Chapter 6 - Caroline’s Psychiatrist Kept a Second File
We left the basement through an emergency service stairwell.
I carried Sophie the entire way.
By the time we reached the kitchen, she was exhausted.
I opened the refrigerator myself.
"Anything you want."
She stared as though she didn't believe me.
"Anything?"
"Anything."
She chose yogurt, strawberries, toast, and warm milk.
I made it with my own hands.
Nobody else touched her food.
Vanessa stood across the kitchen.
Sophie kept glancing at her.
"Leave the room," I said.
Vanessa obeyed.
Graham stayed.
I didn't trust him.
But I wanted him where I could see him.
Sophie ate slowly.
Too slowly.
Like someone afraid the food might be taken away.
That sight did something permanent to me.
I sat beside her.
"No one will ever stop you from eating again."
She nodded.
"Promise?"
"I promise."
Only after she finished did I return to Adrian Vale.
"Everything."
Graham loosened his tie.
"Caroline started seeing him about six months before she died."
"For what?"
"Anxiety."
"She never told me."
"She didn't want you worried."
"I was her husband."
"I know."
"Apparently everyone knew things I didn't."
He accepted that.
"Adrian had a private practice. Marcus recommended him."
Of course Marcus did.
"What happened after Caroline died?"
"Marcus brought him in as an adviser during the succession fight."
"What succession fight?"
Graham looked surprised.
"You really never knew?"
"No."
"Your father left unresolved voting rights."
My father again.
"Marcus challenged your appointment as CEO."
"He withdrew."
"After Adrian testified privately to the family board."
My stomach tightened.
"About what?"
"Caroline."
I stared at him.
"Why would my wife's psychiatrist testify in a corporate dispute?"
"Because Caroline had documented concerns that you were emotionally unstable after Sophie's birth."
I laughed once.
"What?"
Graham looked uncomfortable.
"She allegedly feared you were becoming obsessive about control."
"Allegedly?"
"I never saw the notes."
"Marcus did."
"Yes."
"And Adrian."
"Yes."
Suddenly my dead wife had been used against me before.
I had never known.
"Did Caroline actually say those things?"
Graham shook his head.
"I don't believe so."
"Why?"
"Because three weeks before she died, she asked me to find another psychiatrist."
My pulse changed.
"She was afraid of Adrian."
"Yes."
"What did she say?"
"That he kept asking about Sophie's inheritance."
There it was.
Not mental health.
Money.
I took Adrian's access card.
"Where is his office?"
"He still keeps a consulting suite at Sterling Tower."
"Why?"
"Marcus renewed his contract every year."
I called my head of security, Thomas Reed.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Graham noticed.
"That's unusual."
"Very."
I checked the villa security dashboard.
Thomas's administrative login had been disabled two hours earlier.
By someone using my credentials.
I hadn't done it.
My stomach tightened.
"They're inside everything."
Graham nodded.
I looked toward Sophie.
I could not leave her with anyone in this house.
"You're coming with me."
Graham looked surprised.
"Where?"
"Sterling Tower."
"What about Sophie?"
"With me."
Vanessa appeared at the doorway.
"Richard, that's not safe."
I turned.
"You don't get a vote."
She lowered her eyes.
Sophie whispered, "Daddy?"
"What?"
"I know Adrian."
The kitchen went silent.
I crouched.
"You've met him?"
She nodded.
"When?"
"Vanessa took me to his office."
My eyes moved slowly toward Vanessa.
She went pale.
"Explain."
"It was a wellness evaluation."
"Who authorized it?"
"Marcus."
I almost laughed.
"Marcus isn't her parent."
"He said the trust required it."
"What did Adrian do?"
Sophie answered before Vanessa could.
"He asked me if you yell."
My jaw tightened.
"What did you say?"
"No."
"What else?"
"If you leave me alone."
"And?"
"I said you have meetings."
I took a breath.
"What else?"
Sophie stared at the table.
"He asked if Mommy ever told me secrets before she went to heaven."
Every hair on my arms rose.
"Did she?"
Sophie was two when Caroline died.
Too young, I had believed, to remember much.
Sophie nodded.
"One."
I felt my heartbeat stop.
"What secret?"
She leaned close to me.
"Mommy said if a man named Adrian ever asks about my red music box, I should say I don't have one."
I knew the box.
It was in Sophie's bedroom.
Caroline had given it to her on her second birthday.
A small red wooden music box with a silver ballerina inside.
I stood so fast the chair scraped backward.
"Where is it now?"
Sophie looked toward the stairs.
"My room."
I ran.
Sophie and Graham followed.
We reached her bedroom.
The shelf beside her bed was empty.
The red music box was gone.
Vanessa stopped in the doorway.
"I didn't take it."
"Who entered this room while I was away?"
"Cleaning staff."
"Names."
"Maria. Jeanette."
Sophie shook her head.
"Adrian did."
I turned.
"When?"
"Yesterday."
Vanessa stared at her.
"What?"
Sophie looked frightened.
"He came after you told me to stay in the kitchen."
Vanessa's face collapsed.
"I never knew."
"What did he do?"
Sophie pointed toward the closet.
"He looked behind my dresses."
I opened it.
Boxes had been moved.
A small section of baseboard was loose.
I pulled it away.
Behind it was a narrow cavity.
Inside lay a folded envelope.
Caroline's handwriting.
RICHARD.
My hands shook.
I opened it.
One page.
Richard,
If Sophie is old enough to tell you about the red music box, then Adrian has already gotten too close.
Do not confront Marcus until you know who changed my trust.
Adrian recorded our sessions without consent.
I stole one copy.
It is inside the music box.
I stared at the empty shelf.
Somebody had taken the recording.
Below that Caroline had written one final line.
The person paying Adrian is not Marcus.
I looked at Graham.
"If not Marcus, who?"
A notification sounded on his phone.
He looked down.
Then went pale.
"What?"
He turned the screen toward me.
An email from Marcus Sterling.
Subject:
RICHARD — DON'T TRUST GRAHAM.
Attached was a photograph taken less than five minutes earlier.
Me.
Standing inside Sophie's bedroom.
May you like
Someone was watching us now.
📖 See why Marcus suddenly warned me about Graham—and what the missing music-box recording captured between Adrian and the person truly paying him in CHAPTER 7. 👇
