Chapter 2 - The Camera Had Been Turned Back On
Doctors kept Noah overnight for observation.
Grant never left him.
Tessa received four stitches.
Vivienne sent seventeen messages.
Grant answered none.
At 2:13 a.m., his security manager called.
“Mr. Mercer, I found out why that camera was active.”
Grant stepped into the hospital hallway.
“Tell me.”
“Someone manually restored it six days ago.”
“Who?”
“Tessa Monroe.”
Grant looked through the glass.
Tessa was sitting beside Noah's crib.
When he asked her, she didn't deny it.
“I turned on three cameras.”
“Without telling me?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I was scared.”
“Of Vivienne?”
Tessa nodded.
Grant sat opposite her.
“Start talking.”
Three weeks earlier, Vivienne had begun visiting whenever Grant was at work.
At first she was merely cold toward Noah.
Then Tessa caught her searching his nursery.
“For what?”
“I don't know.”
Vivienne went through drawers.
Diaper bags.
Even Noah's stuffed animals.
Then she started asking strange questions.
Where had Noah's mother kept her personal papers?
Did Grant still have her phone?
Had anyone opened the storage boxes she left behind?
Grant frowned.
Noah's mother, Caroline Mercer, had died seven months earlier after a sudden illness.
Vivienne had entered Grant's life four months after Caroline's death.
Grant had believed her interest in his past was jealousy.
Tessa hadn't.
“One afternoon she thought I was outside.”
“What happened?”
“She called someone.”
Tessa had heard only part of the conversation.
Vivienne said:
“He still hasn't found it.”
Then:
“The kid's room is the only place left.”
Grant felt cold.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“I tried.”
“When?”
“Twice.”
Grant remembered.
Both times Vivienne had interrupted.
Once with a supposed emergency at his office.
Once by claiming Noah was sick.
Tessa continued:
“That's when I turned the cameras back on.”
Grant looked at her.
“You should've told me directly.”
“I know.”
She looked toward Noah.
“I kept thinking I needed proof before I accused the woman you were planning to marry.”
Grant flinched.
He had bought a ring.
Nobody except Vivienne knew.
Or so he thought.
“How do you know about the ring?”
Tessa stared at him.
“I don't.”
Grant's pulse quickened.
He had never proposed.
The ring was hidden inside a locked drawer in his study.
Yet yesterday, he had found that drawer slightly open.
He immediately called security.
“Pull everything from the last six days.”
An hour later, the first footage arrived.
Vivienne entered Grant's study while the house was empty.
She opened the drawer.
Found the engagement ring.
Ignored it.
Then searched underneath.
Grant leaned closer.
Vivienne wasn't looking for jewelry.
She was looking for something hidden behind the drawer.
Finally, she whispered to herself:
“Caroline, where the hell did you put it?”
Grant stopped the video.
His dead wife's name hung in the room.
May you like
Vivienne hadn't entered his life after Caroline's death by accident.
She had been looking for something Caroline left behind.
