Chapter 12 - THE REAL WILL
Victoria closed her eyes.
Ethan stood at the foot of the bed.
“Answer me.”
She whispered, “Claire changed the trust.”
“When?”
“Three weeks before she died.”
Ethan shook his head.
“My lawyers never found another document.”
“Because Renee took it.”
Sarah stared.
“How would Renee have access to Claire’s legal papers?”
Victoria looked at Ethan.
“She used to clean Claire’s father’s office before she worked for the agency.”
Ethan’s expression hardened.
Victoria continued.
“She found a copy. Claire had added a condition.”
“What condition?”
“If Leo died before adulthood under suspicious circumstances, control of the trust wouldn’t return to you.”
Ethan’s face went blank.
“Where would it go?”
“To the Claire Carter Children’s Foundation.”
Sarah understood.
“So if Renee thought hurting Leo would make her rich…”
Victoria shook her head.
“No. The opposite.”
Everyone stared.
Victoria took a shaky breath.
“Renee wasn’t trying to kill Leo for the trust.”
“Then why give him a larger dose?” Sarah asked.
“Because she found out I was going to confess.”
Ethan’s jaw clenched.
“Confess what?”
Victoria looked at him.
“Everything.”
Sarah almost laughed.
“When? After marrying Ethan?”
Victoria ignored her.
“I got scared. The steam incident wasn’t supposed to happen. I lost control. Then Sarah walked in.”
“You nearly burned his airway,” Ethan said.
“I know.”
“You drugged him.”
“I know.”
“You framed Sarah.”
“I know!”
Victoria’s monitor beeped faster.
A nurse looked through the glass.
Victoria lowered her voice.
“Renee told me we had to finish it.”
Sarah frowned.
“Finish what?”
“Destroy Sarah’s reputation. Get her arrested. Make Ethan believe she had been drugging Leo for weeks.”
Ethan stepped forward.
“And when you refused?”
“Renee said she had copies of everything.”
Victoria’s voice cracked.
“She said if I confessed, she’d prove I planned to hurt Leo.”
“You did plan to hurt him,” Sarah said.
Victoria looked at her.
“I planned to make him sleepy. I planned to scare you. I planned to make Ethan depend on me.”
Sarah stared at her in disbelief.
“You hear yourself, right?”
Victoria cried harder.
“Yes.”
Ethan looked away.
Sarah could see the moment whatever remained of his love for Victoria died.
Detective Brooks entered.
“We found Renee’s car.”
“Where?” Sarah asked.
“Near the train station.”
“Did she take a train?”
“No.”
Brooks looked at Ethan.
“We think she switched vehicles.”
“To what?”
“A gray SUV.”
Sarah’s stomach tightened.
“Daniel drives a gray SUV.”
Everyone went silent.
Ethan immediately called him.
No answer.
Again.
No answer.
Detective Brooks spoke into her radio.
“Get units to Daniel Mercer’s address.”
Sarah shook her head.
“No.”
Brooks looked at her.
“What?”
“Daniel helped me.”
“Maybe.”
“He sent the footage.”
“Maybe because he wanted us looking at Victoria.”
Sarah remembered the security outage.
Daniel had told her only he and Ethan could disable the cameras.
Unless Victoria knew the code.
What if that had been another lie?
Sarah whispered, “He controls every camera in the house.”
Ethan’s face changed.
“The fire alarm too.”
Brooks turned.
“What?”
“Our smart-home system. Daniel maintains it.”
Sarah’s heart pounded.
Ethan continued.
“Doors. Cameras. Alarm sensors. Nursery temperature.”
Detective Brooks grabbed her radio.
“Send a unit to the Carter residence now.”
Ethan frowned.
“Why?”
Brooks looked at him.
“Because if Daniel is involved, he may still have remote access to your house.”
Sarah felt the room tilt.
Leo was still there.
With a police officer and nurse.
Safe.
Or so they thought.
Ethan’s phone lit up.
A notification from the nursery camera.
MOTION DETECTED.
He opened it.
The screen showed Leo asleep in his crib.
A figure entered the room.
Gray jacket.
Baseball cap.
May you like
Sarah whispered, “Daniel.”
Then the camera went black.
