Chapter 2 - THE RULE NO ONE EXPLAINED
Mara’s first official night at Crossmoor ended with a list of seventeen rules.
Ruth handed it to her.
“No wandering after midnight.”
Mara looked up.
“Why?”
“Because Damon likes privacy.”
Rule nine said the basement storage hall was off-limits.
Rule eleven said never answer the private landline in Damon’s study.
Rule fifteen said the boys were never to leave the east wing after bedtime.
Mara folded the paper.
“This is a house or a prison?”
Ruth sighed.
“Depends who you ask.”
The boys’ names were Jonah, Eli, Noah, and Micah.
Identical faces.
Completely different personalities.
Jonah challenged everything.
Eli copied Jonah.
Noah turned every object into a weapon.
Micah listened.
Mara quickly realized Micah was the leader.
He rarely gave orders.
He did not need to.
At bedtime, Jonah refused pajamas.
Noah locked himself in the bathroom.
Eli hid Mara’s phone.
Micah sat on his bed reading.
Mara entered his room.
“Where’s my phone?”
Micah did not look up.
“Why would I know?”
“Because Jonah lies too fast, Eli lies too badly, and Noah starts laughing before he lies.”
Micah turned a page.
“So?”
“You’re the only competent criminal here.”
He almost smiled.
Mara leaned against the door.
“You said the last nanny saw something.”
Micah’s face changed.
“She went downstairs.”
“What did she see?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then how do you know that’s why she left?”
“Because she stopped yelling at us afterward.”
Mara waited.
Micah closed his book.
“She got scared.”
Later that night, Mara called Lily.
“Mommy?”
The sound of her daughter’s voice almost broke her.
“Hey, baby.”
“Are you coming home?”
“Tomorrow morning.”
“Grandma says Daddy might take me.”
Mara closed her eyes.
“He’s not taking you.”
“Promise?”
Mara hated promises she could not guarantee.
But she said it anyway.
“Promise.”
When the call ended, Damon stood in the hallway.
Mara stiffened.
“How long were you there?”
“Long enough.”
“That was private.”
“So is my house.”
Mara’s exhaustion turned to anger.
“Then stop listening at doors.”
Damon stepped closer.
Nobody spoke to him that way.
Mara could tell.
“You need this job badly.”
“Yes.”
“That usually makes people more careful.”
“It usually makes people fake.”
Something shifted in his face.
“Your daughter?”
“Seven.”
“Her father?”
“A mistake I’m still paying legal fees to correct.”
Damon almost smiled.
Almost.
Then a security alarm beeped from downstairs.
His expression hardened instantly.
He walked away.
Mara watched him disappear.
At 1:13 a.m., she woke to footsteps.
Small footsteps.
She opened her door.
Micah was standing in the hallway.
Barefoot.
“Micah?”
He put a finger to his lips.
Then pointed downstairs.
A narrow door beside the library stood open.
The basement door.
Mara whispered, “Go back to bed.”
Micah shook his head.
“Someone’s down there.”
A light moved beneath the door.
Then came a voice.
Male.
Low.
Angry.
“You should’ve destroyed the file when you had the chance.”
Mara stopped breathing.
Another voice answered.
Damon’s.
“I told you never to come here again.”
May you like
Then a third voice said something that made Mara’s stomach turn.
“If the nanny saw the ledger, she knows enough to bury you.”
