Chapter 2 - The Camera in the Corner
Vincent shut off the monitor.
Celeste entered.
“You look angry.”
Vincent sat down slowly.
“Should I be?”
She hesitated.
That hesitation told him more than any answer could.
Celeste walked toward the desk.
“It’s Emma.”
“What about her?”
“She’s becoming inappropriate with Lucy.”
Vincent studied his sister.
“How?”
“She undermined Mercer. She’s been pretending she knows physical therapy.”
“Pretending?”
“She could hurt your daughter.”
Vincent rested his tattooed forearm on the desk.
“Did she?”
Celeste blinked.
“What?”
“Did Emma hurt Lucy?”
“That isn’t the point.”
“It was the question.”
Celeste’s mouth tightened.
“No.”
Vincent nodded.
“Anything else?”
“She’s manipulative.”
“How?”
“Lucy is becoming attached.”
“She’s two.”
“That woman knows exactly what she’s doing.”
Vincent almost smiled.
Celeste had always lied better when she had time to prepare.
Now she was rushing.
“Fire her,” Celeste said.
“No.”
The answer landed hard.
Celeste stared.
“You didn’t even think about it.”
“I did.”
“For two seconds.”
“It was enough.”
Celeste stepped closer.
“You’re making a mistake.”
Vincent thought of Mercer’s recorded words.
Why she stopped walking in the first place.
“Maybe.”
He leaned back.
“But it’ll be mine.”
Celeste left furious.
Vincent waited until her footsteps disappeared.
Then he called Marco DeLuca, the head of his security team.
“I need every camera recording from the last eighteen months.”
Marco paused.
“All of them?”
“Anything involving Lucy, Mercer, Celeste, or Emma.”
“That could be hundreds of hours.”
“Then don’t sleep.”
Vincent ended the call.
He found Emma downstairs.
She was wiping fingerprints from a glass table.
Her cheek was faintly red.
Vincent stopped beside her.
“Who hit you?”
Emma froze.
“No one.”
“That answer usually means someone.”
She continued cleaning.
“I bumped into something.”
“My sister?”
The cloth stopped.
Vincent had his answer.
Emma looked at him.
“Mr. Moretti—”
“Vincent.”
She seemed confused.
“You’ve called me Mr. Moretti for six months.”
“You’re my employer.”
“And you taught my daughter to walk.”
Emma’s face lost color.
“You saw?”
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry.”
That surprised him.
“For what?”
“Dr. Mercer told me not to interfere.”
“My daughter took six steps.”
“Seven.”
Vincent stared.
Emma looked embarrassed.
“She took one before the camera angle you probably saw.”
For the first time that day, Vincent laughed.
Emma smiled despite herself.
Then he became serious.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because it wasn’t about proving anything.”
“Then what was it about?”
“Lucy wanted to move.”
Emma looked toward the hallway.
“She didn’t need me to tell her she was brave. She needed someone who wasn’t disappointed when her body needed more time.”
Vincent absorbed that quietly.
He had spent a fortune trying to fix Lucy.
Had Lucy believed he was disappointed in her?
The thought hurt.
“Mercer says you could harm her.”
“I know.”
“Could you?”
“Yes.”
Vincent’s eyebrows lifted.
Emma continued.
“Anyone could if they pushed her incorrectly. That’s why I researched her condition, followed the exercises her previous physical therapist left, and never made her continue when she was tired.”
“Previous therapist?”
Emma nodded.
“Rachel Kim.”
Vincent frowned.
“I don’t know that name.”
“She worked with Lucy before Mercer.”
“No.”
“I found her therapy sheets in an old cabinet.”
Vincent became still.
“Show me.”
They went upstairs.
Emma opened a storage closet.
Inside was a box of old medical equipment.
She reached behind it.
Nothing.
Emma frowned.
“They were here.”
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
The papers were gone.
Vincent called Marco.
Within minutes, security was checking hallway footage.
The camera showed Emma entering the closet the previous afternoon.
Later that night, another person entered.
The figure wore a hood.
They remained inside for forty-three seconds.
When they emerged, they carried papers.
Marco enlarged the image.
No face.
But something flashed beneath the sleeve.
A distinctive gold bracelet.
Vincent recognized it.
He had given matching bracelets to every member of his immediate family after his father died.
Celeste owned one.
So did his younger brother Anthony.
And their mother, Isabella.
Emma looked at Vincent.
“What is it?”
“Nothing you need to worry about.”
“That usually means it’s something I should worry about.”
He glanced at her.
She had thrown his own logic back at him.
He almost smiled.
Then Marco called.
“We found Rachel Kim.”
“Where?”
Silence.
“Vincent, there’s a problem.”
“What?”
“She disappeared fourteen months ago.”
Vincent’s expression changed.
“Disappeared?”
“Her family reported her missing.”
Emma stared at him.
Marco continued.
“And there’s something else. Rachel filed a complaint against Dr. Mercer three days before she vanished.”
Vincent walked away from Emma.
“What complaint?”
“The hospital sealed it.”
“Unseal it.”
“I’m working on it.”
Vincent ended the call.
Emma looked shaken.
“Does this have something to do with Lucy?”
“I don’t know.”
But he intended to find out.
That evening, Mercer arrived unexpectedly.
Vincent watched from upstairs as the doctor entered.
Mercer smiled at Emma as though nothing had happened.
“Miss Brooks.”
“Doctor.”
“Where is Lucy?”
“With her father.”
Mercer’s smile faltered.
Vincent descended the stairs carrying Lucy.
His daughter immediately reached for Emma.
Vincent noticed.
He handed her over.
Mercer noticed too.
“We should discuss boundaries.”
Vincent faced him.
“Let’s discuss medical records instead.”
Mercer stiffened.
“Which records?”
“Rachel Kim.”
The doctor’s face changed for less than a second.
Enough.
“I’m unfamiliar with the name.”
Emma spoke.
“She was Lucy’s therapist.”
Mercer looked at her.
“No, she wasn’t.”
Emma frowned.
“I saw her notes.”
“What notes?”
“The ones someone stole last night.”
Silence.
Mercer slowly turned toward Vincent.
“You allow domestic employees access to confidential medical documents?”
Vincent stepped closer.
“I allow people in my house to answer questions.”
Mercer swallowed.
“So answer hers.”
“I have nothing to say.”
He turned toward the door.
Vincent’s men blocked it.
Mercer stopped.
“This is ridiculous.”
Vincent’s phone vibrated.
Marco had sent a photograph.
Vincent opened it.
Rachel Kim.
Standing outside a medical building.
Beside her was Celeste.
The timestamp was two days before Rachel disappeared.
Vincent showed Mercer.
The doctor went pale.
“Where did you get that?”
Wrong response.
Vincent’s voice became quiet.
“You said you didn’t know her.”
Mercer looked toward the door.
Then toward Emma.
His eyes changed.
Not fear.
Recognition.
“You.”
Emma stepped backward.
“What?”
Mercer stared at her.
“You’re Evelyn Brooks’s daughter.”
Emma’s breath caught.
Vincent looked between them.
“Who is Evelyn Brooks?”
“My mother,” Emma whispered.
Mercer backed away.
“No. No, this isn’t possible.”
Emma stared at him.
“My mother died twelve years ago.”
Mercer shook his head.
“You don’t understand.”
“Understand what?”
He pointed at Emma.
“Ask her mother what happened at St. Catherine’s.”
Emma’s face drained.
“I just told you. She’s dead.”
Mercer laughed nervously.
Then Marco entered the room carrying a sealed envelope.
“We got Rachel Kim’s complaint.”
Vincent took it.
The first page contained Lucy’s name.
The second contained Mercer’s.
The third contained another name.
Vincent read it once.
Then again.
Emma stepped closer.
“What does it say?”
Vincent slowly raised his eyes to her.
Before he could answer, every light in the mansion went out.
May you like
Lucy screamed.
And somewhere in the darkness, a door slammed shut.
