Chapter 6 - The Servant He Tried to Silence
Michael pointed at Mrs. Grant.
“You’ve always favored Andrea.”
Mrs. Grant did not flinch.
She had worked for the Whitmore family for twenty-eight years.
She had watched Michael grow up.
“I favor the truth,” she said.
Michael’s voice sharpened.
“How much did she pay you?”
The accusation stunned everyone.
Mrs. Grant slowly removed her apron.
“I cared for your wife when she came home from the hospital. I held your son while she learned to walk again. Do not insult me because you failed them.”
Eleanor turned to Michael.
“Enough.”
But he was losing control.
He accused the staff of conspiring against him.
He accused me of manipulating his mother.
Then he claimed the hospital envelope had always been incomplete.
Vanessa remained near the cake, watching.
She looked calmer now.
Too calm.
That told me something.
The missing page mattered, but it was not the only evidence they had prepared.
I opened the security application again.
The gate camera was disconnected, but the internal system had stored thumbnails from every motion event.
There was a second recording at 1:26 a.m.
Vanessa leaving the estate.
She was carrying something flat beneath her coat.
A document folder.
Mrs. Grant looked at the image.
“She left through the east garden.”
“Did you see her?” I asked.
Mrs. Grant nodded.
“I saw Mr. Whitmore take her into the study. Later, she came out alone.”
Michael clenched his fists.
Vanessa finally spoke.
“Even if I took a document, maybe I was retrieving something that belonged to me.”
I stared at her.
“You said you came to tell Michael the truth. Now you admit you entered the study.”
Vanessa’s eyes flicked toward him.
They had not expected the cameras to retain images after disconnection.
Michael moved toward her.
“Stop talking.”
That was when Leo tugged my hand.
“Mommy,” he whispered. “She put the paper in the pink flowers.”
May you like
Every face turned toward the floral cake table.
👉 Leo had watched Vanessa hide the stolen record—and it was still somewhere inside the birthday decorations.
