Chapter 2 - What Rosa Saw
Victor handed Ethan to Lily only after she promised not to move the child's arm.
"Call Dr. Meyers," he told the butler. "And security. Nobody leaves the property."
Serena laughed once. "You're locking me in?"
Victor didn't look at her. "I'm protecting my son."
That sentence landed harder than a shout.
Rosa came down the stairs slowly. She had worked at Blackwood House for eleven years and had never once raised her voice in front of Victor.
Now she couldn't stop shaking.
"Tell me," Victor said.
Rosa glanced at Serena.
Serena smiled at her. It was not a kind smile.
"Careful, Rosa."
Victor turned. "Don't speak to her."
Serena folded her arms. "This is insane."
Rosa swallowed. "Two weeks ago, I heard Mr. Ethan crying in the nursery. Miss Vale had sent Lily to the pharmacy. When I went in, she was holding him by both wrists because he wouldn't stop reaching for a picture of his mother."
Victor's face changed.
His late wife, Olivia, had died when Ethan was three months old.
"What picture?"
"The silver frame on the shelf."
Lily nodded. "He points to it every night."
Rosa continued. "Miss Vale told me to leave. Later, the frame was gone."
"You never told me."
Rosa's eyes filled. "I tried."
Victor frowned.
"When?"
"I left a note on your desk. The next morning, Miss Vale called me into the pantry. She had the note in her hand."
Serena rolled her eyes. "You're making this up."
Rosa reached into her apron and pulled out a folded envelope.
"So I started keeping copies."
Victor took it.
Inside were dates. Times. Short descriptions.
Ethan crying after Serena entered the nursery.
A bruise Lily had been told came from a crib rail.
A missing bottle of children's medicine.
A camera that went offline for seventeen minutes.
Then Victor reached the last line.
He read it twice.
"What does 'blue room key' mean?"
Rosa stared at Serena.
"She goes into the old nursery after midnight."
Victor looked toward the west hallway.
The old nursery had belonged to Olivia when she prepared the house for Ethan's birth. Victor had locked it after her funeral.
"That room is sealed."
Rosa shook her head. "Not anymore."
Serena suddenly grabbed her purse from the chair.
Victor stepped in front of her.
"Where are you going?"
"Away from this circus."
"You heard me. Nobody leaves."
Serena's voice dropped. "You should think very carefully before you humiliate me, Victor."
"Why?"
She glanced at Ethan.
"Because there are things in this house you don't want found."
Victor stared at her.
Then a security guard appeared in the doorway.
"Mr. Blackwood?"
"What?"
"The lock on the old nursery has been changed."
Victor looked at Serena.
She smiled.
May you like
"I told you."
And from somewhere behind that locked door, a phone began to ring.
