Chapter 6 - The Story Evelyn Prepared
By Friday morning, someone leaked part of the rehearsal footage.
Not Camera Four.
The leaked clip began two seconds after Evelyn had planted the brooch.
It showed her pulling the diamond from Ivy’s backpack.
It showed Ivy shouting.
It showed Mara rushing forward.
And it ended just before the monitor replay exposed Evelyn.
Within an hour, gossip sites carried headlines about “Hartwell Heiress Child Caught With Missing Diamond.”
Mara saw one before Daniel’s team began issuing takedown requests.
She shut off her phone.
Ivy was eating cereal at the kitchen counter of Mara’s cousin’s apartment.
“Is that about me?”
“No.”
Ivy watched her.
Mara had promised never to lie to her simply because the truth was difficult.
“Yes,” she corrected. “But it’s not the truth.”
Ivy put down her spoon.
“Can kids get fired from families?”
Mara turned.
“What?”
“Grandma said I embarrassed the family.”
“You did nothing wrong.”
“But can she make us leave?”
“No.”
“Even if she owns the studio?”
“The studio is not our family.”
Ivy thought about that.
“Daddy thinks it is.”
Mara had no answer.
At Hartwell Studios, Julian was discovering the cost of the same confusion.
The board had called an emergency meeting.
Three independent directors wanted Evelyn suspended as chair pending investigation.
Two longtime allies insisted the incident was a misunderstanding.
The remaining members wanted to know who had leaked the footage.
Tessa Grant, the live-production director, provided the answer.
“The export came from a workstation in Executive Communications.”
Julian sat forward.
“Whose login?”
“Rebecca Sloan.”
Evelyn’s personal publicist.
Rebecca had worked for Evelyn for nineteen years.
Julian called her immediately.
She did not answer.
Marcus checked access records.
Rebecca had entered Evelyn’s office at 4:53 on rehearsal day.
She had left at 5:17.
The prepared statement about Ivy had been created at 5:08.
Julian looked at Daniel.
“She knew.”
“Or she typed what she was told.”
“Find her.”
By noon, Rebecca’s attorney contacted the studio.
Rebecca would cooperate if the studio guaranteed it would not sue her for breach of confidentiality.
Daniel refused to guarantee anything but offered independent counsel during an interview.
She came in at three.
Julian watched from behind the conference-room glass.
Rebecca appeared older without the immaculate armor she wore at events.
Tessa placed the prepared statement in front of her.
“Did you write this?”
Rebecca looked toward the camera.
“I drafted it.”
“At whose direction?”
“Evelyn Hartwell.”
“When?”
“Before rehearsal.”
“Why?”
Rebecca’s fingers trembled.
“She told me there might be an incident involving Ivy.”
“What kind of incident?”
“She said the child had become fascinated with expensive objects and might take something that didn’t belong to her.”
Tessa’s face remained expressionless.
“Did you believe that?”
“No.”
“Then why write it?”
“Because Mrs. Hartwell told me to.”
The sentence could have been Julian’s.
He felt ill.
Tessa continued.
“Did she specify a missing item?”
“No.”
“Did she tell you to leak rehearsal footage?”
Rebecca began crying.
“Yes.”
“Which footage?”
“The one where she found the brooch.”
“Why exclude Camera Four?”
“Because she told me Camera Four was a rehearsal reference angle and wouldn’t be retained.”
Julian stood abruptly.
Daniel followed him into the hall.
“She thought the evidence would disappear.”
“Yes.”
“But Tessa keeps everything.”
“Apparently.”
Julian looked through the glass at Rebecca.
“How many people have spent twenty years doing whatever my mother tells them?”
Daniel did not answer.
The question was too close.
That evening, Julian drove to Mara’s cousin’s apartment.
He did not go upstairs.
He texted Mara that he was outside and had something for Ivy.
Mara came down alone.
He handed her a small cardboard box.
Inside was Ivy’s black velvet backpack.
Security had released it after photographing and swabbing it.
Mara touched the strap.
“She asked about it.”
Julian nodded.
“I had it cleaned.”
“She might not want it.”
“I know.”
They stood in the humid evening air.
Then Julian said, “Rebecca confirmed the setup.”
Mara’s eyes sharpened.
“She drafted the statement?”
“Yes.”
“And leaked the clip?”
“Yes.”
“On Evelyn’s orders?”
“Yes.”
Mara looked toward the apartment windows.
“She planned to destroy an eight-year-old’s reputation.”
Julian said nothing.
“Your own daughter.”
“I know.”
“Stop saying that.”
He looked at her.
“Then tell me what to say.”
“I can’t.”
For once, his helplessness did not move her.
As Mara turned away, Julian said, “There’s something you should know.”
She stopped.
“My mother called me this morning.”
“And?”
“She said Lillian wasn’t innocent.”
Mara’s entire body tightened.
“What exactly did she say?”
“She said your mother took something the night before she was fired.”
“What?”
“She wouldn’t tell me.”
Mara faced him fully.
“What did you say?”
“I told her if she has evidence, she can give it to Daniel and the authorities.”
A pause.
“And then?”
“She laughed.”
“Why?”
Julian looked disturbed.
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“She said, ‘Ask Mara why her mother never spent the money.’”
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