Chapter 6 - We Escaped Through a Servants' Passage and Learned Why Nineteen Nannies Had Been Silenced
Adrian pushed Noah behind him.
The lock scraped from the other side.
I searched the room for another exit.
The windows were sealed.
The corridor held Eleanor and her staff.
Then Noah tugged my sleeve.
"Mommy's secret stairs," he whispered.
He pointed toward the wardrobe.
Behind the hanging dresses, I found a narrow panel.
It opened onto a steep staircase.
Adrian carried Noah down first.
I followed with the recorder.
We emerged behind the laundry room.
A delivery truck blocked the service courtyard.
Its driver waved us toward the cab.
I recognized him from the kitchen.
His name was Daniel Ortiz.
"June called me," he said.
Adrian stared.
"June Bellamy is dead."
Daniel shook his head.
"Your mother paid for that funeral."
We drove beyond the estate gates.
For the first time, Noah relaxed his shoulders.
At a diner outside Stamford, June joined us.
She was older than her photograph.
A scar crossed her left eyebrow.
But Noah ran into her arms.
"I told them," he said.
June held him tightly.
"You were brave, sweetheart."
She explained the nannies' departures.
Some had been frightened by Noah's outbursts.
Others had found evidence of sedatives.
Those women were threatened into silence.
The forged resignations came afterward.
"The boy wasn't attacking everyone," June said.
"He was warning them away."
Adrian looked at his son.
"And I punished him for it."
Noah lowered his eyes.
I watched Adrian's hands tremble.
He wasn't a man accustomed to helplessness.
But money couldn't undo those months.
June turned to me.
"Claire discovered falsified safety reports."
"For aircraft?" I asked.
She nodded.
"Someone was hiding defects in a navigation system."
"Who?"
May you like
June looked directly at Adrian.
"Your mother and your chief financial officer."
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