Chapter 4
The teddy bear held more than the bottle.
Emma had cut a small opening along the seam.
Inside were three things.
The prescription bottle.
A folded napkin.
A tiny black memory card.
Ryan saw the card.
Moved.
My bodyguard blocked him.
“Sit.”
Ryan stared at me.
“You don’t order me in front of my children.”
I looked at Emma.
“She’s already watched you attack her grandfather.”
His face hardened.
I turned to Emma.
“Where did this come from?”
She looked at Linda.
Linda smiled.
“Careful.”
I stepped between them.
“No more warnings.”
Emma whispered:
“Mommy’s room.”
Emily frowned.
“What?”
“Daddy’s drawer.”
Ryan’s face changed.
There.
I noticed.
“Why did you take it?”
Emma looked down.
“I didn’t.”
“Who gave it to you?”
She swallowed.
“Nanny Rose.”
Emily’s head snapped up.
Rose Martin.
Former night nanny.
Gone three weeks.
Ryan had told Emily she quit without notice.
Emily turned.
“Rose gave this to Emma?”
Emma nodded.
“She said hide it where Grandma won’t look.”
Linda laughed.
“That useless woman was stealing too.”
Emily stared.
“You said she left because her mother was sick.”
Ryan answered:
“She did.”
“No.”
Emma shook her head.
“Daddy yelled.”
Silence.
“What did Rose say?” I asked.
Emma thought.
“She said Noah wasn’t sick before Grandma came.”
Linda scoffed.
“A nanny playing doctor.”
Emma continued:
“And she said Daddy was making Mommy tired.”
Ryan stepped forward.
“Enough.”
I stood.
“No.”
His hands curled.
I smiled faintly.
“Try again.”
He stopped.
James inserted the memory card into a secure tablet.
One video.
Nursery camera.
Not ours.
Rose must have placed it herself.
The footage showed Linda beside Noah’s crib after midnight.
Ryan stood at the door.
Linda held a small bottle.
Ryan whispered:
“Not too much. We only need him quiet tomorrow.”
Emily made a broken sound.
Linda froze.
I looked at Ryan.
“What happens tomorrow?”
The recording continued.
Linda answered:
“Emily misses the council again.”
Ryan smiled.
“And Vincent starts letting me speak for her.”
May you like
That was when Noah’s illness stopped looking like cruelty without purpose.
They were making the baby weak to make Emily disappear from the family’s table.
