"You already had that information, because I told you so myself."
Anna looked at him thoughtfully.
"You didn't tell me about your diet, Max."
Max stared at her, turning pale.
"What do you know about it?"
"When I looked into your eyes, the lilac light... I saw another color, and after you touched me, I saw vice with Helen." Anna said and closed her eyes. "I can still see it, it was like my memories, I know everything you did to her."
Max looked at her puzzled.
"You don't seem upset."
"It's a lot of information, Max. What you did to Helen isn't what bothers me now. We have a bigger concern."
"What are you talking about?"
"I understand that I can only see memories if they're connected to someone I know."
"And you knew Helen... That makes sense."
"And... I can see, because I'm Bruma."
Max looked at Anna thoughtfully and put his hand to his head in an involuntary gesture of understanding. Suddenly surprised and angry at what he had brought into the bosom of his family, which had always been sacred to him. An irreversible problem. And only now, with Anna's words, did he feel his eyes opening. He held Anna's hand over the table and looked at her sorrowfully.
"I'll find a way, Anna. I won't let it get to our family."
"It already has, Max. It's too late for regrets. There's no going back. We'll have to live with these problems, and try to reverse the impact it will have on all our children. We need to act, as if Tayme already knew. She's smart, Max. If she doesn't already know, it won't be long before she sees what I saw."
Max remained thoughtfully silent. Tayme wouldn't be a problem in that sense. She understood his hunger. But she couldn't tell Anna that, without revealing what he was. She was very close to discovering the truth, and he wanted to prolong this moment as long as he could, because he knew that afterwards, they would never be the same.
"Tayme isn't going to manifest something like this so soon. We have time to prepare. You've only just started to develop this gift, after twenty-one years."
Anna nodded.
"Camille is a problem that will cast a shadow over our lives and jeopardize the happiness of our family and our life together. One day, our children will find out, and they'll be disgusted. They will look down on you and call you a hypocrite. You will lose their respect, trust and admiration. How many times have you preached morality, honesty and loyalty to them? They will question you. Have no doubt."
"We can't let them know... I'm going to reverse this situation, before any of them are old enough to understand."
"Stop it, Max! Be realistic. How long do you think you can hide something like this? If Tayme tells Ian what he saw... He won't forgive you. And I'm not going to lose my son."
Max took a deep breath, trying unsuccessfully to keep an open mind and think things through, to try to find a solution, some idea of what he should do to avoid losing his family and the love of his children and Anna. In his heart, he selfishly wanted them to inherit the masochistic instinct of their father's family, but he had to consider that this might not happen.
"The only solution is for me to get away from Camille forever. Then I can look our children in the eye and mean it when I say I'm sorry and that it will never happen again."
"But you can't let her go."
"Why not? Do you think I can't live without the kind of relationship I have with her? My love for you and our family is so much greater."
"Max, as soon as you let her go, Camille will tell on you. And that would be far worse than the disappointment in our children's eyes. A scandal of this nature, of a young judge who committed the crime of rape and kept a maid in private confinement, will be a full plate for all the media. It will have repercussions worldwide. There will be nowhere to run. Your children will no longer just feel contempt for you. They will feel ashamed, embarrassed and exposed. They wouldn't have a moment's peace, and it would be like a tattoo on their foreheads. Because they would suffer even more than you, the retaliation of the population, wherever we are."
"Then tell me what to do, for God's sake!"
Anna stared at Max with such a transparent gaze that Max understood the obvious, without her having to say a single word.
"Kill. Camille? I don't think that's a good solution. She must have warned her family that she was coming to the United States with our family. With her alive, I can take photos and send them to them from anywhere in the world. Showing something recent, so as not to arouse suspicion. Sooner or later, they'll be looking for her. And without news, the world will come crashing down on our heads, just as it will if we let her go. And on the other hand, you know I'm pro-life." Max felt hypocritical and manipulative, but he couldn't help it. The truth that would hurt Anna was that he wasn't yet ready to let Camille go.
"If I kill her, the men and staff who look after the mansion and her house, who are aware of the situation here, will fear their own fate if they testify against you one day. Your children will end up forgetting, understanding that it was just an adventure, and the matter will die down. But if you decide to leave her alive, be prepared for the consequences. And I'll tell you right now that if my children, after discovering Camille, no longer want to live under the same roof with you, I'll accept their wishes and take them away. And that will be the end of our marriage. If you put me in that position, Max, I will choose my children, despite all the love I feel for you."