Chapter 2: What Noah Saw
Victor turned.
Serena's?””
Noah stared at his blanket.
“Serena said.””
“Said what?””
The boy squeezed Victor face changed instantly.
The warning vanished.
Concern replaced it.
“What?””'s finger.
“She made Mommy go away.””
Victor's blood turned cold.
Before she asked.
“Why are you looking at me like that?””
Victor he could ask another question, the hospital door opened.
Marcus entered.
Victor stood immediately.
“Did you find Evelyn?””
Marcus stared at her.
“You just told him not to speak.””
“No, I didn't.””
's expression answered before his mouth did.
“No.””
“Where is she?””
“Her“I heard you.””
“You misunderstood me.””
Victor had spent twenty years negotiating with apartment's empty.””
Victor frowned.
“Empty?””
“Com men who lied for millions.
He knew the little signs.
pletely. Neighbor said she came home this morning crying.The controlled breathing.
The careful wording.
The desperate attempt to About an hour later, two men arrived.””
Victor's redefine something that had happened seconds voice sharpened.
“What men?””
“Don't know.””
“And then?””
earlier.
“Noah,” Victor said quietly, “you don't have to say anything right now.””
Serena stepped“She left with them.””
Victor looked back at Noah.
“Did she take luggage?””
“No.””
That mattered.
forward.
“Victor, you're frightening him.””
“No.””
Evelyn was sixty-two years old. She had worked forHis voice was calm.
“You are.””
the Blackwood family for twenty-seven years.
She didn't disappear without packing a toothbrush.
“Find her phone.””
“The paramedics entered moments later.
One examined Noah whileAlready trying.””
Victor's phone vibrated.
Serena.
He rejected the call.
Immediately, another asked questions.
“What happened?””
Serena answered immediately.
“He fell.””
Victor looked at her.
The paramedic another came.
Serena again.
He answered.
“What?””
glanced between them.
“From where?””
Serena hesitated.
“The sofa.””
Victor's jaw tightened.
Five minutes ago,Her voice was softer now.
“Victor, please don't turn this into something it isn't.””
“What exactly am I the nanny had supposedly been handling Noah roughly.
Now Noah had fallen from the sofa.
turning it into?””
Silence.
Victor walked toward the window.
“I haven't accused you of anything,The story was already changing.
The paramedic gently stabilized Noah's arm.
“We need Serena.””
“I know.””
“Then why are you defending yourself?””
Another imaging. There may be a fracture.””
Victor climbed into the ambulance silence.
Longer this time.
Finally Serena sighed.
“You're upset.””
“My beside his son.
Serena appeared at the doors.
“I'll follow you.””
“No.””
Her face hardened.
“ son has a fractured arm.””
“It was an accident.””
“You've said that.””
“Because it's true.””
VictorExcuse me?””
“Stay here.””
“Victor, I'm practically his mother.””
“Noah is terrified watched rain begin streaking the hospital glass.
“Then you of you.””
“That is ridiculous.””
Victor looked at the paramedic.
“Close the doors.””
“Victor!””
The doors shut.
For the won't mind me checking the security cameras.””
Nothing.
Not first time since entering the mansion, Noah's breathing began even breathing.
Victor closed his eyes.
There it was.
“Serena?””
“The sitting-room camera hasn't to slow.
At the hospital, X-rays confirmed a fracture near his elbow.
Victor sat beside the worked in months.””
Victor's eyes opened.
“I didn't say bed while a pediatric nurse adjusted Noah's blanket which camera.””
The call went dead.
Marcus stared at him.
Victor lowered the phone.
“Get.
Dr. Amelia Grant entered carrying a tablet.
“Mr. Blackwood Daniel from security.””
Twenty minutes later, Daniel Price arrived carrying?””
Victor stood.
“How bad is it?””
“The fracture should heal well.””
a laptop.
The head of Blackwood security looked nervous.
That was unusual.
DanielVictor exhaled.
“But,” she had guarded diplomats before working for Victor.
“Sir,” he said continued, “I need to ask some questions.””
Something in her tone made him sit again.
Dr. Grant crouched beside Noah.
“Hey, buddy. I'm Amelia.””
Noah, “we have a problem.””
“Show me.””
Daniel opened the system.
Camera feeds appeared from throughout the mansion.
Kitchen.
Hallway.
Garage.
Garden watched her cautiously.
“Does anything else hurt?””
Noah shook his head.
“Did you fall?””
.
Victor pointed.
“Sitting room.””
Daniel clicked.
Black screen.
Silence.
Victor didn't interrupt.
Dr. Grant tried again.
“Were“When did it stop recording?””
“ you climbing?””
Noah shook his head.
“Did somebody grab your arm?””
Noah's fingers tightened around the blanket.
Victor feltAccording to the system? Eleven weeks ago.””
“And actually?””
Daniel hesitated.
“This morning.””
Victor slowly turned ice move through his chest.
“Noah toward him.
“What?””
“Someone deleted today's recording,” he said gently, “you won't get in trouble.””
Noah looked at him.
“Promise?””
and altered the system log.””
Marcus cursed under his breath.
“Can you recover it?”” Victor asked.
“Maybe.””
“Do it.””
“I promise.””
“Serena gets mad.””
Victor's pulse hammered.
Dr. Grant remained calm.
“What makesDaniel began typing.
Victor's phone vibrated again.
This time it wasn't Serena.
Unknown number.
He almost ignored it.
Then a message appeared.
**MR. BLACKWOOD, EVELYN CARTER DID NOT Serena mad?””
Noah swallowed.
“When I ask for Mommy.””
Victor closed his eyes for half a second.
Noah's mother, Elise, had died eighteen months earlier.
Victor had HURT YOUR SON.**
Victor's pulse kicked believed Serena understood that grief.
He had believed she was helping Noah through it.
“What.
A second message arrived.
**IF YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO ISABELLA, STOP TRUSTING THE PEOPLE INSIDE YOUR HOUSE happened today?”” Victor asked.
Noah stared at the blanket.
“I wanted Mommy.**
Victor immediately called the number.
Disconnected.
“Marcus.””
Marcus was already moving.
“I's picture.””
Victor frowned.
“What picture?””
“The one in Daddy's room.””
Victor remembered it.
'll trace it.””
Daniel suddenly leaned closer to the laptop.
“Sir.””
A framed photograph of Elise holding newborn Noah.
He kept itVictor crossed the room.
“What?””
“I recovered seventeen seconds.””
The inside a drawer beside his bed.
Serena disliked seeing it.
Victor had noticed that image was distorted, but the sitting room was visible.
Timestamp: 11:43 a.m.
Noah.
He simply hadn't understood why it mattered.
“I stood beside a toy chest.
Evelyn was near him.
Serena entered.
got it,” Noah whispered.
“Serena said put it back.””
“And then?””
“SheThere was no sound.
Victor watched Serena point toward the hallway took it.””
Victor's hands curled into fists.
Noah continued.
“I.
Evelyn shook her head.
Serena wanted Mommy.””
stepped closer.
The two women argued.
Then Evelyn suddenly looked toward the camera.
His eyes filled with tears.
“I tried to get it.””
Dr. GrantDirectly at it.
She lifted one hand.
Three asked softly, “Then what happened?””
Noah touched his injured arm.
“She fingers.
Then two.
Then one.
“What is she doing?”” Marcus asked.
Victor knew.
Years earlier, during a grabbed me.””
Victor's stomach dropped.
“Did she let go?””
Noah shook his head.
“She squeezed. I cried. Then I fell.””
Victor stood abruptly and walked to the window.
The city blurred beyond the glass.
He wanted to break something.
Instead, he pressed kidnapping threat against the Blackwood family, their security team had created silent emergency signals.
Three.
Two.
One.
Immediate danger.
Onscreen, Evelyn reached for both hands against the windowsill and forced himself to breathe.
“Where was Grace?”” he Noah.
Serena blocked her.
The footage glitched.
For three seconds, everything vanished.
When the image returned, Noah was on the floor.
Evelyn was kneeling beside him.
Serena stood over them.
Then two asked.
Noah sniffled.
“Locked.””
Victor turned.
“What?””
“Grace was unfamiliar men entered the room.
Victor's stomach tightened.
One man grabbed Evelyn.
She fought him.
The second man reached toward Noah—
locked.””
“Where?””
“The laundry room.””
Victor stared at him.
Serena hadn't simply fired the nanny.
Something elseAnd the video ended.
“No,” Victor whispered.
Daniel tried recovering had happened.
Victor immediately called his head of security.
“Daniel.””
“Yes, Mr more.
Nothing.
Marcus pointed at the frozen final. Blackwood?””
“Where is Grace?””
A pause.
“I thought she was with you, frame.
“Wait.””
He enlarged it.
The second man's sleeve sir.””
“Serena claims she fired her.””
“That can't had pulled upward.
A tattoo was visible on his wrist.
Victor stared at it.
A black crown pierced by a silver dagger.
He knew that symbol.
He had seen it be right.””
“Why?””
“Because Grace's car is still here once before.
In a photograph recovered during the investigation into Isabella's disappearance.
Victor.””
Victor's blood ran cold.
“Find her.””
He heard stepped back.
“No…”
Marcus looked footsteps through the phone.
Then Daniel's voice changed.
“Sir…”
“What?””
at him.
“You recognize it?””
Victor nodded slowly.
“Two years ago, my investigator“The laundry-room door is locked from the outside.””
Victor gripped the phone.
“Open it.””
There was a crash.
found a surveillance photo taken the night Isabella vanished.””
HisAnother.
Then distant voices.
Finally Daniel returned.
“We voice turned hollow.
“The man following her had that exact tattoo.””
A found her.””
“Is she hurt?””
“She has a cut on her forehead knock sounded at the hospital-room door.
Victor turned.
A nurse stood, but she's conscious.””
Victor closed his eyes.
“Put her on.””
Seconds there, pale and uncertain.
“Mr. Blackwood?””
“Yes?””
later, Grace's trembling voice came through.
“Mr. Blackwood?””
“Grace. Tell me what happened.””
“Serena locked me in“There's a woman downstairs asking for you.””
“Who?””
“She wouldn't here.””
“Why?””
Grace began crying.
“Because I give her name.””
Victor's hand tightened around his phone.
The nurse swallowed.
“She only said to tell you one thing.””
Victor waited.
The told her I was going to tell you everything.””
Victor's gaze moved to Noah.
“Everything about what?””
Grace became silent.
“Grace?””
“I have proof.””
Victor's heart pounded.
“What kind of proof?””
“I installed nurse looked directly at him.
“She knows where your wife has been for the last two years.”” a small camera in Noah's playroom three weeks ago.””
Victor went still.
“You recorded her?””
“I had to. You wouldn't have believed me without evidence.””
“Where is it?””
“I hid the memory card.””
“Where?””
Another silence.
Then Grace whispered:
“Inside the stuffed bear Noah sleeps with.””
Victor slowly turned toward the hospital bed.
May you like
Noah was hugging that exact bear against his chest.
And sewn into its back was a small opening Victor had never noticed before.
