Chapter 6 - Margaret Admitted the Concern Campaign
Margaret denied planning violence.
She admitted almost everything else.
That was worse.
She sat in the library with Sarah, Vittorio, two relatives, and family counsel present.
The gray folder rested unopened on the table.
Vittorio asked one question first.
“Did you tell people I was becoming unstable?”
Margaret lifted her chin.
“I told people you changed.”
“Did you believe that?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“You became harsher.”
“I have always been harsh.”
“Not like this.”
Vittorio almost smiled.
She was still doing it.
Turning interpretation into fact.
Sarah slid the messaging page toward her.
Margaret looked at it.
Then at David’s notes.
“I wrote some of that.”
No denial.
“Why?”
“Because this family needed preparation.”
“For what?”
“For when you finally went too far.”
Vittorio’s voice stayed level.
“Meaning?”
Margaret looked toward Sarah.
“Tonight.”
Sarah stared.
Margaret explained that David had complained for years that Vittorio interfered in their marriage.
That Sarah ran to her father after every dispute.
That Vittorio made David feel secondary.
Margaret believed eventually the two men would clash physically.
“So you arranged it?” Sarah asked.
“I documented risk.”
“You wrote ‘Margaret approaches child if necessary.’”
Margaret paused.
“That was David’s idea.”
Vittorio noticed the deflection.
“Did you agree?”
“Yes.”
Sarah’s face hardened.
“You used Emma.”
“I never intended to touch her.”
“But you knew Dad would react if you approached her.”
Margaret said nothing.
That silence answered.
Then Vittorio asked:
“What happens after I ‘go too far’?”
Margaret’s expression changed.
Not much.
Enough.
The folder contained no final page.
At least not the copy Sarah found.
Something came after the provocation sequence.
A next step.
Margaret would not say.
Vittorio did not threaten her.
He simply said:
May you like
“Then we find David’s copy.”
For the first time, Margaret looked truly worried.
