Chapter 9 - THE NANNY WHO NEVER LEFT
Lauren Pierce had disappeared eighteen months earlier.
Everyone assumed she had fled Illinois.
She hadn't.
She had been living inside Dominic's mansion.
They found her hiding in the servant tunnel beneath the old kitchen.
Marcus approached first.
Lauren held a broken piece of glass against her wrist.
“Stay back.”
Dominic stopped everyone.
“Lauren.”
She stared at him.
“You knew.”
Dominic frowned.
“Knew what?”
“What Mercer did.”
“No.”
“You signed the forms.”
“What forms?”
Lauren laughed bitterly.
“The treatment authorization.”
Dominic looked at Marcus.
“I never signed anything.”
Lauren's expression changed.
“You didn't?”
“No.”
She slowly lowered the glass.
Clara crouched several feet away.
“Lauren.”
The woman looked at her.
“Noah trusts you.”
Lauren's eyes filled with tears.
“Is he alive?”
“Yes.”
“Is he okay?”
Clara hesitated.
“He's getting there.”
Lauren covered her mouth.
“I tried.”
“I swear I tried.”
Dominic stepped closer.
“Tell me.”
Lauren began shaking.
“Mercer wasn't treating Noah.”
“He was conditioning him.”
Clara felt sick.
“How?”
“Sounds.”
“Lights.”
“Isolation.”
“Sedatives.”
“He wanted Noah to associate certain people with fear.”
Dominic understood.
“My face.”
Lauren nodded.
“He showed Noah photographs of you while frightening him.”
Dominic closed his eyes.
Clara remembered Noah saying Daddy car.
They had deliberately made a traumatized child fear his own father.
“Why?”
“To separate you.”
Lauren wiped her face.
“Elena was the only person Noah trusted completely.”
“After she died, Vincent wanted him emotionally isolated.”
“Easier to control.”
Dominic's fists tightened.
“Why did you disappear?”
“I found Mercer injecting Noah.”
“I threatened to tell you.”
“Two men grabbed me before I reached the front gate.”
“Vincent?”
“I never saw him.”
“They took me to the north room.”
Clara stared.
“You've been trapped here eighteen months?”
“Not exactly.”
Lauren explained.
One of the old groundskeepers, Walter, had found her.
He hid her inside the tunnels.
He brought food.
Then Walter disappeared six months ago.
Lauren believed he had been killed.
She had survived by stealing food at night.
Dominic looked devastated.
“This happened inside my home.”
Lauren stared at him.
“You weren't looking.”
The words hurt.
Clara could see it.
Dominic nodded.
“No.”
“I wasn't.”
Lauren reached into her shirt.
She removed a small notebook.
“I wrote down everything.”
Names.
Dates.
License plates.
Times.
Mercer.
Eric.
Vincent.
Several Vale employees.
Then Clara saw another name.
Mrs. Hargrove.
Dominic did too.
Lauren noticed.
“She helped Mercer.”
Everyone turned toward the house manager.
Mrs. Hargrove shook her head.
“No.”
Lauren stood.
“I saw you.”
“You brought Noah to the room.”
Mrs. Hargrove's face went white.
Dominic stared.
“Is that true?”
She said nothing.
“Hargrove.”
Tears filled her eyes.
“Yes.”
Dominic looked as if she had struck him.
“Why?”
“Mercer told me it was therapy.”
“Even after he strapped Noah down?”
“I never saw the straps used.”
Lauren shouted.
“LIAR!”
Mrs. Hargrove flinched.
“You stood outside while he screamed!”
“I thought—”
“You didn't want to know!”
The room erupted.
Dominic raised his voice.
“ENOUGH!”
Silence.
He looked at Hargrove.
“You're done.”
Her face collapsed.
“Dominic.”
“Get out of my house.”
She looked toward Noah.
“I love that boy.”
Dominic stepped closer.
“Then you should have protected him.”
Mrs. Hargrove began crying.
Dominic didn't change his mind.
Marcus escorted her toward the front door.
Then Noah ran into the room.
“Hargrove!”
Everyone stopped.
It was the first time he had spoken her name.
Mrs. Hargrove turned.
Noah ran toward her.
But instead of hugging her, he grabbed the pearl brooch from Marcus's evidence bag.
He pointed at it.
“Listen.”
Dominic frowned.
“What?”
Noah pressed the pearl.
A tiny speaker crackled.
Then a voice came through.
A man's voice.
“Margaret.”
Mrs. Hargrove went pale.
The pearl wasn't merely recording.
It was transmitting.
Vincent had been listening the entire time.
His voice continued.
“You disappoint me.”
Mrs. Hargrove whispered.
“Run.”
Dominic stared at her.
“What?”
She looked toward the windows.
May you like
“EVERYBODY RUN!”
The explosion hit the east side of the mansion.
