Chapter 10 - The Missing Hour.
The security server finished rebuilding the deleted video at 4:12 the next morning.
Daniel called Victor before sunrise.
"I have the missing hour."
Victor was in the nursery chair with Oliver asleep against his chest.
He looked down at his son.
"Does it show everything?"
"Almost everything."
Victor heard caution in Daniel's voice.
"What does that mean?"
"You should see it yourself."
Victor carried Oliver to his crib and waited until the toddler rolled onto his side.
Then he stepped into the hall.
Lily's guest-room door was closed.
Victor did not wake her.
He went downstairs alone.
Daniel was already in the dining room with the laptop connected to a larger screen.
Evelyn joined by video call.
Victor sat.
"Start at the beginning."
The recovered video opened at 1:47 p.m.
Serena entered the living room alone.
She carried the black folder Lily had photographed and the white envelope containing cash.
Victor watched her place both items on the coffee table.
She looked toward the hallway.
Then she made a phone call.
The microphone captured only her side of the conversation.
"She's still upstairs."
A pause followed.
"No, she didn't take it."
Another pause.
Serena began pacing.
"Because twenty isn't enough for someone who thinks she's protecting a child."
Victor leaned forward.
Daniel froze the frame.
"Who was she talking to?"
"We don't know yet."
Evelyn's voice came through the speaker.
"Keep playing."
Daniel resumed.
Serena lowered her voice.
"If she goes to Victor, I lose the house before I get the new authorization signed."
Victor's hand tightened around the arm of the chair.
Serena listened.
"I know what Grant said."
A longer pause.
Then Serena snapped, "Grant is the reason we're in this mess."
Daniel looked at Victor.
Victor said nothing.
The recording continued.
Serena ended the call and opened the black folder.
She removed the termination letter with Victor's forged signature.
Then she took an amber bottle from her handbag.
Victor stopped breathing for a beat.
Serena crossed toward the diaper bag beside the sofa.
She unzipped the side pocket.
She started to place the amber bottle inside.
Then she stopped.
She seemed to reconsider.
She put the bottle back in her handbag instead.
Victor stared at the screen.
"She was going to put it in Lily's bag."
Evelyn answered carefully.
"It appears she considered doing that."
Daniel nodded.
"The video is useful because it shows possession before the confrontation."
Victor's stomach turned.
Serena had accused Lily of inappropriate attachment.
She had created a termination letter.
She had offered cash.
And for at least a moment, she had considered placing the bottle where it could be blamed on the nanny.
The recording reached 1:58.
Lily entered carrying Oliver.
He was rubbing his eyes.
Serena immediately changed her posture.
Her shoulders softened.
Her voice became warm.
"There he is."
Lily stopped several feet away.
"He's tired."
"I'll take him."
"He needs a nap."
"I said I'll take him."
The warmth disappeared from Serena's voice.
Lily shifted Oliver higher against her shoulder.
"He was crying when you tried earlier."
Serena looked directly at the camera for half a second.
Then she smiled.
"You worry too much."
Lily did not move.
"I need to put him down."
Serena stepped between her and the staircase.
"Before you do, we need to talk about your position here."
She opened the black folder.
The recovered audio was clean.
Every word was audible.
Serena handed Lily the termination letter.
Lily read the first page.
"Victor didn't sign this."
Serena's expression hardened.
"You are not qualified to judge his signature."
"He would tell me if I was fired."
"He told me."
Lily looked at her.
"Then he can tell me himself."
Serena placed the cash envelope on top of the folder.
"Take this and go quietly."
Lily stared at it.
"What is it?"
"Severance."
"Twenty thousand dollars is not severance for a nanny."
Serena smiled coldly.
"Then consider it a gift for learning when to leave."
Victor closed his eyes briefly.
Lily's voice on the recording became firmer.
"I'm not leaving Oliver until I speak to his father."
Serena stepped closer.
"You are not his mother."
"I know."
"Then stop acting like you are."
Oliver began to fuss.
Lily turned her body slightly away from Serena.
"You're upsetting him."
"Give him to me."
"Not while you're angry."
Serena's face changed.
Victor had seen that change in the living room the day before.
Now he saw the moment it began.
Serena reached for Oliver.
Lily stepped back.
"No."
Serena grabbed at the child's sleeve.
Lily pulled him tightly against her chest.
"Let go of him."
Serena's voice rose.
"Give him to me."
Lily turned sideways.
"Serena, stop."
Serena tried again.
Oliver screamed.
Lily shouted over him.
"LET GO OF HIM!"
Victor felt the sound hit him even though he knew what came next.
Lily pulled Oliver safely against her chest.
Serena's hand moved.
The slap was fast.
It was not exaggerated.
It was not ambiguous.
Lily's head turned with the impact.
Oliver cried harder.
Serena pointed at Lily.
"You're just the nanny."
Victor's face became motionless.
Daniel did not look at him.
On screen, Lily took one step backward.
Serena shoved her.
Lily fell beside the sofa and immediately curled around Oliver.
"Stay away from him."
Serena reached down and grabbed Lily's arm.
Lily pulled away.
Serena grabbed her hair.
"He doesn't need you."
Lily fought the hand away and placed herself between Serena and Oliver again.
Serena seized both of Lily's shoulders and pushed her sideways into the sofa.
Lily gasped.
Then Serena raised her hand again.
Lily did not run.
She spread both arms in front of Oliver.
The front door opened.
Victor appeared in the frame.
The briefcase fell.
The recording continued through everything that followed.
Nobody spoke in the dining room after Daniel stopped the video.
Victor stared at the frozen image of himself standing in the doorway.
He had walked into the final seconds.
Now he had seen the whole thing.
Evelyn broke the silence.
"This materially changes Lily's position."
Victor nodded.
"Send it to the detectives."
"We will."
Daniel looked at the timeline.
"There is more before 1:47."
Victor looked up.
"How much more?"
"About forty minutes from the hallway and your office."
Victor frowned.
"My office?"
Daniel opened another clip.
At 1:09, Serena walked down the east hallway carrying Victor's tablet.
She stopped outside his private office.
The door was supposed to remain locked when he was away.
Serena reached into her handbag.
She removed a key.
Victor stared.
"She doesn't have a key to that room."
"Apparently she did."
Serena unlocked the door and entered.
The office camera captured her moving behind Victor's desk.
She opened the second drawer.
She removed a red leather folder.
Victor recognized it immediately.
"My estate papers."
Evelyn's voice sharpened.
"Which papers?"
"Copies of my will and guardianship instructions."
The file was not the original legal instrument.
But it contained sensitive information Victor had never discussed with Serena.
On screen, Serena photographed several pages with her phone.
Then she opened Victor's laptop.
The camera could not see the screen.
She worked for seven minutes.
Daniel checked the network logs.
"That's when the secondary authentication device was added."
Victor felt anger settle into something colder.
Serena returned the folder to the drawer.
Before leaving, she paused on one page and photographed it again.
Daniel magnified the frame.
The page heading became readable.
GUARDIANSHIP DESIGNATION FOR OLIVER JAMES BLACKWOOD.
Victor knew the name written beneath it.
Grace Blackwood Mercer.
His younger sister.
Serena had once asked casually who would raise Oliver if something happened to Victor.
He had answered only that the matter was handled.
Now he understood why she had kept asking.
"She knew Grace was guardian," he said.
Evelyn replied, "And she learned it at least three weeks before the wedding date."
Victor remembered Serena's sudden insistence that they revise their estate plans together before the ceremony.
At the time, he had considered it sensible.
He had even asked Evelyn to prepare general planning options.
"She wanted me to change it."
Evelyn did not speculate.
"She wanted access to the document."
Daniel's phone vibrated.
He checked a message.
"Thomas Keene agreed to meet."
Victor looked at him.
"Today?"
"Nine o'clock at Evelyn's office."
Evelyn said, "Good."
Victor stood.
Daniel stopped the recording.
"Sir, there's one more recovered audio fragment."
Victor turned.
"From where?"
"Your office."
Daniel reopened the clip.
Serena stood behind Victor's desk with the phone pressed to her ear.
Her words were barely audible.
Daniel raised the volume.
"The guardian is his sister, not me."
Serena listened.
"Then Lily has to be gone before I bring it up again."
Victor's expression hardened.
Serena continued.
"As long as that child reaches for her first, Victor will never believe he needs me to take over."
The audio ended.
Victor did not move.
For the first time, the reason Serena hated Lily was no longer hidden behind jealousy or pride.
Lily was not merely an employee Serena disliked.
She was living proof that Oliver already had stability Serena could not manufacture.
May you like
And Serena had decided that stability had to disappear.
Page
