video has no eyewitness to contextualize Lauren’s words."
"They had my sister's address, Daniel," Rosa cried. "They had photos of my grandson walking to middle school. The man told me, *'Accidents happen to little boys who cross the street without looking. Just like accidents happen to babies on balconies.'* Daniel, she will kill us. You don't know what Lauren is capable of when she feels cornered. She paid for her husband's car crash in Switzerland six years ago! Everyone in the family whispered it, but nobody said it out loud!"
Daniel’s blood turned to ice. "What did you say?"
"Your mother knew!" Rosa sobbed. "Margaret knew! That was why Lauren had so much power over her! Lauren kept the mechanic’s bills in her personal safe at the penthouse. She told Margaret that if she ever cut her out of the trust, the Swiss police would receive the real telemetry data from the brakes!"
Daniel stared blankly at the wall. His late father’s estate had always been a labyrinth of hush money and non-disclosure agreements, but he had believed his sister’s wickedness was born of jealousy and narcissistic rage. He had never imagined the rot went that deep.
"Rosa," Daniel said, his voice dropping into a register of chilling resolve. "Pack everything you need for two weeks. Do not use your credit cards. I am sending an armored transport service to your sister's house right now. You are going somewhere Lauren’s money cannot reach."
He hung up the phone and turned to Emily.
"We need to see my mother," he said.
"Your mother?" Emily shouted, tears of frustration finally breaking through. "Your mother stood on that balcony and tried to tell the police Grace slipped from Lauren’s shawl! Your mother spent Grace’s entire first year sending passive-aggressive cards pretending nothing happened!"
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"Margaret knows where the bodies are buried," Daniel said grimly, grabbing his coat. "And for the first time in her life, she’s going to have to choose between Lauren’s blackmail and her granddaughter’s life."
***
