Chapter 2 - The Things Children Do Not Say

That evening, Chadworth canceled every meeting after six.

Sabina noticed immediately.

“You’re not taking the Zurich call?”

“No.”

“You never miss Zurich.”

“I miss too much here.”

She laughed lightly.

“What does that mean?”

“It means I’m having dinner with my daughters.”

“Of course.”

Her smile held.

Barely.

At the table, Gemma sat beside Chadworth.

Lorelai sat across from him.

Sabina occupied her usual place at his right.

Rosamund remained near the kitchen doors.

Chadworth looked toward her.

“Sit.”

Rosamund blinked.

“Sir?”

“Have dinner with us.”

Sabina’s fork stopped.

“Chadworth.”

“What?”

“The staff don’t eat at the table.”

“Tonight she does.”

Rosamund hesitated.

“I’m fine in the kitchen.”

“No.”

Sabina set down her glass.

“Why are you making this strange?”

“I’m not.”

“You are.”

Chadworth smiled.

“It’s dinner.”

Rosamund slowly took the empty chair beside Lorelai.

Gemma looked delighted.

Sabina did not.

Chadworth asked Lorelai, “How was school?”

“Fine.”

“What happened in science?”

“We did planets.”

“Which one did you like?”

“Saturn.”

“Why?”

“It has rings.”

Gemma leaned forward.

“Lorelai says the rings are broken moons.”

“They can include pieces of ice and rock,” Lorelai corrected.

Chadworth smiled.

“I didn’t know that.”

Sabina said, “You would if you were home more.”

The words were soft.

Precise.

Designed to cut.

Chadworth looked at her.

“You’re right.”

Sabina seemed surprised.

He turned back to Lorelai.

“What else don’t I know?”

Lorelai’s face closed.

“Nothing.”

Chadworth’s chest tightened.

He kept his voice casual.

“What about you, Gem?”

Gemma pushed peas around her plate.

“Nothing.”

Sabina smiled.

“See? Children are simple.”

Rosamund looked at her.

“Children are many things.”

Sabina turned.

“Excuse me?”

Rosamund lowered her eyes.

“Nothing.”

After dinner, Chadworth took the girls to the library.

Sabina followed.

“I thought we could watch a movie.”

“With the girls?”

“Yes.”

“How nice.”

Lorelai looked at Gemma.

Chadworth saw the look.

Sabina saw him see it.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“You keep saying that.”

“So do they.”

Sabina’s smile thinned.

“Chadworth, what exactly happened at the airport?”

“Mechanical failure.”

“You were gone less than an hour.”

“Yes.”

“That’s unusually fast.”

“Marcus called ahead.”

“Of course he did.”

Her gaze flicked toward him.

“Did you come in through the front entrance?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“No reason.”

But there was.

Chadworth could feel it.

The next morning, he met Marcus in the security office.

Marcus locked the door.

“I checked the camera logs.”

“And?”

“Someone accessed the system six times in the last two months.”

“Who?”

“Credentials say me.”

Chadworth stared.

“Were you here?”

“No.”

“Could someone copy your login?”

“With physical access to my token.”

“Who has that?”

“Only me.”

“Then how?”

Marcus leaned back.

“Except one night three months ago, when Sabina hosted that charity dinner.”

Chadworth remembered.

“You left early.”

“My daughter had a fever.”

“And your jacket?”

“In the staff office.”

“Token?”

“In the inside pocket.”

Chadworth swore.

Marcus nodded.

“Exactly.”

“What did they access?”

“Camera settings.”

“Which cameras?”

“Hallway outside Sabina’s rooms. Playroom. Living room.”

“Deleted footage?”

“Not exactly.”

“What does that mean?”

“Some segments were overwritten early.”

“Can you recover them?”

“Maybe from mirrored backups.”

“Do it.”

Marcus opened another file.

“There’s more.”

“What?”

“The bracelet.”

Chadworth sat forward.

“Sabina’s diamond bracelet?”

“She reported it missing three weeks ago.”

“I know.”

“She told you Rosamund was the last person in her dressing room.”

“Yes.”

“Rosamund says she never entered alone.”

“I heard that yesterday.”

Marcus rotated the laptop.

“I checked service logs. Rosamund wasn’t assigned upstairs that day.”

“Who was?”

“No one. Sabina dismissed the floor staff for a private fitting.”

Chadworth stared at the schedule.

“So nobody can prove anything.”

“Except this.”

Marcus opened a driveway camera clip.

Sabina was walking toward a black sedan.

The bracelet flashed on her wrist.

Timestamp: 3:42 p.m.

“When did she say she discovered it missing?”

“Two twenty.”

Chadworth stared at the image.

“She was wearing it more than an hour later.”

“Yes.”

“So the theft was staged.”

“Looks that way.”

“Why accuse Rosamund?”

Marcus looked at him.

“You tell me.”

Chadworth stood.

“I want every accusation Sabina has made documented.”

“Already started.”

“And the girls?”

Marcus paused.

“What about them?”

“I need to know what happened.”

“You can ask.”

“They won’t tell me.”

“Then don’t ask like an interrogator.”

“I don’t know how.”

Marcus’s expression softened.

“Start by admitting you failed them.”

That afternoon, Chadworth found Lorelai in the greenhouse.

She sat beneath the lemon trees with a sketchbook.

He remained by the door.

“Can I come in?”

She looked surprised.

“It’s your greenhouse.”

“That wasn’t my question.”

She nodded.

He sat on the opposite bench.

“What are you drawing?”

“A house.”

He looked.

It was their mansion.

Except one window was black.

“What room is that?”

She closed the sketchbook.

“Nothing.”

Chadworth exhaled.

“Lorelai.”

Her shoulders rose.

“I’m not mad.”

“You always say that before you get mad.”

The words landed hard.

“When did I do that?”

“When I told you Sabina was mean.”

Chadworth swallowed.

“You told me?”

“Twice.”

“I remember you saying she was strict.”

“I said she scares Gemma.”

“I thought—”

“I know.”

“What did I think?”

“That we didn’t like rules.”

Lorelai looked away.

“That’s what Sabina said you’d think.”

Chadworth felt shame heat his face.

“I’m sorry.”

Lorelai did not answer.

“I should have listened.”

Still nothing.

“I believed an adult because she sounded reasonable.”

Lorelai finally looked at him.

“Rosamund believes us.”

“I know.”

“She always does.”

“I know.”

“Sabina says Rosamund wants your money.”

Chadworth almost laughed from disbelief.

“Rosamund has never asked me for anything.”

“She says that’s how people trick you.”

“Who says that?”

“Sabina.”

“Does Sabina say things like that often?”

Lorelai nodded.

“What else?”

“I don’t want to.”

“Okay.”

“You’re not going to make me?”

“No.”

Lorelai studied him.

“Why?”

“Because I’m trying to learn not to make everything worse.”

That nearly produced a smile.

He waited.

After a long silence, Lorelai opened the sketchbook again.

“The black window is Sabina’s room.”

“Why black?”

“She keeps a box there.”

“What box?”

“I don’t know.”

“How do you know?”

“Gemma went in once.”

Chadworth’s pulse changed.

“What happened?”

“Sabina yelled.”

“At Gemma?”

“She grabbed her arm.”

Chadworth’s voice went quiet.

“How hard?”

“Hard enough to leave fingers.”

He closed his eyes.

“Did I see?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Sabina put a sweater on her.”

Chadworth stood halfway, then forced himself back down.

“What was in the box?”

“I don’t know.”

“Did Gemma?”

“She said papers.”

“What kind?”

“She can’t read big words.”

“Anything else?”

Lorelai hesitated.

“A picture.”

“Of what?”

“You.”

“With Sabina?”

“No.”

“With who?”

“A lawyer.”

Chadworth frowned.

“Which lawyer?”

“I don’t know.”

“Could you recognize him?”

“Maybe.”

The greenhouse door opened.

Rosamund entered, then stopped.

“I’m sorry.”

Chadworth stood.

“No. Stay.”

Lorelai looked relieved.

Rosamund sat beside her.

Chadworth said, “She told me about Gemma’s arm.”

Rosamund closed her eyes briefly.

“I took a photograph.”

Chadworth stared.

“You what?”

“I photographed the bruise.”

“When?”

“Six weeks ago.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I tried.”

“When?”

“I requested a private meeting.”

“I was in Singapore.”

“I emailed.”

“My assistant—”

“Forwarded me to Sabina.”

Chadworth’s stomach turned.

Rosamund continued.

“I told Sabina I had documented the bruise. She said Gemma fell.”

“Did she?”

“No.”

“How do you know?”

“Gemma told me.”

“Where is the photograph?”

Rosamund looked toward Lorelai.

“Not here.”

“Where?”

“I made a file.”

Chadworth’s voice sharpened.

“A file of what?”

“Things I was afraid you would refuse to believe without proof.”

Silence.

Lorelai whispered, “I told you.”

Chadworth looked at Rosamund.

“How long?”

“Four months.”

“Four months?”

“She changed slowly.”

“What does that mean?”

“At first, she corrected the girls. Then she isolated them. Then she began telling them what they were allowed to say to you.”

Chadworth felt sick.

“Why didn’t you go to Marcus?”

“I did.”

Marcus’s name startled him.

“When?”

“Two months ago.”

“And?”

“He told me he needed evidence.”

Chadworth’s anger rose.

Rosamund saw it.

“Don’t blame him.”

“Why not?”

“Because I sounded like an employee accusing the future wife of a billionaire. He was careful.”

“Where is this file?”

Rosamund stood.

“In my room.”

“Get it.”

She did not move.

“Rosamund.”

“There’s something else.”

“What?”

“Sabina knows I have it.”

“How?”

“I told her after she threatened to fire me.”

Chadworth’s face changed.

“What did she say?”

“That after the wedding, the girls would have a new mother and wouldn’t need me.”

“That’s not the threat.”

“No.”

“What was?”

Rosamund’s voice dropped.

“She said if I kept interfering, she would make sure no respectable household hired me again.”

Chadworth stared.

“And?”

“She said she could make theft charges stick.”

The bracelet.

Chadworth understood.

Rosamund did too.

“She staged it.”

“Yes.”

Rosamund sat slowly.

“I knew it.”

“You knew?”

“I suspected.”

“Why stay?”

Rosamund looked at Lorelai.

Then toward the door where Gemma’s laughter drifted faintly from the hall.

“Because leaving would have made her plan easier.”

That answer destroyed the last piece of doubt in him.

“Show me the file.”

Rosamund rose.

This time she nodded.

They went upstairs together.

Her room was small, neat, and painfully ordinary.

She opened the bottom drawer of a dresser.

Empty.

Rosamund froze.

“No.”

She pulled the drawer out completely.

Nothing.

“It was here.”

Chadworth looked at her.

“Who knew?”

“No one.”

“You said Sabina knew you had it.”

“Not where.”

Lorelai appeared in the doorway.

“Rosamund?”

Rosamund turned.

“What?”

Lorelai’s face had gone pale.

“The black box.”

Chadworth looked at her.

“What about it?”

“I saw Sabina carrying something from here yesterday.”

Rosamund stared.

“What?”

“A blue folder.”

Rosamund’s face drained of color.

“My file was blue.”

Chadworth felt the investigation change shape.

Sabina had not only lied.

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She had been searching.

And whatever was inside that black box was important enough for her to steal evidence from inside the same house she was trying to control.