Chapter 4 - WHAT THE BOYS SAWMara did not sleep.
At least not properly.
She spent most of the night in a chair outside the boys’ bedroom.
At 2:13 a.m., Adrian found her there.
He had loosened his tie and removed his jacket.
“What are you doing?”
“Thinking.”
“In the hallway?”
“Yes.”
He glanced toward his sons’ door.
“Something happened.”
It wasn’t a question.
Mara looked at him for several seconds.
She was torn between telling him everything and protecting a six-year-old who had finally trusted her.
“How well do you know your brother?”
Adrian’s expression hardened.
“Well enough.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“What are you implying?”
“I’m asking.”
“Victor has made mistakes. He’s impulsive. Irresponsible sometimes. But he’s family.”
“Do your sons like him?”
“Of course.”
“No.”
Adrian stared.
Mara continued.
“They’re afraid of him.”
“That’s absurd.”
“Is it?”
“He has been helping with them since Caroline died.”
“Which means he has access.”
“Access to what?”
“Them.”
Adrian’s voice dropped.
“Be very careful.”
Mara stood.
“I am being careful.”
“You’ve known my children less than one day.”
“And you’ve known them six years. So tell me why Caleb freezes whenever Victor gets close.”
Adrian said nothing.
“Tell me why all three stopped eating when he entered the dining room.”
“Enough.”
“Tell me why—”
“I said enough.”
His voice echoed through the hallway.
A bedroom door opened.
Three frightened faces appeared.
Adrian immediately softened.
“Go back to bed.”
None moved.
Mara looked at them.
Then at Adrian.
“You want the truth? Ask them.”
Adrian’s eyes shifted to his sons.
“What is she talking about?”
Nobody answered.
He crouched.
“Eli?”
Eli looked at Mara.
She nodded once.
Not forcing.
Just telling him she would stay.
His voice shook.
“Uncle Victor says we ruin everything.”
Adrian’s face changed.
“What?”
Noah stepped forward.
“He says Mom died because we made her tired.”
Adrian went perfectly still.
Caleb began crying.
“And he says if we tell stories about him, you’ll send us away.”
The color drained from Adrian’s face.
He looked as if someone had struck him.
“Why would he say that?”
Eli’s courage faltered.
Mara moved beside him.
“It’s okay.”
Eli swallowed.
“Because we saw him.”
“Where?”
“The pool.”
Adrian stood abruptly.
“What pool?”
Noah whispered:
“The night Mommy died.”
Silence.
Mara could hear the grandfather clock downstairs.
Adrian’s face had become unreadable.
“Your mother died in her bedroom.”
Eli shook his head.
“No.”
Adrian stared.
“She collapsed upstairs.”
“No.”
“Eli—”
“She was outside first!”
The boy shouted so loudly Caleb flinched.
“She was fighting with Uncle Victor near the pool!”
Adrian stopped breathing.
Noah began talking now, words tumbling out.
“We were hiding behind the curtains because Mom said go upstairs, but we came back and she said she was telling Dad and Uncle Victor grabbed her arm and she fell—”
“Stop.”
Adrian didn’t sound angry.
He sounded broken.
The boys froze.
He put both hands on the wall.
Mara stepped toward him.
“Adrian.”
He turned.
“My wife’s death was medically documented. She suffered a cerebral aneurysm.”
“An aneurysm doesn’t mean nothing happened beforehand.”
His eyes met hers.
That was the moment doubt entered.
Not belief.
Not yet.
But doubt.
Adrian immediately summoned Helen.
Then his head of security, Marcus Hale.
Victor’s bedroom was empty.
His car was still outside.
Marcus checked the security monitors.
Nothing.
Then he discovered the west-wing camera system had been manually disabled at 1:58 a.m.
Twelve minutes before Mara had started questioning Adrian.
Victor had heard them.
“He knows,” Mara said.
Adrian looked toward the boys.
“Marcus, lock the gates.”
The entire manor changed.
Security officers moved through hallways.
Exterior lights switched on.
Doors were checked.
Victor remained missing.
At 3:07, they found an open window in the downstairs study.
Muddy footprints crossed the garden.
But Adrian was no longer focused on his brother.
He was focused on a different impossibility.
“The investigation found no sign of foul play.”
Marcus hesitated.
“I wasn’t head of security then.”
“Who was?”
“Victor’s recommendation. Paul Tanner.”
Adrian’s face hardened.
“Where is Tanner now?”
“Left six months after Mrs. Blackwood died.”
“Find him.”
Marcus disappeared.
Mara brought the boys downstairs.
They refused to separate from her.
Adrian sat opposite them in the family room.
For perhaps the first time in his life, the billionaire looked powerless.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Eli looked at the floor.
“We tried.”
“When?”
“After Mommy died.”
“You said monsters were in the house.”
“He told us to say monsters.”
Adrian closed his eyes.
Noah continued.
“And when we told Dr. Shaw about the pool, Uncle Victor said we were making things up because we were sick.”
Adrian’s eyes opened.
“Victor came to your therapy sessions?”
“All the time.”
Something like horror spread across Adrian’s face.
Mara understood.
He had delegated.
Not because he didn’t love them.
Because grief had destroyed him, and he had trusted the wrong person to fill the space.
His wealth had bought experts.
His schedule had created distance.
Victor had filled that distance with fear.
Adrian moved toward his sons.
They instinctively stepped backward.
That hurt him more than anything they had said.
He stopped.
“I failed you.”
Mara’s throat tightened.
Eli looked up.
“What?”
“I should have listened.”
Adrian’s voice broke.
Not dramatically.
One crack in a man who probably hadn’t cried publicly since childhood.
“I should have been here.”
Caleb stared at him.
“Are we in trouble?”
Adrian covered his mouth.
Then he knelt.
“No.”
Caleb approached first.
He wrapped both arms around his father’s neck.
Noah followed.
Eli resisted longest.
Then Adrian reached out one hand.
Eli took it.
Mara looked away.
The moment belonged to them.
At 4:22, Marcus returned.
He carried a tablet.
“We found Tanner.”
“Where?”
“Florida.”
“Did he talk?”
“He wants immunity.”
Adrian’s eyes became cold.
“For what?”
Marcus hesitated.
Then looked at the children.
“We should discuss this privately.”
Adrian’s face darkened.
“Mara, take the boys upstairs.”
Eli grabbed her wrist.
“No.”
Adrian nodded.
“She can stay.”
Marcus lowered his voice.
“Tanner says Victor paid him to delete sixty-three minutes of security footage from the night Caroline died.”
Nobody moved.
Adrian whispered:
“Does he have a copy?”
May you like
Marcus looked directly at him.
“Yes.”
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