Chapter 3 - WHAT THE CAMERA MISSED
Victor did not sleep that night.
Neither did Lily.
By dawn, the Blackwood Medical Center looked less like a hospital and more like a fortress.
Victor had replaced half the security team.
No employee entered Ethan’s floor without two forms of identification.
Every elevator required a temporary code.
Every stairwell had armed guards.
Serena remained inside a secured room.
At least, the woman everyone believed was Serena remained there.
Victor had ordered Gabriel to verify her identity personally.
He had.
Fingerprints matched.
Facial recognition matched.
Her jewelry matched.
Her phone had been found in the mansion.
Yet Lily knew Serena had stood beside her hospital bed.
She knew the perfume.
She knew the voice.
She knew the way Serena smiled when she wanted someone frightened.
Victor believed Lily believed it.
That was not the same as believing it had happened.
At six thirty in the morning, he entered Ethan’s room.
The baby slept beneath a pale blue blanket.
His injured arm rested in a small cast.
Victor sat beside him.
For several minutes, he simply watched his son breathe.
Then Dr. Mercer entered.
Victor looked up.
“Tell me.”
The physician closed the door.
“We received the additional blood work.”
Victor’s stomach tightened.
“And?”
“There are traces of clonazepam in his system.”
Victor stared.
“What?”
“It’s a sedative.”
“I know what it is.”
Victor stood.
“My son has never been prescribed it.”
“I checked.”
Dr. Mercer replied.
“There’s no prescription in his medical history.”
“How much?”
“Not enough to cause an overdose.”
“But enough to make a fourteen-month-old unusually sleepy.”
Victor’s face hardened.
“For how long?”
“We can’t determine that from a single blood sample.”
The doctor hesitated.
“But there’s something else.”
Victor waited.
“His prior pediatric records show three episodes over the past two months where staff reported lethargy.”
Victor’s eyes narrowed.
“No one told me.”
“Someone did.”
Dr. Mercer said.
Victor’s expression changed.
“What does that mean?”
“There are signed notifications in the system.”
“Signed by whom?”
Dr. Mercer turned the tablet toward him.
Victor looked down.
His own digital signature appeared beneath three medical alerts.
He had never seen any of them.
“That is not my signature.”
“The system says it is.”
“The system is wrong.”
Victor’s voice became quiet.
Dangerously quiet.
Dr. Mercer swallowed.
“The approvals were entered remotely.”
“From where?”
“I asked IT.”
“And?”
“Your home office.”
Victor turned toward the window.
Someone had been using his credentials inside his own house.
Someone had been signing medical acknowledgments in his name.
Someone had wanted the doctors to believe Victor already knew Ethan had repeatedly appeared sedated.
Victor thought of Serena.
Then Gabriel.
Then every person who had worked inside the mansion.
He had built an empire on knowing where danger lived.
Now danger had been feeding his son medicine under his own roof.
“Run every test.”
Victor ordered.
“Hair samples.”
“Blood.”
“Anything that can tell me whether this happened before.”
Dr. Mercer nodded.
“And doctor?”
“Yes?”
“If anyone attempts to access those results without my personal authorization, call me before you call hospital security.”
Dr. Mercer understood.
Victor returned to Lily’s room.
She was sitting by the window now.
A nurse had brought her clean clothes.
She looked exhausted.
Victor placed a printed lab report in front of her.
Lily read it.
Her face changed.
“She drugged him.”
“We don’t know who did it yet.”
“Yes, we do.”
“No.”
Victor’s voice was firm.
“We suspect.”
Lily looked at him.
“You still need proof.”
“Yes.”
“Fine.”
She stood.
Pain flashed across her face.
Victor caught her elbow.
“Sit down.”
“I’m leaving.”
“No.”
Her eyes snapped toward him.
“You don’t own me.”
“No.”
Victor replied.
“But someone threatened your life last night.”
“That makes staying inside your hospital safer?”
She gave him a tired look.
“Serena walked into this room while guards were outside.”
Victor released her arm.
“You’re right.”
The admission surprised both of them.
Lily looked away.
Victor pulled a second chair closer.
“Tell me everything about the cameras in the nursery.”
“What?”
“The recordings you made.”
Lily frowned.
“I used my phone.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
Victor leaned forward.
“You said Serena hurt Ethan in places cameras wouldn’t see.”
“Yes.”
“How did she know where the cameras didn’t see?”
Lily froze.
Victor watched realization spread across her face.
“She shouldn’t have.”
Lily whispered.
Victor nodded.
“The nursery has four cameras.”
“One over the crib.”
“One near the window.”
“One above the changing table.”
“One facing the door.”
Lily’s eyes narrowed.
“She always stood beside the rocking chair.”
“Exactly.”
Victor said.
“That area has a blind spot.”
“Who knew that?”
“My security team.”
“And Serena.”
Victor nodded.
Lily thought for a moment.
“One afternoon she moved the chair.”
“When?”
“Maybe two months ago.”
“Why?”
“She said the sunlight bothered Ethan.”
Victor’s gaze sharpened.
“Where did she move it?”
“About three feet toward the bookcase.”
Victor stood.
“Come with me.”
“What?”
“You heard me.”
“The doctor said I should rest.”
“I’ll put you in a wheelchair.”
“I can walk.”
“Then stop arguing.”
For the first time since the nightmare began, Lily almost smiled.
She did not.
Two hours later, they returned to the mansion.
The marble foyer had been cleaned.
That disturbed Lily more than the bloodless floor ever could.
Ethan’s cries were gone.
Serena’s threats were gone.
Everything looked beautiful again.
Like the house itself knew how to hide ugly things.
Victor noticed Lily staring.
“Nothing was removed.”
He said.
“Forensics documented everything first.”
Lily nodded.
They went upstairs.
Ethan’s nursery had been sealed.
Victor opened it himself.
The room smelled faintly of baby powder.
A stuffed elephant sat inside the crib.
Lily’s throat tightened.
Victor noticed.
“He’ll be back.”
Lily looked at him.
“You sound certain.”
“I have to be.”
They walked toward the rocking chair.
The floorboard beneath it had been lifted.
The hiding place was empty.
Lily crouched.
“I wrapped the phone in a yellow washcloth.”
“A phone?”
Victor frowned.
“You said recordings.”
“I used an old phone.”
“I didn’t want Serena finding them on mine.”
Victor looked at the empty space.
“Smart.”
“Not smart enough.”
Lily whispered.
Victor examined the floor.
Then he looked at the rocking chair.
“Move it.”
They shifted it together.
Victor looked up at the camera.
Then at the ceiling.
“Gabriel.”
His security chief stepped into the doorway.
“Yes?”
“Who installed the nursery system?”
“Montrose Security.”
“Who approved camera placement?”
“I did.”
Victor looked at him.
“Who else received the floor plan?”
Gabriel hesitated.
“Your household manager.”
“Serena?”
“No.”
Gabriel replied.
“But she asked for a copy after Ethan started crawling.”
Victor’s eyes hardened.
“Did you give it to her?”
“Yes.”
Lily stared at Gabriel.
He noticed.
“She said she wanted to childproof the room.”
He explained.
Victor said nothing.
Gabriel’s jaw tightened.
“You think I helped her.”
“I think I’m asking questions.”
Victor replied.
Gabriel looked wounded.
Victor did not care.
“Pull every configuration change for these cameras over the last six months.”
Gabriel took out his phone.
Then Lily noticed something.
A tiny red light blinked beneath the bookcase.
She frowned.
“What’s that?”
Victor followed her gaze.
Gabriel went still.
“There shouldn’t be anything there.”
Victor crouched.
Behind a row of children’s books sat a small black device no larger than a coin.
He removed it carefully.
Gabriel swore.
“That’s not ours.”
“What is it?”
Lily asked.
“A wireless microphone.”
Victor replied.
Lily’s stomach turned cold.
Someone had been listening to the nursery.
Victor examined it.
“Can we trace where it transmitted?”
Gabriel nodded.
“If it still has memory.”
They took the device downstairs.
Within an hour, Victor’s technical team had an answer.
The microphone had transmitted locally.
Not to an outside server.
To a receiver somewhere inside the Blackwood estate.
Victor stood before a digital floor plan.
“Find it.”
Technicians searched room by room.
The signal led them away from the main house.
Across the courtyard.
Through the west garden.
Toward a building that had been locked since Elena’s death.
Victor stopped walking.
Lily looked at him.
“What is it?”
Victor stared at the small stone structure ahead.
“My wife’s studio.”
Elena Blackwood had painted there.
After her death, Victor had ordered the room sealed.
He had not entered it in eleven months.
Gabriel unlocked the door.
Dust floated in the sunlight.
Half-finished canvases covered the walls.
A dried palette still sat beside the window.
Victor stood frozen.
Lily remained behind him.
She understood enough not to speak.
One technician moved slowly through the room with a signal detector.
The device beeped near an old wooden cabinet.
Gabriel opened it.
Inside sat a receiver.
It was still powered.
A red light blinked steadily.
Someone had entered Elena’s sealed studio recently.
Victor’s face became stone.
“Check the recordings.”
The technician connected a laptop.
Dozens of audio files appeared.
Some were recent.
Some were months old.
Then Lily saw the oldest date.
Her breath caught.
“Victor.”
He looked.
The earliest recording was timestamped eleven months ago.
Two days before Elena died.
Victor stopped breathing.
The technician clicked the file.
Static filled the studio.
Then Elena’s voice came through the speakers.
Soft.
Tired.
Alive.
“Serena, I told you to stay away from my son.”
Victor gripped the edge of the table.
Another voice answered.
Serena.
“You’re becoming paranoid.”
“I saw the messages.”
Elena replied.
“What messages?”
“The ones between you and Roman.”
Silence.
Victor’s face changed at the name.
Lily looked at him.
“Who is Roman?”
Victor did not answer.
The recording continued.
Elena’s voice shook.
“If Victor finds out what you’ve been doing, he’ll kill you.”
Serena laughed quietly.
“No.”
“He’ll blame you.”
Then the file ended.
Victor stared at the screen.
The technician clicked the next recording.
It had been made the following morning.
Elena was crying.
“I know what you changed.”
She whispered.
“I know what you did to the car.”
Victor’s entire body went still.
Lily covered her mouth.
Elena continued.
“If something happens to me, it wasn’t an accident.”
A sound came from somewhere near the microphone.
Elena suddenly stopped.
Then she said three words.
“Someone is coming.”
The recording cut off.
Nobody in the studio spoke.
Victor slowly turned toward Gabriel.
“My wife died in a car crash thirty-six hours later.”
Gabriel’s face had lost all color.
Victor looked at the receiver.
“Whoever planted this heard her warning.”
Lily whispered.
“And did nothing.”
Victor’s eyes lowered to the device.
Then the technician spoke.
“There’s one more thing.”
Victor turned.
“What?”
“The receiver didn’t just record.”
He pointed to the software.
“It was also used to upload audio somewhere else.”
“Where?”
The technician typed.
A server address appeared.
Gabriel frowned.
“That server belongs to Montigue Holdings.”
Serena’s family company.
Victor said nothing.
Then another technician called from the doorway.
“Mr. Blackwood.”
Victor looked over.
“We found something behind the cabinet.”
He held up a small envelope.
It was addressed in Elena’s handwriting.
VICTOR.
Victor opened it.
Inside was a photograph of Serena standing beside a black sedan.
Beside Serena stood a tall man whose face had been partially turned away from the camera.
Lily could not recognize him.
Victor could.
His expression changed completely.
“That’s impossible.”
Lily stepped closer.
“Who is he?”
Victor stared at the photograph.
“My brother.”
Lily’s stomach dropped.
“Your brother?”
Victor’s voice was barely audible.
May you like
“Adrian died twelve years ago.”
And yet the timestamp printed on the photograph was only eleven months old.
