The Camera Above the Piano
Chapter 01 - The Camera Above the Piano
Sunlight poured through the twenty-foot windows of Blackwood Manor, turning the white marble floor into a sheet of glass. Eight-year-old Lily sat at the grand piano in a cream-colored dress, her small hands frozen above the keys. She had played the same song every morning since her father, Adrian Blackwood, promised that perfection was the only way to earn a place in the family.
That morning, however, Lily struck one wrong note.
Adrian was not in the room, but the child still flinched as though he were standing behind her. Claire, Lily’s mother, crossed the room and asked what was wrong. Before Lily could answer, Rosa—the longtime housekeeper—hurried in and pulled the crying girl into her arms.
“He knows everything,” Lily whispered. “Even when he isn’t home.”
Claire followed her daughter’s terrified gaze toward the curtain rod. Mounted beside the brass finial was a tiny black camera with a red light blinking behind the lens.
Claire’s breath caught. She had never approved a camera inside the music room. The house already had security outside, but Adrian had always insisted the private rooms were untouched. When Claire reached for the device, Evelyn Blackwood, Adrian’s elegant seventy-two-year-old mother, entered with her silver-tipped cane.
“Don’t remove it,” Evelyn said quietly. “Not yet.”
Evelyn revealed that she had discovered three more cameras two weeks earlier. One faced Claire’s desk. Another watched Lily’s bedroom door. The third had been hidden above the family safe. She had stayed silent because she wanted to learn who controlled them—and why.
A car door slammed outside.
Adrian strode into the mansion in a black suit, his face tightening when he saw the women gathered around Lily. He demanded to know why the piano lesson had stopped. Claire pointed at the camera and asked for an explanation.
Adrian did not look surprised.
He looked furious.
“That equipment protects this family,” he snapped. “You have no right to interfere.”
Claire asked who he believed the family needed protection from. Adrian stepped closer, lowering his voice. “From people who forget who paid for everything.”
Lily buried her face against Rosa’s shoulder. Evelyn placed herself between her son and the child.
Then the camera made a soft mechanical click. A memory card slid from its base and landed on the piano.
May you like
Evelyn stared at it.
“That,” she said, “may be the reason Adrian came home early.”
