Chapter 2 - THE CAMERA ABOVE THE ROSESDr. Mercer arrived within eighteen minutes.
To Adrian, it felt like eighteen years.
He carried both children inside himself, refusing to let any staff member take them from his arms. Lily would not release his shirt. Noah cried whenever anyone moved too quickly. Adrian sat on the sofa in the sunroom with one child on each side of his body and rage burning quietly behind his ribs.
Vanessa sat across from him.
She had changed her expression four times already.
First, shock.
Then tears.
Then wounded innocence.
Now silence.
Her hands rested neatly in her lap. Her diamond engagement ring glittered in the filtered afternoon light.
Adrian stared at that ring and wondered how many lies had reflected off it.
“Lily,” Dr. Mercer said gently, kneeling in front of her. “Can I check your arm, sweetheart?”
Lily looked at Adrian.
He nodded. “I’m right here.”
Only then did she allow the doctor to touch her.
Dr. Mercer was careful. He spoke softly, describing everything before doing it. He checked Lily’s wrists, elbows, shoulders, feet, and breathing. Then he checked Noah, listening to his chest, examining his tiny hands, watching his pupils, his skin color, his response to sound.
Adrian forced himself to stay still.
He wanted to pace. He wanted to shout. He wanted to tear every lie out of the walls.
But Lily’s eyes followed him constantly. If he moved too quickly, she flinched.
So he stayed.
For her.
For Noah.
When Dr. Mercer finished, he stood and motioned for Adrian to join him near the windows.
“Physically,” the doctor said quietly, “they appear stable. Noah is frightened and exhausted. Lily has minor abrasions on her feet and wrist. Nothing that suggests immediate emergency trauma, but both children need rest, warmth, food, and safety.”
Safety.
The word landed like an accusation.
Adrian glanced back at his daughter. Mrs. Ellis had wrapped her in a blanket. Lily was feeding Noah small sips of water from a cup with two hands, like she was the adult in the room.
Adrian had never hated himself more.
“How long?” he asked.
Dr. Mercer understood the real question.
“I can’t answer that from today alone.”
“Guess.”
The doctor hesitated.
Then he said, “Children learn fear gradually.”
Adrian closed his eyes.
The doors opened.
Grant Holloway, head of security, entered with a tablet in one hand and a grimness on his face Adrian had only seen once before—on the day Claire died.
Vanessa sat straighter.
“Adrian,” Grant said. “We need to talk privately.”
“No,” Adrian said. “Say it here.”
Grant’s eyes moved briefly to Vanessa.
“That may not be wise.”
Adrian’s voice sharpened. “Say it here.”
Grant tapped the screen.
“The backyard camera above the rose trellis captured the incident.”
Vanessa stood suddenly.
“I want a lawyer.”
Nobody moved.
The room became very quiet.
Adrian turned his head toward her.
“You want a lawyer?”
Vanessa pressed a hand to her chest. “Because this is clearly becoming hostile. I won’t be slandered by servants and manipulated footage.”
Mrs. Ellis stiffened.
Dr. Mercer looked away, uncomfortable.
Grant’s jaw tightened.
Adrian said, “Sit down.”
“I will not be ordered around in my own home.”
“It is not your home.”
Vanessa’s lips parted.
For two years, she had walked through Vale House as if she had already inherited it. She chose curtains, dismissed staff, hosted luncheons, and told society wives that Adrian was “learning to live again because of her.” She had once introduced Lily as “Claire’s little girl,” never Adrian’s daughter, and Adrian had ignored the sting because Vanessa laughed afterward and called it accidental wording.
Now he heard every old sentence differently.
Vanessa slowly sat.
Grant connected the tablet to the wall screen.
The video began.
There was no sound at first. Only the bright green backyard. Lily appeared near the flower beds, bouncing Noah gently in her arms. She was struggling with his weight but smiling down at him.
Then Vanessa entered the frame.
She spoke. Lily shook her head. Vanessa pointed toward the house. Lily stepped backward.
Then Vanessa grabbed Lily’s arm.
Adrian heard Mrs. Ellis sob softly behind him.
The video showed everything.
Lily trying to shield Noah.
Vanessa bending down, face close to the child’s, speaking sharply.
Lily crying.
Vanessa dragging both children toward the doghouse.
The latch.
The smile.
Adrian’s own arrival seconds later.
When the video ended, Vanessa was white.
But only for a moment.
Then she began to cry.
Not softly. Not with guilt. With precision.
“I was overwhelmed,” she said. “You have no idea what it’s like to be expected to raise another woman’s children.”
Adrian looked at her.
Vanessa wiped under her eyes, careful not to ruin her makeup.
“I gave up everything for you,” she continued. “I stepped into a house where your dead wife is worshiped like a saint. Every room has her shadow in it. Every servant compares me to her. Lily looks at me like I stole something from her. Noah screams whenever I hold him. Do you know how humiliating that is?”
Lily’s breathing changed.
Adrian noticed immediately. He crossed the room and knelt in front of her.
“You didn’t do anything wrong,” he said.
Lily whispered, “I tried to be good.”
Adrian’s throat closed.
“You are good.”
Vanessa let out a bitter laugh.
“That’s exactly the problem. Everyone acts like she’s perfect.”
Adrian rose slowly.
Grant looked ready to step between them, but Adrian did not move toward Vanessa. He did not need to. The cold in his voice was worse than anger.
“You were jealous of a four-year-old.”
Vanessa’s tears stopped.
There it was.
The truth, exposed and ugly.
Her mouth tightened.
“You have no idea what I endured.”
“My children endured you.”
“I was going to be their mother.”
“No,” Adrian said. “Claire was their mother. You were supposed to be kind.”
Vanessa flinched as if he had slapped her with the word.
Grant’s phone buzzed. He checked it and frowned.
“What?” Adrian asked.
Grant looked up. “Sir, the east gate camera went down eight minutes ago.”
Vanessa’s eyes flickered.
Adrian saw it.
“Why?” he asked.
Grant already knew. “Someone cut the exterior connection.”
Vanessa stood again. “This is absurd. Are you suggesting I arranged some escape plan while sitting here in front of you?”
Before anyone could answer, Mrs. Ellis spoke from near the sofa.
“She has a second phone.”
Everyone turned.
Mrs. Ellis swallowed, but she did not back down.
“She keeps it in the blue vase in the morning room. I saw it last week. She told me if I mentioned it, I would lose my pension.”
Vanessa’s face transformed.
The crying mask vanished.
“You old witch,” she whispered.
Adrian stepped in front of Mrs. Ellis.
Grant was already moving.
“Lock the gates manually,” Adrian ordered. “Find the phone. Pull every camera from the last six months. And call Detective Rourke.”
Vanessa stared at him.
“The police?” she said.
Adrian looked at Lily and Noah, huddled together under one blanket.
Then he looked back at the woman he had almost married.
May you like
“Yes,” he said. “The police.”
And for the first time since he had known her, Vanessa looked truly afraid.
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