Chapter 2
This Was Not The First Time
Victor stood in the hospital corridor with the phone pressed against his ear.
For the first time in years, he did not trust the floor beneath his feet.
Graham Holt's credentials had disabled the nursery cameras.
Not once.
Not by accident.
Repeatedly.
"How many shutdowns?" Victor asked.
The technician on the line inhaled.
"We are still pulling the logs."
"Give me the number you have."
"Nine."
Victor closed his eyes.
"In what period?"
"Thirty-one days."
His stomach turned.
Ethan had spent most of those thirty-one days inside the house.
Lily had been with him nearly every waking hour.
Serena had repeatedly complained that Lily was possessive and overprotective.
Victor had dismissed it as tension between two women trying to define their roles in Ethan's life.
Now the word overprotective sounded obscene.
"Do not contact Holt," Victor said.
"Do not alert the main residence."
"Yes, sir."
"Copy every log to an external system Holt cannot access."
"Already started."
Victor lowered his voice.
"And lock his credentials now."
The technician went silent.
"Sir, if I do that, he will know."
"Then let him know."
Victor ended the call.
Lily stood fifteen feet away beside a vending machine, watching the treatment room through the glass.
Her face looked gray beneath the fluorescent lights.
Victor walked toward her.
She immediately straightened.
"How is he?"
"The doctor says he will heal."
Lily nodded quickly.
Tears filled her eyes again.
"I should have told you sooner."
Victor stopped.
"Told me what?"
Lily looked down.
"That I was afraid of her."
Victor felt something in him break open.
"Why didn't you?"
"I tried."
"When?"
"Three weeks ago, after Serena locked me out of the nursery for almost twenty minutes."
Victor stared at her.
"You told me she wanted private time with him."
"Because she was standing beside you when you asked."
Victor remembered the conversation.
Serena had been smiling with one hand looped through his arm.
Lily had looked nervous.
He had assumed she was uncomfortable with Serena becoming part of the family.
He had even told Lily that Ethan needed time alone with Serena if they were going to build a bond.
The memory now made him feel sick.
"What happened during those twenty minutes?"
"I do not know."
"Did Ethan cry?"
"The whole time."
Victor leaned one hand against the wall.
"Why didn't you break the door down?"
Lily's face crumpled.
"I almost did."
"Why didn't you?"
"Because Mr. Holt came upstairs and told me Serena had every right to spend time with her future stepson."
Victor turned his head slowly.
"Holt was there?"
"Yes."
"Did you tell him the camera was off?"
"That was the first time I reported it."
Victor looked back through the glass toward his son.
"And the second?"
"Last Friday."
"What happened?"
Lily hesitated.
"Ethan had a bruise on his upper arm."
Victor's jaw tightened.
"You told me he bumped into the side table."
"That is what Serena told me happened."
"You believed her?"
"No."
The answer came instantly.
Victor looked at Lily.
She met his eyes through tears.
"I did not believe her."
"Then why did you tell me that?"
"Because Serena had already told me what would happen if I accused her."
"What did she say?"
Lily's lower lip trembled.
"She said she would tell you I was obsessed with you."
Victor stared at her.
"She said she would say I was trying to destroy your engagement because I wanted your money."
Lily wiped at her face angrily.
"She said she had photos that would make it look like I stole jewelry."
"Did you?"
"Of course not."
"I know."
Lily looked at him.
The certainty in his voice seemed to hurt her more than doubt would have.
"I was terrified you would fire me," she whispered.
"And then I would not be here to protect Ethan."
Victor looked away.
He wanted to say that he would never have believed Serena over her without proof.
But forty minutes earlier, Serena had counted on exactly that possibility.
And there had been a moment, before the recorder played, when Victor had not known who to believe.
That moment was enough to shame him.
A hospital social worker approached them.
"Mr. Blackwood?"
Victor nodded.
"Because of the nature of Ethan's injury and the older healing injury, the medical team is required to make a report."
Victor's expression hardened.
"Do it."
Lily looked frightened.
The social worker noticed.
"We will need statements from everyone who has regular contact with Ethan."
"You will have them."
"That includes Ms. Harper."
Victor did not hesitate.
"She will cooperate."
Lily nodded.
"Completely."
Victor's phone vibrated again.
This time it was Maria.
He answered immediately.
Her whisper came through the speaker.
"Sir, I am sorry."
"For what?"
"For not telling you sooner."
Victor stepped away from Lily.
"Maria, are you safe?"
"I think so."
"Where are you?"
"My room in the staff wing."
"Lock the door."
"I did."
Victor looked toward the treatment room.
"You said this was not the first time."
Maria began to cry quietly.
"No, sir."
"Tell me what you saw."
"Last Tuesday, I was carrying linens past the nursery."
She stopped to steady her breathing.
"The door was open just a little."
"Go on."
"Ms. Vale was holding Ethan in the high chair."
Victor's throat tightened.
"Holding him how?"
"By the wrist."
"Was Lily there?"
"No."
"Was Holt there?"
"Not in the room."
"What happened?"
"Ethan kept reaching toward the door."
Maria's voice broke.
"He was calling for Lily."
Victor pressed his thumb against his temple.
"And Serena?"
"She told him to stop."
"He is fourteen months old."
"I know."
Maria was crying harder now.
"She squeezed his wrist until he stopped reaching."
Victor shut his eyes.
"Why did you not go in?"
"I did."
Victor opened his eyes.
"I walked into the room and told her I needed to change the linens."
"What did she do?"
"She smiled at me."
Maria's voice turned hollow.
"Then she asked if my daughter still needed the Blackwood scholarship."
Victor went still.
Maria's daughter was a first-year nursing student.
Victor's charitable foundation paid her tuition.
"She threatened your daughter's scholarship?"
"Not directly."
"What exactly did she say?"
Maria repeated it word for word.
"She said, 'It would be a shame if people who are disloyal to this family lost the family's generosity.'"
Victor's eyes turned cold.
"Anything else?"
Maria hesitated.
"The week before, I heard Ethan screaming in the blue sitting room."
"Who was with him?"
"Ms. Vale."
"And?"
"When I entered, she was standing beside his playpen."
"Was he hurt?"
"I did not see an injury then."
Maria lowered her voice.
"But she had his favorite stuffed rabbit in her hand."
"What about it?"
"She was holding it over the fireplace."
Victor's fingers tightened around the phone.
"Why?"
"She told Ethan if he stopped crying for Lily, he could have it back."
Victor said nothing.
The hospital lights seemed suddenly too bright.
"He is a baby," Maria whispered.
"I know."
"He did not understand."
"I know."
"He just kept crying."
Victor's eyes burned.
"Maria, listen to me."
"Yes, sir."
"You did the right thing by calling now."
Maria was silent.
Victor forced the next words through his throat.
"And I failed all of you by making it dangerous to speak sooner."
"No, sir."
"Yes."
He looked at Lily.
She was still standing beside the treatment room, watching Ethan.
"I brought Serena into that house."
"Sir, none of us knew."
Victor closed his eyes.
"Someone knew."
He thought of Graham Holt.
"Maria, I want you and Tessa to leave the staff wing together."
"Mr. Holt said no one is allowed to leave."
"I am overruling him."
"Where do we go?"
Victor gave her the name of a private family residence on the other side of the estate.
Only a few people knew it existed.
"Use the east garden path."
"Yes, sir."
"Do not tell anyone where you are going."
Maria breathed in sharply.
"Sir, there is something else."
Victor's chest tightened.
"What?"
"Tessa found a phone."
"Whose?"
"We do not know."
"Where?"
"Behind the false panel in the linen closet outside the nursery."
Victor stared at the wall.
"A phone was hidden outside my son's room?"
"Yes."
"Is it on?"
"No."
"Do not turn it on."
"We did not."
"Take it with you."
Maria was quiet for a moment.
"Sir, Mr. Holt is outside my door."
Victor's pulse jumped.
A knock sounded through Maria's phone.
Three slow taps.
"Maria?" Graham called from the hallway.
Maria stopped breathing.
Victor lowered his voice.
"Do not open it."
Another knock.
"Maria, Mr. Blackwood asked me to check on everyone."
Victor's eyes narrowed.
"He is lying."
Maria whispered.
"What do I do?"
Victor looked toward Lily.
"Put me on speaker."
There was a soft click.
Victor raised his voice.
"Graham."
Silence came from the other side of Maria's door.
Victor continued.
"Step away from the room."
Graham answered after two seconds.
"Mr. Blackwood."
His voice was calm.
Too calm.
"I was just making sure Ms. Santos was all right."
"Step away."
"Of course."
Victor heard footsteps retreat.
Then the line crackled.
Maria whispered.
"He is gone."
"Leave now."
"Yes, sir."
The call ended.
Victor immediately contacted the external security firm that protected Blackwood Global's executive offices.
He ordered a team to the mansion and another to the hospital.
Then he called Caleb Mercer, his general counsel.
Caleb answered on the first ring.
"What happened?"
Victor gave him the shortest possible version.
Caleb was silent for several seconds.
"Do not confront Holt alone."
"I am not afraid of Holt."
"That is not the point."
"Then what is?"
"The moment people realize you are collecting evidence, they start destroying it."
Victor looked toward Ethan.
"They already started."
"What do you mean?"
"Nine camera shutdowns."
Caleb swore softly.
Victor continued.
"And there is a hidden phone near the nursery."
Caleb's voice changed.
"Do not touch it."
"Maria has it."
"Where is she?"
"Moving to the east guesthouse."
"Good."
"I want police at the mansion."
"They will come once the hospital report is filed, but listen to me first."
Victor said nothing.
"Serena is not going to sit there and wait for you to prove she hurt Ethan."
"She cannot leave."
"If Holt is helping her, you do not know what she can do."
Victor looked down at the recorder in his hand.
"Then I will find out."
Caleb exhaled.
"Victor, there is one more problem."
"What?"
"Your prenuptial signing is tomorrow morning."
Victor almost laughed.
"Cancel it."
"I can."
"Then cancel it."
"Serena's attorney sent me an amendment two hours ago."
Victor frowned.
"What amendment?"
"A guardianship clause."
Every muscle in Victor's body tightened.
"Explain."
"It gives Serena temporary decision-making authority over Ethan if you are medically incapacitated."
Victor stared at the treatment room.
"I never approved that."
"I know."
"Why would her lawyer send it today?"
Caleb's answer was slow.
"That is exactly what I am trying to understand."
Victor's phone buzzed with an incoming message while Caleb was still speaking.
It came from an unknown number.
There was no text.
Only a photograph.
Victor opened it.
The image showed Lily's bedroom inside the Blackwood mansion.
Her suitcase was open on the bed.
Inside it were Serena's diamond bracelet, a stack of hundred-dollar bills, and a small bottle of prescription sedatives.
Victor stared at the screen.
Then a message appeared beneath the photo.
SHE WAS ALWAYS PLANNING TO TAKE HIM.
Victor looked across the corridor at Lily.
She had no idea what was waiting inside her room.
And someone inside Victor's house had just begun building a case against her.
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THE NANNY WAS BEGGING HER TO STOP
