Chapter 2
The silence in the study was so thick I could have cut it with a knife.
Nathaniel didn’t take his eyes off Victoria.
“Is this true?” he said. His voice was quiet. Deadly.
Victoria let out a sharp, disbelieving laugh. She pressed a hand to her chest, her eyes glistening with fake tears.
“Nathaniel, darling, don’t be ridiculous. This child—”
“Her name is Lila,” Nathaniel snapped.
Victoria flinched. She recovered fast, switching tactics.
“I don’t know where she got that,” she said, nodding at the charm. “I lost it days ago. She must have found it somewhere and made up this whole story to get attention.”
She turned to me, her smile sharp enough to cut glass.
“Clara, really. You should teach your daughter not to tell lies. It’s a bad habit.”
Lila’s little chin trembled. She slid off the desk and pressed herself against my leg.
“I’m not lying,” she whispered.
I knelt and wrapped an arm around her, my heart hammering.
“She’s not lying,” I said, lifting my chin to meet Nathaniel’s gaze. “She came to me yesterday, right after it happened. She was terrified. And Victoria cornered me in the pantry last night. She threatened to hurt Lila if we told anyone.”
Victoria’s face twisted.
“You’re lying!” she shrieked. “You’re just a maid who wants more money! You put her up to this!”
Nathaniel stood up so fast his chair scraped loud against the floor.
“Enough,” he said.
He walked around the desk and stopped in front of Victoria. He held out his hand.
“Give me your bracelet.”
Victoria froze. Her hand flew to her left wrist.
The charm bracelet was there. But the spot where the rose should have been was empty. A tiny, jagged broken link glinted in the light.
Her face crumpled.
“Nathaniel, I can explain—”
“Get out,” he said.
“Darling, please—”
“I said get out.” His voice rose, sharp and final. “Get off my property before I call the police and have you arrested for trespassing.”
Victoria stared at him for a long, hard second. Then she spun on her heel and stormed out of the study, her silk dress swishing behind her.
I heard the front door slam a minute later.
Nathaniel sank back into his chair, his head in his hands. His shoulders shook.
“I almost married her,” he said, his voice muffled. “God help me, I almost brought that woman into my family.”
Lila stepped forward and patted his arm, gentle as she could.
“It’s okay, Mr. Whitmore,” she said. “We told the truth now.”
Nathaniel looked up at her. His eyes were wet.
“Yes, you did, sweetheart,” he said. “You were very, very brave.”
He picked up the phone on his desk and called the police. He told them everything. The charm. Lila’s statement. My statement about the threat.
Two detectives showed up an hour later. They took our statements again, this time with a social worker present for Lila. They collected the charm and Victoria’s bracelet, which Nathaniel had found discarded in the guest bathroom trash.
When they left, Nathaniel turned to me.
“You and Lila aren’t going back to your apartment tonight,” he said.
I opened my mouth to protest.
“It’s not safe,” he said, cutting me off. “Victoria is unhinged. She knows where you live. I won’t let anything happen to either of you. You’ll stay here. In the west wing. It has its own entrance, its own security code. No one gets in without my say-so.”
I looked at Lila. She was yawning, her eyes heavy with all the stress of the last two days.
“Okay,” I said quietly. “Thank you.”
That night, I lay in the big soft bed in the west wing, listening to Lila breathe beside me.
I should have felt safe. We were in a mansion with a security system. Nathaniel had promised to protect us.
But I couldn’t sleep.
Every creak of the house made me jump. Every shadow in the corner of the room looked like Victoria, standing there, waiting.
I knew her threat hadn’t been empty.
She’d tried to kill an 82-year-old woman to get what she wanted.
She wouldn’t hesitate to hurt a seven-year-old girl and her mother to keep herself out of prison.
I reached over and brushed the hair off Lila’s face.
May you like
Whatever happened next, I told myself. I would keep her safe.
No matter what it cost me.
