Chapter 4 — The Camera Serena Forgot
Chapter 4 — The Camera Serena Forgot
The mansion had never felt so quiet.
Not even after midnight.
Not even after Victor's father died.
Not even during the years when men with guns stood outside the gates and every room seemed to contain a secret.
This silence was different.
It was the silence that came after a gunshot.
The kind that made every sound feel like a warning.
Lily stood in the hallway with her arms wrapped around herself.
The emergency lights cast a dull red glow across the marble walls.
Victor stood several feet away, staring at the message the attacker had left behind.
You should have left the past alone.
His phone was still in his hand.
The unknown caller had disappeared.
So had Serena.
And somewhere upstairs, fourteen-month-old Ethan was sleeping under the protection of two armed guards.
Lily looked at Victor.
“What do we do now?”
Victor didn't answer immediately.
He folded the piece of paper.
“First, we find Serena.”
“And then?”
“Then we find out who she's afraid of.”
Lily nodded.
But something was bothering her.
She looked toward the staircase.
“Victor.”
He turned.
“What?”
“There's something you should see.”
Ten minutes later, Lily led him to the old nursery.
The room had been designed before Ethan was born.
Soft blue walls.
White curtains.
A wooden rocking horse.
A bookshelf filled with children's stories.
Nothing appeared unusual.
Victor walked inside.
“What am I looking for?”
“I don't know.”
Lily pointed toward the ceiling.
“There's a camera there.”
Victor looked up.
A small black lens sat above the doorway.
He frowned.
“That camera isn't connected to the main security system.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I asked security about it once.”
“And?”
“They told me it wasn't operational.”
Victor walked closer.
“Why?”
“They said it had been disconnected before I started working here.”
Victor stared at it.
“Who told you?”
“Serena.”
Victor's expression changed.
“Exactly what did she say?”
“That it was old equipment.”
He pulled out his phone.
“Marcus.”
A guard appeared.
“Yes, boss?”
“Bring a technician.”
“Now?”
“Now.”
Marcus nodded.
Victor looked at Lily.
“Why did you remember this camera?”
She hesitated.
“Because Serena always avoided it.”
Victor turned toward her.
“What do you mean?”
“She never stood underneath it.”
“She knew it was there?”
“Yes.”
“How often?”
“Every time she came into this room.”
Victor stared at the lens.
For the first time that night, something close to hope appeared in his eyes.
“Maybe she wasn't avoiding a dead camera.”
Lily whispered:
“Maybe she was avoiding a camera she thought was watching her.”
Twenty minutes later, a technician arrived.
He examined the camera.
Then connected a small device to the wall panel.
The screen flickered.
Static.
Nothing.
The technician frowned.
“It's not connected to the main network.”
Victor's expression fell.
“Can you access it?”
“I'll try.”
The technician removed the panel beneath the camera.
A hidden cable ran behind the wall.
He followed it.
Then stopped.
“Mr. Blackwood.”
“What?”
“This isn't a camera.”
Victor stared.
The technician pointed at the cable.
“It's part of an independent recording system.”
Lily stepped closer.
“What does that mean?”
“It means whoever installed it didn't want the house security team to know.”
Victor's eyes hardened.
“Can you retrieve the recordings?”
The technician nodded.
“If the storage hasn't been destroyed.”
“Find it.”
The storage device was hidden inside an old electrical cabinet behind a painting.
It took another forty minutes to remove it.
When the technician finally placed the drive on the table, Lily felt her heartbeat accelerate.
Victor stared at the device.
“How much?”
The technician checked.
“Approximately eight months.”
Victor's eyes narrowed.
“Eight months?”
“Yes.”
“Play everything from yesterday.”
The technician connected it.
The screen came alive.
Time stamp:
11:42:16 AM
The nursery appeared.
Empty.
Then Ethan entered the room.
Lily watched herself carry him inside.
She put him on the floor with several toys.
Then she left.
The footage continued.
At 11:43, Serena entered.
Victor's jaw tightened.
Serena looked around.
She walked toward Ethan.
The baby's face brightened.
For one second, Serena smiled.
Then Ethan began crying.
Her smile vanished.
She picked him up.
Lily whispered:
“That's when it starts.”
Victor said nothing.
The recording continued.
Serena rocked Ethan.
He cried harder.
She shook him.
Not violently.
But enough.
Lily covered her mouth.
Victor's face became expressionless.
Then Serena said something.
The recording had sound.
Her voice was clear.
“I warned you.”
Ethan cried.
Serena continued.
“You're going to learn.”
Victor's hand tightened around the edge of the desk.
Lily stared at the screen.
Serena placed Ethan on the floor.
Then grabbed his arm.
The footage showed everything.
The pull.
The baby's scream.
Lily rushing into the room.
Serena pushing her.
The kick.
The threat.
Every detail.
Victor watched without blinking.
When the footage ended, nobody spoke.
The technician looked at him.
“Sir?”
Victor's voice was low.
“Save a copy.”
“Already did.”
“Make three more.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Send one to my attorney.”
The technician nodded.
“And another to the police.”
Victor looked at Lily.
“She's finished.”
Lily didn't answer.
She was staring at the frozen image of Serena holding Ethan's arm.
Then she noticed something.
“Wait.”
Victor turned.
“What?”
“Go back.”
The technician rewound.
Lily pointed at the screen.
“Right there.”
Serena had stepped toward a small cabinet.
She opened it.
Pulled out something.
Then looked toward the camera.
Lily's stomach tightened.
“What is she holding?”
The technician zoomed in.
A small envelope.
Victor's eyes narrowed.
“Pause.”
The image froze.
Serena was holding a white envelope.
On it was a name.
Ethan Blackwood.
Victor went completely still.
“Zoom in.”
The technician did.
There was another line beneath the name.
Trust Documents — Confidential.
Victor stared.
“What's in that cabinet?”
Lily shook her head.
“I don't know.”
Victor stood.
“Find it.”
They returned to the nursery.
Victor opened the cabinet.
Nothing.
Empty.
He checked every drawer.
Nothing.
Then Lily noticed the bottom panel.
“Victor.”
He crouched.
She pointed.
“There.”
A thin seam ran along the wood.
Victor pulled it.
A hidden compartment opened.
Inside was an empty envelope.
And beneath it—
a key.
Victor picked it up.
“What does this open?”
Lily looked at it.
“I've seen that before.”
“Where?”
“In Serena's room.”
Victor's expression hardened.
Serena's bedroom had already been searched.
But Victor now knew the search had been incomplete.
He entered alone.
Lily waited outside.
Five minutes passed.
Then ten.
Finally, Victor called her in.
He stood beside Serena's dressing table.
“Look.”
He opened a drawer.
Inside were several documents.
Bank statements.
Trust agreements.
Medical records.
And photographs.
Lily stared.
“Why does she have all of this?”
Victor picked up a photograph.
It showed Ethan's late mother.
His expression changed.
Lily noticed.
“Who is she?”
Victor didn't answer.
“Victor?”
He turned the photograph over.
There was writing on the back.
She must never know.
Lily felt a chill.
“Who wrote that?”
Victor looked at the handwriting.
“I know this handwriting.”
“Whose?”
“My father's.”
Silence.
Victor placed the photograph down.
Then he found something else.
A small black notebook.
He opened it.
Names.
Dates.
Payments.
Meetings.
One name appeared repeatedly.
Daniel Blackwood.
Victor's brother.
Lily looked at him.
“You have a brother?”
Victor closed the notebook.
“Had.”
“What happened?”
“He died twelve years ago.”
Lily stared.
“Then why is his name here?”
Victor didn't answer.
Because he didn't know.
Across town, Serena was sitting inside a private car.
Her hands were shaking.
The man beside her looked through the window.
“You're sure Victor doesn't have the recordings?”
Serena swallowed.
“I don't know.”
“You don't know?”
“There was a camera.”
“What camera?”
She hesitated.
“The nursery.”
The man's expression changed.
“You told me that camera was dead.”
“I thought it was.”
“You thought?”
Serena looked at him.
“I didn't know.”
He grabbed her wrist.
“You were supposed to know.”
She winced.
“Let go.”
“You've destroyed everything.”
“No.”
“You attacked the child.”
“I didn't mean to.”
“You were supposed to make Lily look responsible.”
“I tried.”
“You were supposed to control the trust.”
“I was close.”
“You were supposed to marry Victor.”
“I would have.”
He released her.
Serena rubbed her wrist.
Then whispered:
“There is something else.”
“What?”
“The camera may have recorded the nursery.”
The man stared at her.
For the first time, fear appeared in his eyes.
“If Victor gets those recordings…”
“He'll know.”
“He'll know everything.”
Serena looked away.
“Then we have to get them first.”
Back at the mansion, Victor stood in the security room.
The recordings were being copied.
Six months.
Eight months.
Every hallway.
Every room.
Every secret conversation.
Lily stood behind him.
“You're watching all of it?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I need to know how long this has been happening.”
The technician pulled up another file.
Victor clicked it.
The footage showed Serena entering the study.
She was speaking to someone.
The man was off-camera.
Lily leaned closer.
Serena said:
“Victor trusts me.”
The unseen man answered.
“Then use that.”
“What about Lily?”
“She knows too much.”
“She hasn't told him.”
“Yet.”
Serena's voice lowered.
“What do you want me to do?”
“Make her leave.”
“And if she doesn't?”
A pause.
“Then make sure she can't speak.”
Lily stopped breathing.
Victor's face became ice.
The recording continued.
Serena asked:
“And Ethan?”
The man's voice answered:
“He is the reason you are here.”
“What does that mean?”
“You'll know when the trust opens.”
The recording ended.
Victor stared at the screen.
Lily whispered:
“The trust.”
Victor nodded.
“That's what this is about.”
“What trust?”
He didn't answer.
He was already opening another file.
At 3:17 a.m., they found it.
A document dated eleven months earlier.
A private trust agreement.
Victor's eyes moved across the page.
Then stopped.
He read the same paragraph twice.
Lily watched him.
“What is it?”
Victor didn't speak.
“What does it say?”
He finally looked at her.
“Ethan inherits everything.”
Lily's eyes widened.
“What?”
“Not when he turns eighteen.”
Victor's voice was quiet.
“Now.”
She stared.
“Now?”
“The trust is already active.”
Victor pointed toward the document.
“And there's a condition.”
“What condition?”
“If anything happens to Ethan before he reaches legal adulthood…”
He stopped.
Lily's blood ran cold.
“What happens?”
Victor looked at the final line.
“The assets pass to the person named as temporary guardian.”
Lily whispered:
“Who?”
Victor's expression changed.
“Serena.”
Neither of them spoke.
The room seemed suddenly too small.
Lily looked at the security monitor.
Serena.
The bruises.
The medical records.
The threats.
The attack.
The mysterious man.
The trust.
Everything connected.
Victor stood.
“She wasn't trying to marry me because she loved me.”
Lily shook her head.
“She wanted Ethan.”
Victor stared at the screen.
“And if Ethan disappeared…”
“She would control the trust.”
Victor nodded.
“Exactly.”
Lily looked at him.
“Then why did she hurt him?”
Victor's face hardened.
“Because she didn't think anyone would stop her.”
The technician suddenly called from across the room.
“Mr. Blackwood.”
Victor turned.
“What?”
“We found another recording.”
“From when?”
“Six months ago.”
“Play it.”
The screen showed Serena sitting alone in the nursery.
She was holding an envelope.
Her voice was barely above a whisper.
“Soon.”
She looked toward Ethan's crib.
“Soon, everything will be mine.”
Then she smiled.
“But first…”
The video froze for a second.
Serena's eyes moved toward the doorway.
Someone had entered.
The image shifted.
Victor leaned closer.
The person standing behind Serena was an older man.
Lily couldn't see his face.
But Victor could.
His entire body went still.
“No.”
Lily looked at him.
“Who is it?”
Victor stared at the screen.
His voice was barely audible.
“My father.”
Lily's heart stopped.
“But you said he died.”
Victor didn't answer.
The recording continued.
The older man placed his hand on Serena's shoulder.
And Serena whispered:
“I did exactly what you asked.”
Victor stepped backward.
His face had gone pale.
Because his father had been dead for six years.
And yet there he was.
Standing beside Serena.
Planning Ethan's future.
Planning Victor's downfall.
May you like
And perhaps the most terrifying possibility of all—
Victor's father might never have been dead at all.
