19. Ciara
CHAPTER 19
ciara
T he glass of wine trembled in my hand as I paced our bedroom. David's face was ashen as he read the anonymous email that arrived this morning.
"Someone knows." My voice cracked. "Oh God, David, someone knows what we did."
He shut his laptop sharply. "Ciara, calm down. It could be nothing. Just someone fishing for information."
But we both knew better. The email was too specific—about the brake lines, about the cliff road Carlos always took home, about the life insurance policy David had insisted Carlos change just months before.
"My daughter..." The wine sloshed over the rim as I sank onto the bed. "If Maxine ever found out..."
"She won't." David's voice hardened. "We did what we had to do. Carlos was going to ruin everything—the merger, the company, our future. He was going to tell Maxine about the embezzlement!"
I closed my eyes, remembering Carlos's face that last morning. "I'm done covering for you, Ciara. Maxine deserves to know what kind of people her mother and uncle really are."
"The shares," I whispered. "That's why you're pushing so hard for her shares. If she gets full access to the company records..."
"It won't come to that." David knelt before me, taking my trembling hands. "We'll get her to sign them over, one way or another. The trail is buried too deep for anyone to find unless they know exactly where to look."
A knock at the door made me jump and spill wine on my silk robe.
"Mom?" Maxine. "Are you okay? I heard voices."
"Fine, sweetheart!" My voice was too bright, too brittle. "Just discussing business with David."
Through the door, I heard her hesitate. My beautiful, trusting daughter. She had Carlos's eyes, his sense of justice. What would she see if she looked at me now?
"If you need anything..." she started.
"Go to bed, Maxine," David called out. "It's late."
Her footsteps faded away. I reached for the wine bottle, needing something to steady my nerves.
"What if it's Sebastian?" I asked suddenly. "He's been going through the old files, asking questions about that night..."
David's expression darkened. "I'll handle my son. You just focus on convincing Maxine to sign those papers. Use the mother-daughter bond, her father's memory—whatever it takes."
I laughed, the sound edged with hysteria. "Her father's memory? We killed her father, David. I watched him drive down that mountain knowing what would happen."
"Lower your voice," he hissed. "And we didn't kill anyone. Carlos made his choices. He chose to threaten us, to risk everything we'd built."
But all I could see was Maxine at the funeral, clutching her father's locket, her world shattered. I did that. I helped destroy my daughter's happiness to protect my secrets.
"If she ever finds out..."
"She won't." David's certainty should comfort me, but something in his eyes made me shiver. "I promise you, Ciara. No one will ever know the truth about what happened to Carlos."
As I lay in bed later, listening to David's steady breathing, I wondered if this was what damnation felt like—watching your child suffer and knowing you were the cause. The anonymous email sitting in David's inbox felt like a ticking bomb, threatening to destroy the careful lies we'd built.
Somewhere in the house, I heard Maxine laugh, followed by what sounded like Sebastian's deeper voice. My daughter, finding moments of happiness despite everything we'd done.
I reached for the wine on my nightstand, my hands still shaking.
God forgive me, but I’d do whatever it took to keep our secret buried. Even if it meant destroying what little trust my daughter had left in me.
The truth about Carlos's death had to stay hidden. No matter the cost.