Chapter 2 - The Bottle Under the Bed
Mark stared at the photograph until his vision blurred.
Sarah had been dead for three years.
A highway accident had taken her from him on a rainy October night.
Since then, Mark had forced himself to believe that grief was the worst thing that could ever enter their home.
He had been wrong.
Elena picked up the pill bottle carefully.
The prescription label had been partially scratched away.
Only one name remained visible.
Dr. Aaron Bell.
Mark recognized it.
Bell was the child psychologist Victoria had insisted Liam should begin seeing six months earlier.
Victoria claimed Liam was becoming aggressive.
Mark had resisted.
Liam had nightmares after losing his mother.
That did not make him dangerous.
But Victoria had pushed constantly.
She had told Mark he was allowing guilt to interfere with responsible parenting.
Eventually, Mark had agreed to one consultation.
Nothing more.
“Have you ever seen these?” Mark asked Elena.
“No.”
Liam looked at the bottle.
His face tightened.
Elena noticed.
“Liam.”
She sat beside him.
“Did Victoria give you those?”
The boy nodded.
Mark’s jaw clenched.
“When?”
“When you were gone.”
“How many times?”
Liam held up four fingers.
Then five.
Then whispered, “A lot.”
Mark felt sick.
“What did she tell you they were?”
“Vitamins.”
Elena immediately took the bottle from Mark.
“Don’t open it.”
He looked at her.
“Why?”
“Because we don’t know what’s inside.”
Mark’s eyes narrowed.
“You know something.”
Elena hesitated.
Before working at the Ashford estate, Elena Ruiz had spent six years as a pediatric nurse.
Mark knew that.
He had hired her because Sarah’s former housekeeper had recommended her.
What he had never asked was why a trained nurse had suddenly accepted a position caring for a widower’s home.
Elena looked at Liam.
“Not in front of him.”
Mark understood.
He called the head of security.
“David, I want Victoria separated from everyone.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And contact Dr. Hayes.”
Their family physician.
“Tell him I need him here immediately.”
Mark ended the call.
Then he noticed the recorder.
His hand hovered over it.
Liam suddenly grabbed his wrist.
“Don’t.”
Mark looked at him.
“Why?”
“She said if you heard it, you’d hate me.”
Mark felt something inside him break.
He sat beside his son.
“There is nothing on this earth you could ever do that would make me hate you.”
Liam stared into his father’s eyes.
“Promise?”
“I promise.”
Mark pressed play.
At first there was only static.
Then Victoria’s voice filled the room.
“Say it again.”
Silence.
“Liam.”
The boy’s recorded voice trembled.
“I hate Daddy.”
“Louder.”
“I hate Daddy.”
“And what does Daddy do when he gets angry?”
Another pause.
“He hurts me.”
Present-day Liam buried his face against Elena.
Mark shut off the recorder.
His hands were shaking now.
“I never said that.”
Liam sobbed.
“She made me.”
Mark pulled him into his arms.
“I know.”
Elena stared at the recorder.
The pieces were beginning to connect.
Victoria had not simply been abusing Liam.
She had been training him.
Creating statements.
Building evidence.
But for what?
Dr. Hayes arrived thirty minutes later.
He examined Liam.
Then he inspected the pills.
“I need a laboratory to confirm this.”
Mark nodded.
“But?”
Dr. Hayes hesitated.
“These markings look similar to a strong sedative sometimes prescribed for severe behavioral conditions.”
Mark’s face hardened.
“Liam has no severe behavioral condition.”
“I know.”
Mark turned toward Elena.
“Why would Victoria sedate him?”
Elena did not answer immediately.
“Because a frightened, confused child is easier to control.”
Mark looked toward the locked door.
Downstairs, Victoria sat surrounded by security officers.
But she was no longer the person Mark wanted answers from most.
He took out his phone.
“Find everything you can about Dr. Aaron Bell.”
David called him back ten minutes later.
His voice sounded strange.
“Sir, we have a problem.”
“What?”
“Dr. Bell’s office closed three weeks ago.”
Mark frowned.
“Why?”
“No one knows.”
David paused.
“And there’s something else.”
Mark waited.
“According to the state licensing database, Aaron Bell has never been licensed as a child psychologist.”
Mark’s grip tightened around the phone.
“Then who the hell has been treating my son?”
David answered quietly.
“That’s what we’re trying to find out.”
May you like
From downstairs came the sudden crash of breaking glass.
Then an alarm began screaming through the mansion.
