Chapter 2: The Footage Nobody Was Supposed to See
Vanessa struck Grace's wrist so hard that the phone nearly flew out of her hand.
“Give me that!””
Grace stumbled backward.
“Mrs. Reed!””
“Give it to me!””
Vanessa grabbed for the phone again, her face twisted with panic. The soft, helpless woman who had been screaming on the marble floor seconds earlier had disappeared.
Grace clutched the device against her chest.
“Why are you afraid of a recording if you haven't done anything wrong?””
Vanessa stared at her.
Then she slapped her.
The sound cracked through the foyer.
Grace's head snapped sideways. For several seconds, she remained motionless, one hand pressed to her cheek.
Vanessa's breathing was ragged.
“You're a housekeeper,” she hissed.
“You clean floors. You wash dishes. You don't interfere in my marriage.””
Grace slowly turned back.
“And you don't get to hit me because I saw the truth.””
Vanessa's eyes widened.
“Do you have any idea who you're talking to?””
“Yes,” Grace replied.
“I've worked in this house for three years. I've watched you smile at Mr. Robert at breakfast and complain about him the moment he leaves the room. I've heard you tell your friends that he's old, confused, and standing between you and the life you deserve.””
Vanessa took a step forward.
“You've been listening to my private conversations?””
“No. I've been working while you've been talking loudly enough for the entire house to hear.””
Vanessa's gaze darted toward the front doors.
Marcus was still outside.
If he returned before she could destroy the footage, she needed a story. Something believable. Something that would make Grace appear unstable.
She lowered her voice and forced a trembling smile.
“Grace, darling, you've misunderstood what you heard. I was frightened. I was upset. Pregnancy hormones can make a woman say things she doesn't mean.””
Grace looked at the phone.
“Then you won't mind if I show your husband.””
Vanessa's smile vanished.
“You will not show him anything.””
“Why?””
“Because he's my husband.””
“And Mr. Robert is his father.””
For a moment, neither woman spoke.
Then Vanessa's expression changed.
It wasn't anger anymore.
It was calculation.
“Listen carefully,” she said.
“You have worked here for three years. Your husband is recovering from surgery, your daughter is starting college next fall, and your rent has increased twice this year.””
Grace stiffened.
Vanessa knew exactly where to strike.
“You need this job. You need the health insurance. You need the money. And I can make sure you lose all of it before dinner.””
Grace's lips parted.
“Leave my family out of this.””
“Then leave mine alone.””
Vanessa extended her hand.
“Give me the phone, and I'll forget this conversation ever happened.””
Grace looked down at the device.
For three years, she had kept the Reed household running. She had prepared Robert's meals when he couldn't stand long enough to cook, organized his medications after his stroke, and sat beside him during the lonely evenings when Marcus stayed late at the office.
Robert had never treated her like an invisible person.
On her first Christmas working at the mansion, he had given her a handwritten card and a bonus equal to two months' salary.
Inside the card, he had written, A home is only as good as the kindness inside it. Thank you for bringing yours here.
Grace had kept that card in her bedroom drawer.
Now she looked at Vanessa and shook her head.
“No.””
Vanessa's nostrils flared.
“What did you say?””
“I said no.””
Before Vanessa could respond, the front doors opened.
Marcus returned alone.
His right hand was swollen. A streak of blood marked the cuff of his shirt, and his expression remained rigid with fury.
“What's going on?””
Vanessa instantly crumpled.
“Marcus!””
She rushed toward him, then stopped halfway and pressed a hand to her belly.
“Your father must have told someone to come after me. Grace is threatening me with a video.””
Marcus's attention snapped to the housekeeper.
“Is that true?””
Grace lifted her phone.
“Yes, sir. But not the way she says.””
Vanessa grabbed Marcus's arm.
“She attacked me! She slapped me, Marcus!””
Grace stared at her in disbelief.
“You slapped me!””
“Stop it!”” Marcus shouted.
Both women fell silent.
He turned to Grace.
“Give me the phone.””
Grace hesitated.
“Sir, please watch it before you decide what happened.””
“I said give it to me.””
She handed it over.
Vanessa moved beside him, pressing her shoulder against his arm.
“Marcus, I know you're upset. I know you love your father, but you saw what he did. I was standing right there, and he—”
“Let me watch.””
He tapped the screen.
The video opened with a wide view of the foyer.
The marble floor gleamed beneath the chandelier. Robert stood beside the staircase, leaning slightly on his cane. Vanessa faced him with her hands folded over her pregnant belly.
There was no sound for the first few seconds.
Then Robert's voice emerged.
“Vanessa, I've been meaning to speak with you about the trust.””
Vanessa in the video glanced toward the camera.
“Which trust?””
“The one your lawyer asked me to change.””
Marcus's brows drew together.
He glanced at his wife.
She stared at the screen without blinking.
Robert continued, “I won't be transferring control of the estate before the baby is born. I want everything reviewed properly.””
Vanessa's voice became sharper.
“You promised Marcus that the family would take care of us.””
“I have taken care of you. You live in this house. You have everything you need.””
“Everything I need?”” Vanessa laughed bitterly.
“I have to ask permission to spend money that belongs to my own child.””
“Your child will be provided for. But I won't sign documents I don't understand, especially when my lawyer tells me they could give someone else control of the company.””
Marcus stopped the video.
He looked at Vanessa.
“What documents?””
She swallowed.
“He's twisting things. Your father has been confused lately. You know that.””
“Play the rest,” Grace said quietly.
Marcus restarted the recording.
On-screen, Vanessa stepped closer to Robert.
“You're going to regret this,” she said.
Robert sighed.
“Please don't turn this into an argument.””
“I'm not the one making it an argument.””
“Vanessa, I think you should sit down. You look upset.””
Robert reached toward her arm.
His fingers never made contact.
Vanessa suddenly glanced at the camera again.
Then she stepped backward.
One step.
Two.
Three.
She threw her weight onto her heels and deliberately launched herself away from him.
Her body struck the marble floor.
Her hands flew to her belly.
And she screamed.
“HE PUSHED ME!””
The video continued.
Robert stood motionless, his cane lying on the floor.
He looked around in confusion, then dropped to his knees beside her.
“I didn't touch you! Vanessa, please!””
The footage showed Marcus rushing down the staircase.
It showed him grabbing Robert by the collar.
It showed the first punch.
The second.
Robert pleading.
Marcus dragging his father toward the doors.
And Vanessa, seated on the settee, watching the entire scene unfold.
Just before she began crying again, she smiled.
A small, satisfied smile.
But it was enough.
Marcus stopped the video.
The phone trembled in his hand.
“No,” he whispered.
Vanessa reached for him.
“Marcus, please. You don't understand what you're seeing.””
He turned toward her slowly.
“What am I seeing, Vanessa?””
“An edited video.””
“Edited?””
“Yes! Someone cut it together to make me look bad. Your father has been trying to turn you against me for months!””
Marcus stared at the phone.
“The footage shows you throwing yourself onto the floor.””
“He frightened me!””
“He didn't even touch you!””
“He was threatening to take away our baby's inheritance!””
“So you faked an assault?””
Vanessa recoiled.
“I was protecting my child!””
“By making me beat my father?””
Her mouth opened, but no words came out.
Marcus looked at Grace.
“Is this the original recording?””
“Yes, sir. I accessed the security system. The timestamp and camera identification are still attached.””
“Can you send it to me?””
“Already done.””
Vanessa lunged toward Grace again.
“You had no right!””
Marcus stepped between them.
“Don't touch her.””
Vanessa stared at him.
The words were familiar. He had said them earlier when he thought Robert had hurt her.
Now he was saying them to protect the woman she had just threatened.
She lowered her voice.
“Marcus, I'm your wife. We're having a child. You're going to destroy our family over a misunderstanding?””
He looked at her swollen belly.
Then he looked at the screen again.
“I punched my father because of you.””
His voice broke on the final word.
Vanessa reached for his hand.
“Baby, I was scared. I didn't know you would react like that.””
“You screamed that he hurt our baby.””
“I was emotional.””
“You watched me hit him.””
“I tried to stop you!””
Marcus stared at her.
The video had captured every second.
She hadn't tried to stop him.
She had watched.
Then she had demanded that Robert be thrown out.
Marcus backed away.
Vanessa's face hardened for an instant before she forced tears into her eyes again.
“Fine,” she whispered.
“Believe your father. Believe the housekeeper. Believe everyone except the woman carrying your child.””
She turned and hurried up the staircase.
Halfway up, she stopped.
She gripped the banister and looked down at Marcus.
“You're going to regret humiliating me.””
Then she disappeared into the second-floor hallway.
Marcus stood motionless.
Grace retrieved her dish towel from the floor.
“Sir,” she said softly, “Mr. Robert didn't deserve what happened today.””
Marcus closed his eyes.
“No. He didn't.””
For the first time since the video began, he looked genuinely afraid.
Not of Vanessa.
Of what he had done.
He pulled out his phone and called his father.
The call went straight to voicemail.
“Dad,” Marcus said, his voice shaking, “please answer. Please. I need to talk to you.””
He hung up and called again.
Nothing.
Then his phone vibrated.
A message appeared from an unknown number.
It contained a photograph of Robert sitting alone on a wooden bench outside the mansion's iron gates, blood dried on his lip, his cane resting beside him.
Beneath the photograph was one sentence.
*You should have asked why your father was afraid to sign the papers.*
Marcus stared at the message.
May you like
Then another arrived.
*Your wife isn't just after the inheritance. Ask her what happened to your mother's original will.*
