Chapter 3 - The Woman in the Locked Room
The police handcuffed Lily in the hospital corridor.
Victor did not stop them.
That hurt more than she expected.
She looked at him while the metal closed around her wrists.
“You said I could explain.”
Victor’s face remained unreadable.
“You still can.”
“From a jail cell?”
“The sedative bottle has your name on it.”
“It was planted.”
“By whom?”
Lily looked at Serena.
Serena’s eyes filled with perfect tears.
“You cannot blame me for everything.”
“You nearly killed him.”
Serena’s voice broke.
“I was trying to stop you.”
Lily lunged forward.
The officers pulled her back.
“You dragged him by the arm.”
“You kicked me.”
Serena flinched as if Lily’s words were violent.
Damon stepped between them.
“That’s enough.”
Victor watched Damon place a protective hand near Serena’s shoulder.
His gaze sharpened.
Lily saw it.
Something had changed.
But it was too late.
The officers escorted her into the elevator.
As the doors began to close, Victor spoke.
“Do not take her to the city station.”
The lead officer frowned.
“Mr. Blackwood?”
“Take her to the private interview room downstairs.”
“She is under arrest.”
“Not yet.”
Victor held up the prescription bottle.
“You have evidence that may be fabricated.”
The officer looked irritated.
Victor stepped closer.
“You can investigate carefully.”
“Or you can explain publicly why you arrested an injured witness before examining the evidence.”
The officer hesitated.
Then he nodded.
The elevator descended.
Lily sat alone in the private interview room for nearly an hour.
Her wrists remained cuffed.
Her stomach throbbed.
Her mind replayed Ethan’s weakening cries.
Then the door opened.
Victor entered without guards.
He locked the door behind him.
Lily looked away.
“You let them handcuff me.”
“I needed Serena to believe I doubted you.”
Lily turned back.
Victor placed the prescription bottle on the table.
“The label is fake.”
Lily stared at him.
“How do you know?”
“The pharmacy listed on it closed two years ago.”
Relief almost made her collapse.
“Then release me.”
“I cannot.”
Her hope vanished.
“Why?”
“Because Serena is not acting alone.”
Victor sat across from her.
“Damon knew about the bottle before the lab results came back.”
Lily remembered how quickly Damon had produced it.
“You noticed.”
“I notice everything eventually.”
“Eventually may be too late for Ethan.”
Victor absorbed the accusation without reacting.
“You are right.”
Lily had expected anger.
His agreement unsettled her more.
Victor leaned forward.
“What else have you seen?”
Lily hesitated.
“If I tell you, will you believe me?”
“I will verify it.”
“That is not the same thing.”
“No.”
“It is safer.”
Lily looked down at the cuffs.
“Serena has been hurting Ethan for months.”
Victor went completely still.
“At first, it was small.”
“She pinched him when he cried.”
“She left him in wet clothes.”
“She withheld food if he reached for me.”
“Why didn’t you leave with him?”
“Because every exit has guards.”
“Because Damon controlled my phone.”
“Because Serena told me you ordered everything.”
Victor’s expression darkened.
“She said you wanted Ethan disciplined.”
“She said his mother had made him weak.”
Victor’s eyes changed at the mention of Ethan’s mother.
Elena Blackwood had died eleven months earlier.
The official report said her car had gone through a guardrail during heavy rain.
Lily lowered her voice.
“Serena also went into the east wing.”
Victor looked up sharply.
“The east wing is locked.”
“She had a key.”
“What room?”
“The room at the end of the hall.”
Victor’s chair scraped against the floor.
“That room belonged to Elena.”
“I know.”
“What did Serena take?”
“I don’t know.”
“She caught me following her.”
“That was when the threats started.”
Victor stared at the table.
“Did Damon know?”
“Damon was with her once.”
Silence filled the room.
Victor rose.
“We are returning to the mansion.”
Lily looked at the cuffs.
“As a prisoner?”
“As bait.”
She stood too quickly and winced.
Victor’s face tightened.
“You need a doctor.”
“I need Ethan safe.”
“He is surrounded by my men.”
“Your men removed the nursery camera.”
Victor did not argue.
He unlocked her cuffs.
Then he handed her a small phone.
“One number is saved.”
“Call it if anyone separates us.”
“Whose number?”
“Mine.”
They returned through the hospital’s underground entrance.
Victor’s convoy reached Blackwood Mansion after midnight.
The mansion was silent.
Serena had been moved to a guest suite under guard.
Damon had supposedly gone to inspect security records.
Victor and Lily climbed the east staircase alone.
At the top, Victor removed a key from beneath his shirt.
It hung beside his wedding ring from Elena.
He unlocked the east wing.
Dust covered the corridor.
Portraits of the Blackwood family watched from the walls.
At the far end stood Elena’s bedroom.
The door was open.
Victor stopped.
“I locked this myself.”
Lily followed him inside.
Drawers had been emptied.
Photographs were scattered across the floor.
Elena’s jewelry box lay open on the bed.
Victor crossed the room.
Inside the box was a single piece of paper.
A photograph had been taped to it.
The photograph showed Serena standing beside Elena’s damaged car.
It had been taken one week before the crash.
Beneath it, Elena had written one sentence.
If anything happens to me, Serena knows why.
Lily covered her mouth.
Victor read the sentence twice.
Then a sound came from the adjoining dressing room.
A soft scrape.
Victor reached beneath his coat.
“Stay behind me.”
He opened the door.
A woman was sitting on the floor inside.
Her wrists were tied.
Her mouth was covered with tape.
Lily recognized her immediately.
It was Maria, Ethan’s former nanny.
The woman everyone had been told resigned six months ago.
Maria looked at Victor with terrified eyes.
Victor removed the tape.
She gasped for air.
“Serena killed Elena.”
May you like
Then she grabbed Victor’s sleeve.
“And tonight, she is going to kill your son.”
