CHAPTER 14: The House of Locked Rooms
The police search of Regina’s estate uncovered more than Victoria expected.
Locked filing cabinets. Medical invoices. Payments disguised as charity grants. Correspondence with hospital administrators who had retired early and moved far away. A private investigator’s reports tracking Mara Voss, Julian, and finally Caleb under different shelter names.
One folder was labeled E.J.E.
Ethan Julian Ellison.
Victoria could not touch it at first.
Inside were photographs taken over the years without Caleb knowing: a toddler outside a church pantry, a four-year-old sleeping behind a laundromat, a five-year-old standing in line at a winter shelter. Regina had known he was alive. She had watched him grow up hungry and done nothing except make sure he stayed invisible.
Amelia found Victoria in the estate library with the folder open on her lap.
“She monitored him,” Victoria said.
“Yes.”
“She could have brought him home any day.”
“Yes.”
Victoria’s voice became flat. “She chose to keep him cold.”
Amelia sat beside her. “There are people who steal because they want something. Regina stole because she believed she had the right to decide who deserved to exist in the family story.”
That night, Victoria told the boys only what they could bear.
Nathan wanted to know if his grandmother would go to jail. Caleb wanted to know if she could come take him back. Victoria promised both that the courts would decide punishment, but protection belonged to her now.
Caleb did not believe promises yet, so Victoria showed him actions.
New locks. Guards at school. A therapist who specialized in trauma. A pediatrician who explained every step before touching him. A room prepared beside Nathan’s, not across the hall like a guest, but beside him like a brother.
Caleb stood in the doorway of that room.
There were two lamps. Two blue blankets. A shelf of books. A desk with pencils sharpened and waiting. On the wall, Victoria had placed no baby photos, no memories that excluded him.
Only a blank frame.
“What’s that for?” he asked.
May you like
Victoria smiled through tears.
“For the first picture we choose together.”
