4: 4
The night of the banquet came fast.
To show how much Yolanda and her son mattered to him, Andrew held it at the old estate.
An hour before it started, the butler came looking for me.
"Young Mrs. Sanchez, the little golden Buddha the old Mrs. Sanchez has kept enshrined for years has gone missing. Mr. Sanchez asks you to come at once."
My stomach dropped.
That golden Buddha was the Sanchez heirloom, an artifact close to a thousand years old.
They said everything the family had today, it owed to the Buddha's protection.
A priceless heirloom gone missing was no small matter.
By the time I reached the family shrine, Edith's face was, as I expected, dark as still water.
"Yolanda, you've barely taken over the estate and already a disaster like this breaks out. If the family elders hear of it, are you trying to drag me down with you and make me the sinner of the Sanchez name?!"
"Find the Buddha this instant. Otherwise I'll have no choice but to invoke family discipline, break both your hands, and hand you over to the police. Only then can I answer to our ancestors and the elders!"
Yolanda dabbed at her eyes, playing the wronged one.
"Ma'am, I'm being blamed for nothing. I've been so busy preparing the family banquet lately, I couldn't manage everything, so I asked Mrs. Sanchez to look after the shrine for me."
"I have no idea how the Buddha could have gone missing..."
I gave a cold laugh.
"So Miss Croft wants to pass the blame? You say you handed it off to me. Do you have proof?"
She had no answer. Then Andrew suddenly spoke up.
"Of course there's proof. I'm the witness."
"Mother, I heard it with my own ears. Yoli asked Dora to take over watching the shrine for her."
I stared at him, unable to believe it.
I could not, for the life of me, believe he would frame me for Yolanda's sake.
Andrew went on.
"Mother, ever since Dora lost the child, her mind wanders. She's probably just forgotten."
"Let me help her remember."
He pulled me out the door and lowered his voice.
"Dora, it's Yoli's first time running the family banquet. She has no experience. A slip or two is only natural."
"By now the thief is long gone. She's terrified of pain, she couldn't survive having her hands broken and going to prison. Take it for her."
I looked at him, blank, my whole heart soaking in something bitter.
"But Andrew, I'm afraid of pain too..."
Andrew pressed his lips together and frowned.
"Yoli cares about how she looks, and now she's given us an heir. All those kept women who envy her, who knows how they'd laugh at her. She wouldn't be able to go on living. You've always had an even temper. You won't mind these things."
"I promise you, I'll find the best doctor to set your bones. Once Mother's anger cools, I'll get you out. And the seat as Mrs. Sanchez will still be there, kept for you."
"Dora, you're my wife. Sharing your husband's troubles is your duty. Be good and listen to me, all right?"
I wanted so badly to tell him: that's not it.
It was never that I had an even temper. It was that no one had ever cared what I thought.
Just like now.
I drew a deep breath. "All right."
Only then did Andrew smile. "That's my wife, always so sensible."
Back inside, I turned to Edith.
"I ask to be disciplined in my own room. Let me keep the last bit of my dignity."
Edith met my eyes for a few seconds, then nodded.
"Very well. The banquet is about to begin, and it won't do to keep the guests waiting. Andrew, all of you go ahead."
Once we were in my room, Edith watched me closely.
"Dora, I did agree to send you away. But if the Buddha's disappearance truly has anything to do with you, I won't show you any mercy either."
I nodded.
"I swear to you, I did not do this. And I know where the Buddha is."
"Then show me the proof."
The words had barely left me when Butler Lawrence came in and murmured a few things in her ear.
Inch by inch Edith's face darkened, and she laughed coldly, again and again.
"She has some nerve."
When she looked at me again, her expression had softened.
"Dora, you've been wronged. You're innocent. The divorce papers have already gone through. I'll send someone to take you away right now."
Before I left, I slipped the diamond ring off my finger.
I asked Edith to return it to Andrew for me.
Andrew, you and I will never see each other again.
...
Out in the Sanchez courtyard, Yolanda stood radiant, the child in her arms.
She moved beside Andrew, toasting the guests.
Then Edith appeared out of nowhere with several bodyguards and pointed at her, cold.
"Seize this cheap creature who stole the Buddha and then cried thief. Hand her over to the police!"
The scene erupted into chaos.
Yolanda turned to Andrew, terrified.
"Mr. Sanchez, I really didn't!"
Andrew quickly pulled her behind him, displeasure crossing his face.
"Mother, didn't I already tell you Yoli is innocent?"
"Has Dora been filling your head with nonsense again? She really never learns. Butler Lawrence, bring her here to me!"
The words had barely landed when everyone saw the smoke pouring from my room, flames leaping into the sky.
Butler Lawrence ran over, his face white.
"Mr. Sanchez, something's happened!"
"The young mistress said she'd rather die than suffer the disgrace of having her hands broken and going to prison for a crime that wasn't hers. She set the fire and took her own life!"
