Chapter 11 - Vanessa Wanted Emma Sent to Boarding School
The final piece came from Vanessa’s laptop.
Not a criminal plot.
Not stolen millions.
Something more personal.
Search history.
Emails.
Application inquiries.
Vanessa had contacted three boarding schools that accepted children starting around age eight.
Emma was seven.
In one email, Vanessa wrote:
Her dependence on her father is interfering with normal marital attachment and household hierarchy.
Damian stared at the sentence.
Household hierarchy.
There it was again.
Vanessa did not simply want Emma to become independent.
She wanted distance.
Physical distance.
She believed sending Emma away would give her and Damian a marriage without the constant presence of Rachel’s child.
In another message to Eleanor:
Once she’s away during the school year, Damian and I can finally build our own family.
Eleanor had never responded.
But she had not told Damian either.
May you like
That silence became another wound.
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