Chapter 2 - THE FIRST LIE Serena lunged toward Lily.
Marco caught her wrist before she could reach her.
“Let go of me!”
Victor didn't move.
“You were crying a moment ago.”
Serena stared at him.
“I'm scared.”
“Of what?”
Her eyes shifted toward Lily.
“Her.”
Lily pushed herself upright.
“She’s lying.”
She held up the tiny camera.
“It’s a nanny camera. I bought it after Ethan started waking up with bruises.”
Victor's jaw tightened.
“Bruises?”
“His upper arms. His back. Sometimes his shoulder.”
Victor looked toward Ethan.
The baby had stopped crying.
Now he simply stared at the floor.
That silence somehow felt worse.
Lily continued.
“I tried telling you.”
“Why didn't I hear you?”
“Because every message I sent was intercepted.”
Victor's expression hardened.
“By whom?”
“Your assistant.”
“Which assistant?”
Marco answered.
“Julian Cole.”
Silence fell across the foyer.
Julian had worked for Victor for five years.
He knew Victor's schedule.
His passwords.
His business dealings.
His private meetings.
More importantly, Julian was Serena's cousin.
At the hospital, doctors confirmed Ethan had suffered a fractured arm.
Lily had two badly bruised ribs.
The pediatrician examined Ethan's older injuries and frowned.
“This isn't from one accident.”
Victor stood behind the observation window, watching his son beneath a white hospital blanket.
He looked impossibly small.
Serena stood behind Victor.
“Babies fall,” she whispered.
Victor turned slowly.
“Not like this.”
Detective Mara Quinn arrived shortly before midnight.
She was a compact woman with silver hair at her temples and the expression of someone who had spent twenty years watching powerful people discover that money couldn't buy innocence.
Victor handed her the camera.
“Play it.”
Quinn inserted the device.
The memory card was missing.
Serena smiled faintly.
“Convenient.”
Quinn looked at her.
“Very.”
Before anyone could speak, a young maid stepped forward.
Her hands trembled.
“Mr. Blackwood?”
Victor turned.
“I saw Mr. Cole enter the nursery this morning.”
“Why?”
“He took something from the camera.”
Victor's eyes hardened.
Then every light in the mansion went out.
Ethan began crying again.
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And from somewhere inside the darkness came a man's voice.
“Give me the card.”
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