Chapter 4 - The Camera Above the Staircase
"Peter?"
I stared at the dead call.
No signal warning.
No low battery.
The line had simply ended.
Julian was watching me.
"What did he say?"
I slipped the phone into my dress.
"None of your business."
Evelyn glanced toward Arthur.
That was enough.
Whatever Peter had just told me frightened her too.
Arthur struggled to his feet using the wall.
"Who did you call?"
"Peter Caldwell."
His face went still.
Of all the reactions I expected, fear wasn't one of them.
"Your father's attorney?"
"Yes."
Arthur looked at the torn papers.
Then at me.
"What did he tell you?"
"That Sterling Point was locked because of you."
Julian muttered, "Perfect."
Arthur ignored him.
"Peter Caldwell has lied to you for years."
"And you've been declared incompetent by your own family."
"Exactly."
His answer landed harder than I expected.
He didn't ask me to trust him.
He gave me a reason not to.
That was the first thing anyone in the Vance family had done honestly all night.
I looked down at the crushed roses near my feet.
One stem had snapped.
A strip of silver wire from the bouquet wrap stuck out beneath the flowers.
Then I saw something reflected in the marble.
A tiny red light.
High above us.
I lifted my head.
Mounted near the second-floor railing was a small black security camera.
I had noticed it during wedding photographs.
Julian had joked that his mother trusted no one around the antiques.
Now its status light was still glowing.
My heart slammed.
"That camera."
Julian turned.
Evelyn did too.
Arthur followed my gaze.
For the first time, hope moved through me.
"It recorded this."
Julian laughed.
"No, it didn't."
"Then why is it on?"
"It doesn't cover the foyer."
"It is pointed directly at us."
"It's motion surveillance."
"Which means?"
"Nothing."
He answered too quickly.
I started toward the staircase.
Julian stepped in front of me.
Arthur said, "Move."
Julian didn't.
I looked at my husband.
Less than an hour into our marriage, I was seeing him more clearly than I had in eleven months.
Julian hadn't married me because he lost control tonight.
He'd lost control because something planned had gone wrong.
I lifted my phone.
"If you stop me from checking that camera, I'm recording you."
He smiled.
"Go ahead."
That smile frightened me.
I opened the camera app.
Before I could press record, my screen went black.
Julian had snatched the phone from my hand.
"Give it back."
"No."
"Julian."
He held it behind him.
I stepped forward.
He caught my wrist.
Arthur moved.
"Let her go."
Julian shoved me toward the wall.
Not hard enough to drop me.
Hard enough to remind me that he could.
My shoulder hit the plaster.
Evelyn said nothing.
Arthur came between us.
Julian stared at his father.
"You can barely stand."
Arthur's voice was quiet.
"But I can still tell the board why you've been borrowing against assets you don't own."
Julian's face tightened.
There it was.
Something new.
Borrowing.
Assets.
Sterling Point.
Evelyn snapped, "Arthur, that's enough."
"No. Enough was when you forged my medical paperwork."
Julian looked toward the camera.
Then at his mother.
A silent exchange passed between them.
I saw it.
Arthur saw it too.
"Don't," he warned.
Julian ran up the staircase.
I chased him.
My vision was still blurred, and my wedding dress dragged at my legs, but I made it halfway before Evelyn grabbed the back of my veil.
The force jerked my head backward.
I ripped the veil free and kept going.
Julian reached the second-floor landing.
He grabbed the camera.
Arthur shouted from below.
"The recording unit isn't in the camera!"
Julian stopped.
So did Evelyn.
I looked down.
Arthur's breathing was ragged, but his eyes were clear.
"The cameras back up to the house server."
Evelyn's face hardened.
"Not anymore."
She walked to a walnut cabinet beneath the staircase.
Arthur swore.
She opened it with a key from her bracelet.
Inside was a small control panel and network equipment.
I hurried down.
"Don't touch it."
Evelyn looked directly at me.
Then pulled a cable.
The red light above the staircase went dark.
A second later every security indicator in the foyer died.
Julian smiled.
"Problem solved."
Arthur shook his head.
"No."
Julian's smile faded.
Arthur looked at me.
"There's a second backup."
Evelyn went pale.
Arthur added, "And only three people know where it is."
Then my phone rang in Julian's hand.
The screen lit up.
PETER CALDWELL.
Julian looked at the name.
Instead of handing me the phone, he answered.
"Peter," he said.
A long silence followed.
Then Julian smiled.
May you like
"Yes. She found it."
📖 See why Peter called my husband instead of me—and what their private conversation exposed about the missing security backup in CHAPTER 5. 👇
