Chapter 3
Dr. Mercer arrived thirty minutes later.
He was older, careful, and quiet.
He examined Ethan first while Victor stood beside the bed with both hands clenched.
I waited near the door.
Serena hovered behind Victor, touching his arm every few seconds like she was reminding him who belonged there.
Dr. Mercer lifted Ethan’s pajama sleeve.
Victor inhaled sharply.
There was a faint yellow bruise near Ethan’s upper arm.
Small.
Almost hidden.
But it matched the shape of fingers.
“Toddlers bruise,” Serena said quickly.
Dr. Mercer looked at her.
“I didn’t ask.”
Her mouth closed.
He checked Ethan’s ribs, back, legs, and scalp.
Every time Ethan whimpered, Victor looked like something inside him was being cut.
Then Dr. Mercer turned to me.
“Your turn.”
“I’m fine.”
Victor’s voice was rough.
“You’re not.”
I lifted my sweater enough for the doctor to see my side.
A red mark had already begun spreading across my ribs.
Victor stared.
Serena looked bored.
Dr. Mercer said, “You need an X-ray.”
Serena laughed softly.
“For a bruise?”
Victor turned.
“Leave the room.”
She blinked.
“What?”
“Leave.”
Her face went white with anger.
“This is my home too.”
“No,” Victor said. “It is my son’s home.”
That was the first time I saw her mask crack.
She walked out, but not before looking at me like I had signed my own death sentence.
Dr. Mercer waited until the door closed.
Then he lowered his voice.
“Mr. Hale, may I speak freely?”
Victor nodded.
“I treated your late wife, Emily, before Ethan was born.”
I froze.
Victor did too.
“You knew Emily?”
“She made me promise something.”
Victor’s face changed.
“What?”
Dr. Mercer looked at the hallway, then back at us.
“She believed someone was trying to isolate her near the end of her pregnancy.”
Victor gripped the footboard.
“Who?”
“She never gave me a name. But she said if anything happened to her, I should watch whoever tried to control Ethan’s care.”
My skin prickled.
Victor whispered, “Emily died from complications.”
Dr. Mercer’s eyes softened.
“That was the official explanation.”
The room felt suddenly airless.
Ethan reached for Victor’s tie and held it in his tiny fist.
Dr. Mercer opened his medical bag and pulled out a sealed envelope.
“I kept this because your wife asked me to.”
Victor took it with trembling hands.
On the front was written:
For Victor, if Ethan is ever afraid of the woman you trust.
Serena screamed from the hallway.
We all turned.
Then the nursery door slammed open.
She stood there holding my backpack.
Her smile was gone.
In her hand was my notebook.
The one where I had written every strange thing I had seen.
Every date.
Every bruise.
Every time Ethan cried when Serena entered.
She threw it at Victor’s feet.
“Your nanny has been building a case against me.”
Victor looked down at the notebook.
May you like
Then at the envelope from his dead wife.
And for the first time, Serena looked scared.
