Chapter 5 - LILY’S TESTIMONY
Lily knew something was wrong before the elevator reached the parking garage.
The man beside her had introduced himself as Daniel.
Blackwood security.
He wore a dark suit.
An earpiece.
A Blackwood security badge.
Everything looked correct.
But Lily had worked inside Victor’s mansion for six months.
She knew most of the security staff.
She had never seen him.
“Marco sent you?” she asked.
The man smiled.
“Mr. Blackwood did.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
His smile disappeared.
The elevator doors opened.
Lily didn’t move.
Neither did he.
“Come on.”
Lily pressed the button for the lobby.
He caught her wrist.
Pain shot through her bruised body.
“Don’t make this difficult.”
Her heart began hammering.
Lily screamed.
The man jerked her toward the garage.
A security officer near the payment kiosk looked up.
The fake guard released her immediately.
“She’s confused,” he called.
Lily screamed louder.
“He’s not with me!”
The hospital officer ran toward them.
The stranger bolted.
He disappeared between two rows of cars just as another set of elevator doors opened.
Victor stepped out with two uniformed officers.
He saw Lily leaning against the wall.
Then the fleeing man.
“Get him!”
One officer chased the suspect.
Victor reached Lily.
“What happened?”
“He said you sent him.”
Victor’s face hardened.
“I didn’t.”
“I know that now.”
“You’re coming back upstairs.”
“No.”
“Lily—”
“I am not staying somewhere Serena’s people can walk in wearing a badge.”
Victor looked toward the stairwell where the man had vanished.
“You’re right.”
Lily blinked.
She had expected an argument.
Victor took out his phone.
“Detective Grant.”
Grant appeared moments later.
After hearing Lily’s account, she arranged a private interview room inside a secure section of the hospital.
“I need your formal statement,” she told Lily. “Everything. Even details you think don’t matter.”
Lily looked at Victor.
Grant noticed.
“Mr. Blackwood cannot be present while I take your statement.”
Victor nodded.
Lily caught his sleeve.
“Wait.”
He stopped.
Her eyes were terrified.
“If I tell them everything, Serena will know.”
Victor crouched until they were eye level.
“She already knows you’re a threat.”
“That isn’t comforting.”
“No.”
His voice softened.
“But silence didn’t protect you.”
Lily looked away.
“Or Ethan.”
That did it.
She nodded.
Victor left.
The interview lasted almost three hours.
Lily started with the first bruise.
Ethan had been nine months old.
Serena had recently moved into the mansion.
At first she appeared perfect.
She bought Ethan expensive clothes.
Posed for photographs.
Read children’s books when Victor was home.
But Serena disliked crying.
Mess.
Noise.
Anything that interrupted her.
One afternoon Ethan knocked Serena’s coffee onto a white rug.
Lily heard a slap from the nursery hallway.
When she entered, Ethan was crying and Serena was gripping his tiny wrist.
A red mark covered his cheek.
Serena claimed he had hit himself with a toy.
Lily didn’t believe her.
She began keeping notes.
Dates.
Times.
Bruises.
Changes in Ethan’s behavior.
“Why didn’t you go to police?” Grant asked.
“I almost did.”
“What stopped you?”
“Serena showed me photographs of my younger brother outside his college dorm.”
Grant’s pen stopped.
“What did she say?”
“She said accidents happen to people whose sisters interfere in families they don’t belong to.”
Grant stared at her.
“That was a threat.”
“I knew.”
“Did you tell Victor?”
Lily shook her head.
“Why?”
“Because Serena made me believe Victor would choose her.”
The admission hurt.
But it was true.
“She controlled what he saw. When he was home, she became someone else.”
Lily described the crib incident.
The missing bracelet.
Ethan’s unusual sleepiness.
The hidden camera inside Clara’s music box.
Then Grant asked the question Lily had dreaded.
“Did Serena ever talk about why she wanted Ethan out of the way?”
Lily’s hands began trembling.
“Once.”
“What did she say?”
“She was on the phone.”
“When?”
“Last Tuesday.”
“What did you hear?”
Lily stared at the tabletop.
“She said Victor wouldn’t change the trust while Ethan was the primary heir.”
Grant leaned forward.
“Exact words?”
Lily closed her eyes.
“‘As long as that child is healthy, Victor has no reason to sign.’”
The room became silent.
“What else?”
“She said, ‘Make him frightened enough and he’ll protect me on paper.’”
Grant’s expression changed.
“Protect her how?”
“I don’t know.”
“Anything else?”
“Yes.”
Lily’s voice cracked.
“She said, ‘If Victor thinks Lily is careless, he’ll get rid of her. Then there won’t be anyone watching.’”
Grant set down her pen.
“Lily, this is extremely important. Are you absolutely certain those were her words?”
“Yes.”
The detective studied her.
“Did you record the conversation?”
“No.”
Lily hesitated.
“But somebody else might have.”
“Who?”
Lily looked toward the door.
“Clara.”
Grant frowned.
“Victor’s late wife?”
“The hidden camera.”
“You said the memory card is gone.”
“I said the card Serena took is gone.”
Grant stared at her.
Lily swallowed.
“There were two.”
Outside the interview room, Victor had been pacing.
The door finally opened.
Detective Grant stepped out.
Victor looked toward Lily.
She seemed exhausted.
Grant shut the door behind herself.
“She gave us a lot.”
“How bad?”
Grant’s expression told him enough.
“Did Serena hurt my son before?”
“We have allegations consistent with the medical findings.”
Victor’s jaw tightened.
“What else?”
“I need you to answer some questions about your estate.”
“What questions?”
“Who inherits your legitimate holdings if something happens to you?”
“My son.”
“Who controls them while he’s a minor?”
“A trustee.”
“Who?”
“Nathan Hale.”
“Could marriage change that?”
Victor stared at her.
“Not automatically.”
“What about guardianship?”
Victor’s eyes narrowed.
Grant continued.
“Lily heard Serena discussing your trust.”
Victor remembered the paperwork again.
“She wanted me to make her Ethan’s legal guardian.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“My attorney advised waiting until after the wedding.”
Grant nodded.
“Good advice.”
Victor’s expression hardened.
“What are you suggesting?”
“I’m not suggesting anything yet.”
Victor hated that answer.
Grant lowered her voice.
“But we found messages on Serena’s second phone.”
“You unlocked it?”
“We obtained emergency authorization to examine limited information relevant to the child-endangerment investigation.”
Victor waited.
“There are messages with someone saved only as A.”
Adrian.
Victor knew before Grant said anything else.
“Did they discuss Ethan?”
“Indirectly.”
“How indirectly?”
Grant quoted from her notes.
“‘Another incident should be enough.’”
Victor’s face changed.
Grant continued.
“Serena replies, ‘It has to look like the nanny.’”
Victor walked away two steps.
His hands curled into fists.
“Mr. Blackwood.”
He turned back.
“There’s more.”
“Say it.”
“‘V won’t sign unless he believes the house is unsafe without me.’”
Victor stared at her.
He understood.
Serena had not merely been abusing Ethan.
She had been creating a pattern.
Accidents.
Neglect.
Fear.
Then Serena would present herself as the solution.
Future wife.
Future guardian.
The person Victor needed to protect Ethan.
All while removing the one person who actually was protecting him.
Lily.
Victor’s voice became dangerously quiet.
“Where is Adrian Cole?”
“We were hoping you could tell us.”
Victor took out his phone.
Marco answered.
“Find Adrian.”
A pause.
“He’s not at the house.”
“When did he leave?”
“About an hour before Serena.”
Victor stared through the glass window at Lily.
She sat alone inside the room, rubbing her bruised wrist.
“Freeze his access to every legitimate Blackwood account and property through counsel. Do not touch anything outside the law. Send his information to Detective Grant.”
Marco understood instantly.
“Serena?”
“Same.”
Victor ended the call.
Grant raised an eyebrow.
“That was unusually cooperative.”
“My son is involved.”
“Good.”
The interview-room door opened again.
Lily stepped out.
“I need to show you something.”
Victor turned.
“What?”
Lily reached into the lining of her coat.
Her fingers found a tiny tear she had stitched closed weeks earlier.
She pulled out a microSD card no larger than a fingernail.
Victor stared at it.
“The second card?”
Lily nodded.
“I switched them three nights ago.”
Grant immediately held out an evidence envelope.
Lily dropped the card inside.
Victor looked at her.
“You knew Serena would take the other one.”
“I hoped she would.”
“What was on the card you gave her?”
“Nothing.”
Victor almost smiled.
Almost.
Grant sealed the evidence.
“Do you know what’s on this?”
Lily shook her head.
“No.”
Victor looked toward Ethan’s room.
“Then we find out.”
Hours later, Detective Grant returned carrying a laptop.
Lily sat beside Victor.
Marco stood behind them.
Grant pressed play.
The footage was grainy.
Black and white.
A nursery.
Ethan’s crib.
Timestamp: six weeks earlier.
Serena entered the room.
She walked directly toward the crib.
Ethan stood and reached for her.
For one brief moment Serena smiled.
Then she looked toward the door.
The smile vanished.
She reached into her pocket.
Pulled out a small bottle.
And poured something into Ethan’s milk.
Victor stopped breathing.
But that wasn’t what made Lily scream.
A second person entered the nursery.
Adrian Cole.
May you like
He closed the door behind him.
Then he kissed Serena.
