Chapter 5
Victor read the text twice.
Then his face emptied.
Not of emotion.
Of mercy.
“Marcus,” he said.
The head of security stepped forward.
“Sir.”
“Lock down the property. No one leaves. No one enters. Search every staff phone, every unused room, every service entrance.”
Marcus nodded.
“I’ll start now.”
Victor turned to Grace.
“Can we trace it?”
Grace had already forwarded the message to police.
“They’ll try.”
I sat on the nursery chair with Ethan in my arms, staring at the photo.
Me on the floor.
Curled around the baby.
Serena above us.
Whoever took it had been inside the house during the attack.
Watching.
Not helping.
My skin crawled.
Victor noticed.
“Lily, you and Ethan are leaving.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“No,” I said again, sharper. “If someone inside this house helped Serena, I am not leaving Ethan until we know who.”
“You were threatened.”
“So was he.”
Victor opened his mouth.
Then closed it.
Grace looked at me with something like approval.
“She has a point.”
Victor rubbed both hands over his face.
“Fine. Safe room until police clear the house.”
The safe room was behind the library.
I had never known it existed.
Of course I hadn’t.
Mansions have secrets even when nobody is trying to commit crimes.
Inside were monitors, emergency supplies, reinforced doors, and a sofa long enough for Ethan to nap on.
Victor, Grace, Ethan, and I stayed there while security searched.
The first staff member to break was Paula, the night nurse Serena had hired two months earlier.
She was found trying to delete messages from her phone.
Police took it.
The messages were from Serena.
Is he crying yet?
Leave Lily downstairs.
Make sure Victor sees Ethan unsettled with her.
If the nanny gets suspicious, say she’s overattached.
Then another name appeared.
Dr. Pike.
Paula had been reporting Ethan’s behavior to him.
Not medical notes.
Behavior notes.
How often he cried.
Who calmed him.
Whether he reached for Serena.
Whether he slept after certain bottles.
Victor read those messages and went white.
“Certain bottles?”
I looked at Ethan.
My heart stopped.
We rushed to the kitchen.
Police collected formula containers.
Bottles.
Medicine droppers.
Vitamins.
Everything.
Ethan was taken to the hospital for testing.
Victor rode in the ambulance.
I rode beside him because Ethan screamed when I tried to step away.
At the hospital, doctors ran tests.
They found mild sedatives in one bottle.
Low dose.
Enough to make Ethan sluggish.
Enough to make him look “difficult” or sick.
Not enough to kill him.
The doctor said that like it was comfort.
Victor nearly collapsed.
I held Ethan while nurses took blood.
He cried until his voice went hoarse.
I whispered, “I’m sorry, baby. I’m sorry.”
Victor stood behind me, shaking.
Grace dealt with police because both of us were useless with grief.
When Detective Harris arrived, she brought more.
Paula confessed quickly.
She said Serena wanted Ethan to appear unstable in Lily’s care.
The plan was to fire me.
Then have Serena become primary caregiver.
Then push Victor to sign a new trust structure “for Ethan’s medical needs.”
Claire’s shares would move under Victor’s management.
Then, after marriage, Serena would gain spousal access.
But Claire’s journal suggested something darker.
Serena had not only wanted control after Claire died.
She may have helped make Claire ill before.
Dr. Pike was arrested two days later.
He denied everything for exactly six hours.
Then Grace found Claire’s missing lab reports in his encrypted files.
Sedatives.
Blood pressure medication irregularities.
Notes about “manageable decline.”
My stomach turned when Detective Harris explained.
Claire had been medically weakened.
Gaslit.
Dismissed.
Then declared fragile by the very doctor helping Serena isolate her.
Victor listened without moving.
When Detective Harris finished, he asked only one question.
“Did she suffer?”
The detective’s face softened.
“I don’t know.”
Victor nodded once.
Then walked into the hallway and broke down against the wall.
I stayed with Ethan.
Not because I did not care.
Because someone had to be steady for the baby.
Ethan was discharged after two days.
Safe.
Monitored.
Recovering.
But the mansion no longer felt safe.
Victor moved us to Grace’s guest estate outside Newport.
He asked me if I wanted to resign with full pay and protection.
I looked at Ethan asleep in my lap.
“No.”
“Lily.”
“I am not staying because of money.”
“I know.”
“I am staying because he trusts me. And because if I leave now, Serena wins one more thing.”
Victor’s eyes filled.
“I cannot ask that of you.”
“You are not asking. I’m choosing.”
Grace watched quietly from the doorway.
Later, she pulled me aside.
“Be careful with Victor.”
I stiffened.
“What?”
“He is grateful. Grief and gratitude can confuse people.”
My face heated.
“That is not what this is.”
“I know. I’m saying it before it becomes something anyone can use against you.”
I understood.
Serena had already called me obsessed.
Already prepared that lie.
I nodded.
“Thank you.”
That night, Ethan slept between his crib and my hand.
Victor slept in a chair near the door.
None of us trusted walls anymore.
At 3:12 a.m., Grace’s security system chimed.
Motion detected at east gate.
Victor woke instantly.
On the monitor, a black car sat outside the gate.
A woman stepped into the headlights.
Serena’s mother.
Vivian Vale.
She held up both hands and smiled at the camera.
Then she spoke into the intercom.
“I came for my daughter’s property.”
Victor leaned toward the screen.
May you like
His voice was ice.
“You came to the wrong gate.”
