Chapter 1 - THE SECOND GRANT WALKED THROUGH THE DOOR
Grant Mercer opened his front door and heard his twelve-month-old son screaming.
Not ordinary crying.
Fear.
Tessa was half-collapsed against the sofa, one hand pressed to the side of her head while she kept her body between Noah and Vivienne.
A flower vase lay on the carpet.
Vivienne stood beside it in her wine-red dress, breathing hard.
For one second, nobody moved.
Then Noah reached toward Grant.
“Da—”
Grant crossed the room.
He lifted Noah first.
Always Noah first.
His son clung to his shirt, sobbing.
Grant looked over Noah’s head at Tessa.
“What happened?”
Vivienne answered.
“She attacked me.”
Tessa stared at her.
“You kicked his son.”
Grant’s head turned slowly.
Vivienne’s expression changed.
“That is not what happened.”
“You kicked Noah across the floor.”
“I moved him away with my foot.”
“He’s a baby.”
Vivienne pointed at her cheek.
“And she hit me.”
Grant saw the red mark.
Then he saw Tessa struggling to stay upright.
“What happened to her?”
Vivienne said nothing.
Tessa looked toward the vase.
Grant’s jaw tightened.
“Noah first,” Tessa whispered. “Make sure he’s okay.”
That sentence decided what happened next.
Grant called Noah’s pediatrician, then emergency medical services for Tessa.
He did not scream at Vivienne.
He did not touch her.
He simply opened the front door.
“Leave.”
Her eyes widened.
“Grant.”
“Now.”
“You haven’t even heard my side.”
“My son is terrified.”
“He’s fine.”
Grant looked at her.
The coldness in his face finally made her stop.
Vivienne collected her purse.
As she passed him, she whispered:
“You’re going to regret choosing an employee over family.”
Grant almost answered.
Then Noah whimpered against his chest.
He let Vivienne leave.
At the hospital, Noah was examined and found to have no serious injury.
Tessa had a concussion and a small scalp wound that required treatment.
Grant sat beside Noah’s crib in the pediatric observation room until after midnight.
Tessa was discharged several hours later.
Before she left, she said:
“Check your security camera.”
Grant looked at her.
“The one facing the living room.”
He went home before dawn.
The camera was exactly where it had always been.
But when he opened the control panel, there was no footage from that afternoon.
In fact, there was no footage from the previous three days.
The camera had been manually disconnected.
Grant stared at the screen.
Only four adults knew the security-system code.
Grant.
Tessa.
His house manager.
And Vivienne.
Then he noticed something else.
Inside the console drawer beneath the camera was an envelope he had never seen.
It was addressed to him.
May you like
Stamped PRIVATE — MERCER FAMILY TRUST.
The seal had already been broken.
