Chapter 7 - Back to the Red Post
They found Olivia beside the carnival post.
The decorations had not yet been removed.
The HAPPY BIRTHDAY sign still hung above it.
The bat lay inside a supply crate.
Olivia was sitting on the grass.
Leo ran toward her.
“Olivia!”
Vivian caught him gently.
“Stay with me.”
Claire reached her daughter first.
“What were you thinking?”
Olivia sobbed.
“I wanted to put the ring back.”
She held the presentation box.
Vivian knelt.
“Why?”
“Because then Leo can be the Rossetti again.”
Vivian’s heart broke.
“Olivia, none of this was because of you.”
“But I swung the bat.”
“Yes. And that was wrong.”
Olivia cried harder.
“But adults lied to you. They made you believe you had to hurt someone to belong.”
Leo stepped forward.
“I’m not mad anymore.”
Vivian looked at him.
Olivia wiped her face.
“You should be.”
“I was.”
That answer sounded so much like a child and so much wiser than many adults Vivian knew.
“But Mom says being mad forever makes your stomach hurt.”
Vivian almost laughed.
Claire did.
Through tears.
Then a voice came from behind them.
“What a touching little performance.”
Frank.
He stood on the patio.
Damon stiffened.
“What are you doing here?”
“I live here.”
Frank looked at Olivia.
“Give me the ring.”
Olivia hid it behind her back.
“No.”
Frank seemed genuinely shocked.
“You don’t tell me no.”
“I just did.”
Claire moved beside her daughter.
“She’s finished with you.”
Frank laughed.
“You enjoyed my money.”
Claire absorbed the insult.
“Yes.”
Then she said the words he had never expected.
“And I was wrong.”
Frank looked toward Damon.
“Take control of your wife.”
Damon stepped beside Vivian.
“No.”
Frank stared at his son.
For once, Damon did not look away.
Frank’s world was shrinking.
Not financially.
Not yet.
But emotionally.
The people he controlled were discovering that the door had never actually been locked.
They could simply leave.
Frank pointed toward the driveway.
“Get off my property.”
Vivian took Leo’s hand.
“Gladly.”
Olivia approached the red post.
Everyone watched.
She placed the ring box on the ground beneath it.
Then she looked at Leo.
“I don’t want your place.”
Leo shrugged.
“I don’t want Grandpa’s place either.”
Damon laughed unexpectedly.
A real laugh.
Vivian looked at him.
Something had changed.
They walked away together.
Frank remained beneath the birthday decorations.
Alone.
But the investigation had only begun.
And three days later, Rebecca received a call.
Investigators had found evidence that Frank was not the only person moving money through Second Branch Holdings.
Someone else had signed the transfers.
May you like
Someone whose signature Vivian recognized.
Damon’s.
