Chapter 2 - THE MAN WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO PROTECT HIM
The police arrived twelve minutes later.
By then, Nora’s arms had been bandaged, the guests had been moved into
the east drawing room, and Julian had been transferred to a secure
sitting area. Lily sat beside him with the tablet in her lap.
Celeste had stopped screaming.
She had started crying.
“I was trying to stop the chair,” she told the first officer. “Nora came
running and made everything worse. She has been hostile toward me for
months.”
Nora sat quietly while a paramedic cleaned the cuts on her forearms.
“Did you see Ms. Vane push Mr. Sterling?” the officer asked.
“Yes.”
“Are you certain?”
“I was looking directly at her.”
Celeste turned. “You’re lying.”
Nora met her eyes.
“You should be grateful I caught him.”
The officer asked Lily to explain what she had recorded. The little girl
described hiding behind the drapes because she had heard Celeste arguing
with Marcus in the library.
“I wasn’t trying to spy,” Lily said. “I wanted to show Daddy the lights
on my tablet. Then Aunt Celeste said something about the stairs.”
“Did you record the conversation?” the officer asked.
Lily nodded.
Julian placed a reassuring hand over hers.
“Only if you’re comfortable, sweetheart.”
She looked at him. “I want them to know.”
The tablet played the earlier recording.
Celeste’s voice came first.
“Once he signs the transfer, Victoria won’t be able to stop it. If he
dies afterward, the shares will be frozen while the board decides who
controls the trust.”
Marcus answered, “And if he survives?”
“He won’t.”
A pause.
Then Marcus asked, “What about the girl?”
“She is a child. She’ll believe whatever the adults tell her.”
The recording ended.
The officer looked at Celeste.
“Do you have anything to say?”
Celeste’s tears stopped.
“That recording is edited.”
Lily shook her head. “I didn’t edit it.”
“You don’t understand technology.”
“I know how to press record.”
Julian closed his eyes for a moment.
Five years earlier, Celeste had been his fiancée. They had planned a
wedding, selected a house, and appeared together in magazine
photographs. Then Julian’s car had crashed on a mountain road. He had
suffered spinal injuries and spent months in intensive rehabilitation.
Celeste visited him twice.
The first time, she cried.
The second time, she asked whether his will had been updated.
She disappeared before the end of the month.
Victoria had arrived as a rehabilitation nurse recommended by his
physician. She had not been impressed by his wealth, and she had not
pretended his recovery would be easy. She told him when he was being
difficult. She made him practice movements he hated. She stayed through
nights when he could not sleep because pain made every position
unbearable.
Over time, she became the person he trusted most.
Celeste had returned six months ago, claiming she wanted to apologize.
Julian had allowed her into the house because he thought he had finally
made peace with the past.
Now he understood that she had returned for another reason.
The officer asked Julian whether he wanted to make a formal statement.
“Yes,” he said. “But I want an independent medical examination first. I
also want the wheelchair secured as evidence.”
Marcus stepped forward.
“Sir, the chair is company property. I can arrange the inspection.”
“No.”
Julian’s eyes were cold.
“You are not touching it.”
Marcus gave a small, disbelieving laugh. “You’re making a mistake.”
“Perhaps. But I won’t make it twice.”
Two officers moved closer to Marcus.
Celeste looked between them.
“You can’t arrest us based on a child’s video.”
“We can detain you while we investigate an apparent attempted murder,”
the officer replied.
Celeste’s composure finally cracked.
She pointed at Victoria.
“She did this! She has been poisoning him for years. Ask the doctors why
he never recovered properly. Ask why he became dependent on her!”
Victoria stood slowly.
“Julian’s medical records are available to any independent physician.”
“Because you control them!”
“I don’t.”
“You controlled his medication!”
Nora looked up.
Something about the accusation troubled her.
During the past three months, she had noticed that the medication
cabinet was sometimes left unlocked. Twice, she had found pills in the
wrong compartment. She had reported it to the house manager, who told
her not to interfere with medical matters.
She had never told Julian.
Now she wondered whether those small details were connected.
“Mr. Sterling,” she said quietly. “I need to tell you something about
the medicine cabinet.”
Julian turned toward her.
“What is it?”
Nora glanced at Victoria, then at the officers.
“I think someone has been changing the labels.”
The officers separated Celeste and Marcus before taking formal statements. Celeste demanded an attorney. Marcus asked to make a phone call. Neither request surprised Julian, but the timing did.
He had expected anger. He had expected excuses. He had not expected Marcus to look toward the service corridor as though someone might be waiting there to help him escape.
The head of security had been hired after the crash. Julian's father had recommended him, and Julian had accepted the recommendation without a second interview. Marcus had become part of the household so completely that staff sometimes forgot he was not a relative.
He knew the alarm codes, the safe combinations, the medical schedule, and the names of every employee. He also knew where Lily hid when she was upset. That knowledge now felt dangerous.
Victoria sat beside Julian while the attorney reviewed the initial police paperwork. She had changed out of her evening dress and into a simple cardigan. There was a small tear near one cuff where she had caught it on the wheelchair frame while helping Nora.
“You should go home,” Julian told her.
Victoria looked at him. “This is my home.”
“I meant your room. You need rest.”
“So do you.”
“I am not the one who caught a falling wheelchair with bare hands.”
Nora, sitting across the room, looked up. “I didn't catch it with my hands. I caught it with my arms.”
Julian gave her a tired look. “That is not better.”
Despite everything, Victoria smiled.
Then she looked at the officers. “I want the staff treated fairly. Some of them may have been used without knowing what was happening.”
The senior officer nodded. “We'll speak to everyone. No one is being treated as a suspect merely because they work here.”
Nora appreciated the statement, but it did not ease the knot in her stomach. Her access card had appeared in the medical logs. Someone had deliberately made her look involved.
She asked to see the list of entries. The officer showed her the dates. On each occasion, the card had been used between 12:30 and 1:15 in the morning.
Nora remembered those nights. She had been in her small apartment above the garage, asleep after long shifts. Her daughter lived with her sister in Oregon, and Nora usually called before bed. She could prove where she had been.
“Can you check the garage camera?” she asked. “It shows the door to my apartment.”
The officer nodded. “That's useful.”
Celeste heard her and laughed bitterly. “Of course the maid has an explanation.”
Nora turned. “I don't need you to believe me.”
Celeste's eyes narrowed. “You should be careful. People in this house can lose their jobs very quickly.”
Julian's voice cut in. “She will not lose her job for telling the truth.”
Celeste looked at him. “You'd choose her over me?”
“I am choosing evidence over your performance.”
The words seemed to strike harder than a shout.
When Celeste was escorted away, she leaned toward Julian. “You still don't understand. Victoria will leave you when the money is gone.”
Julian did not look at her. “Then I suppose I should be grateful that she has stayed while the money was never hers.”
After the door closed, Victoria lowered her eyes. “I don't want you defending me because you feel obligated.”
“I'm not.”
“You've heard what people say.”
“I've heard it for five years.”
“And you never wondered?”
Julian turned toward her. “I wondered why you kept coming back after every person in my life told you to leave.”
Victoria looked at him for a long moment. “Because you were still in there,” she said. “You were still Julian. You were never just a body in a chair.”
He reached for her hand. “I know.”
The officer returned with an update. The garage camera showed Nora entering her apartment shortly before midnight on all seven nights when her card had been used. Someone else had accessed the staff corridor.
The officer said the person was wearing a maintenance jacket. Nora felt a chill.
“Richard Vale's department issues those jackets,” she said.
Julian looked toward the police. “Then find Richard.”
Before the officers took Marcus away, Julian asked him one question.
“Did you ever consider that Lily might be standing nearby?”
Marcus looked at the child, then lowered his eyes.
“She wasn't supposed to be there.”
May you like
Julian's face hardened. “She lives here. She is always supposed to be here.”
The officer guided Marcus toward the door. He did not resist, but his silence followed them into the corridor. Julian watched until the door closed, understanding that betrayal was not always loud. Sometimes it wore a uniform, carried a key ring, and stood quietly beside you for years.
