Chapter 1 - THE FIRST CAMERA
The monitoring room occupied a narrow space behind the west library.
Most people in the mansion did not know it existed.
Chadworth Prescott had installed the system after an attempted break-in three years earlier. Exterior cameras covered every entrance, while interior cameras monitored only common areas—the foyer, hallways, kitchens, playroom, dining room, and several rooms containing valuable art.
No bedrooms.
No bathrooms.
No private staff quarters.
Chadworth had always considered that distinction important.
That morning, as he lowered himself into the leather chair before twelve glowing monitors, it did not make him feel principled.
It made him feel ashamed.
His head of security, Marcus Vale, stood behind him.
“You want me to stay?”
“Yes.”
Marcus nodded.
No judgment.
He had worked for Chadworth for nine years and had learned when silence was useful.
On the central monitor, Rosamund was clearing breakfast dishes.
Gemma, eight years old, sat at the kitchen island.
Lorelai, six, swung her legs beneath her stool.
Sabina had disappeared upstairs.
Nothing suspicious.
Rosamund rinsed plates.
Gemma colored something.
Lorelai ate strawberries.
Chadworth leaned back.
“This is ridiculous.”
Marcus said nothing.
“I’m hiding in my own house spying on a woman who has worked for me for years because Sabina misplaced a bracelet.”
Still nothing.
Chadworth turned.
“You can agree.”
“I’m paid to protect you, not your pride.”
Chadworth stared at him.
Marcus looked toward the monitors.
“Watch.”
---
At 9:17 a.m., Sabina entered the kitchen.
Her face was completely different.
No soft smile.
No affectionate stepmother performance.
She looked irritated.
“Why are they still down here?”
Rosamund turned.
“They just finished breakfast.”
“I told you I wanted the house quiet.”
Gemma stopped coloring.
Lorelai immediately put down her strawberry.
Rosamund noticed.
So did Chadworth.
Sabina walked to the island.
Her eyes landed on Lorelai’s plate.
“Another one?”
The little girl froze.
Rosamund said:
“She’s had four strawberries.”
“I’m speaking to her.”
Rosamund went silent.
Sabina leaned toward Lorelai.
“You remember what we talked about.”
Lorelai nodded.
Chadworth frowned.
“What did they talk about?”
Marcus did not answer.
Sabina lifted the plate.
“You don’t need to eat every time you’re bored.”
Lorelai’s face reddened.
“I’m hungry.”
“You just had breakfast.”
Rosamund stepped forward.
“Miss Sabina, she ate half a piece of toast.”
Sabina turned.
“And this is exactly what I mean.”
“What?”
“You interfere.”
Rosamund lowered her eyes.
But she did not step back.
“She’s six.”
Sabina’s expression hardened.
“And she is learning terrible habits because everyone in this house treats her like a baby.”
Lorelai’s lower lip trembled.
Chadworth sat forward.
Sabina picked up the strawberries and dumped them into the sink.
Something cold moved through him.
Not because a child had lost four strawberries.
Because Lorelai did not protest.
She had expected it.
That was different.
Sabina pointed toward the stairs.
“Both of you. Upstairs.”
Gemma quietly closed her coloring book.
Lorelai climbed down.
Rosamund said:
“Mr. Prescott told them they could use the playroom.”
Sabina smiled.
It was the smile Chadworth knew.
Elegant.
Controlled.
Only now he saw what existed behind it.
“Mr. Prescott is in Canada.”
The sentence settled into the room.
Then:
“And when he becomes my husband, perhaps you’ll remember that I don’t need a maid correcting me in my own home.”
Rosamund’s face tightened.
Chadworth stopped breathing.
Sabina was not finished.
She looked toward the girls.
“Upstairs.”
Gemma took Lorelai’s hand.
They left.
Only after they disappeared did Rosamund turn toward Sabina.
“You frightened her.”
Sabina laughed softly.
“Please.”
“She stopped eating yesterday because you told her she was getting chubby.”
Chadworth’s face changed.
Marcus looked at him.
Sabina said:
“She is getting chubby.”
Rosamund stared.
“She’s six years old.”
“And?”
“And you do not speak to a six-year-old that way.”
For the first time, Chadworth saw anger in Rosamund.
Not loud.
Not disrespectful.
Protective.
Sabina stepped closer.
“You are becoming much too comfortable here.”
Rosamund said nothing.
Then Sabina whispered:
“Remember who signs your checks.”
Rosamund’s answer came immediately.
“Mr. Prescott.”
Sabina’s face hardened.
“For now.”
She walked away.
The kitchen became silent.
Rosamund stood motionless for several seconds.
Then she looked toward the doorway where the girls had disappeared.
She exhaled.
Opened the refrigerator.
Removed another container of strawberries.
Washed them.
Placed them into a bowl.
Then carried them upstairs.
Chadworth stared at the monitor.
Marcus finally spoke.
“Want me to stop this?”
Chadworth’s jaw tightened.
“No.”
Marcus looked surprised.
Chadworth hated himself for the answer.
But there was something else.
Sabina’s accusation had not been only about manipulation.
She had accused Rosamund of stealing.
Chadworth needed the entire truth.
“Keep watching.”
---
Ten minutes later, Rosamund appeared on the playroom camera.
Gemma sat beside Lorelai on the rug.
Lorelai was crying.
Quietly.
Rosamund sat several feet away.
Not touching her until Lorelai moved first.
Then the little girl crawled into her lap.
Rosamund wrapped one arm around her.
Gemma whispered:
“Don’t tell Daddy.”
Chadworth went rigid.
Rosamund answered:
“I won’t lie to your father.”
Gemma looked frightened.
“Sabina said if we tell him, you’ll have to leave.”
Chadworth felt as if something had struck him in the chest.
Rosamund’s face changed.
“Listen to me.”
Both girls looked at her.
“No grown-up gets to make you responsible for whether I have a job.”
Lorelai whispered:
“But she’ll send you away.”
“Maybe.”
The child started crying harder.
Rosamund pulled her closer.
“But that would be an adult decision.”
Then she looked at Gemma.
“And if something makes you afraid, you tell your father.”
Gemma’s voice broke.
“He believes her.”
Chadworth’s hand slowly closed around the edge of the desk.
Rosamund said nothing for several seconds.
Then:
“He loves you.”
Gemma looked down.
“That’s not what I said.”
Silence.
Chadworth felt something inside him collapse.
His eight-year-old daughter had just drawn a distinction he had been too arrogant to see.
Love did not automatically mean listening.
---
Then Lorelai whispered:
“She says Daddy will have new babies after the wedding.”
Rosamund froze.
“What?”
“And we’ll be the old girls.”
Chadworth stood.
Marcus said:
“Sir.”
He did not hear him.
On screen, Rosamund looked horrified.
“Who told you that?”
“Sabina.”
Gemma’s eyes filled.
“She said Dad needs a real family.”
That was the moment Chadworth Prescott stopped wondering whether Sabina disliked his housekeeper.
May you like
And started wondering what the hell he had brought into his daughters’ home.
---
