Chapter 13 - SERENA’S ROOM BEHIND THE WINE CELLAR
Victor knew where the intercom station was.
Wine cellar service room.
We left Ethan with Dr. Cole, who had remained at the estate because his pain needed monitoring.
Then Victor and I went downstairs.
I carried Rebecca’s ledger inside my handbag.
I did not tell Victor until we reached the cellar.
“You brought it?”
“Yes.”
“That is exactly what Graham wants.”
“And exactly what we can’t leave where Mason knows it exists.”
He couldn’t argue.
The wine cellar door stood open.
Beyond it, a narrow service corridor led toward storage.
One door was ajar.
We heard voices.
Graham:
“You had one job.”
Serena:
“I’m finished.”
“You’re finished when I say you are.”
Victor moved forward.
I caught his sleeve.
He looked at me.
I pointed toward my phone.
Recording.
Evidence first.
We stayed silent.
Graham continued.
“Do you understand what happens if Victor opens Rebecca’s ledger?”
“He already did.”
Silence.
Then a hard sound.
Serena gasped.
I flinched.
Victor moved.
I held him for one second longer.
Graham:
“You stupid woman.”
Serena’s voice shook.
“I’m not helping you touch Victor.”
“I never asked you to.”
“You changed the plan.”
“Because Victor changed the situation.”
“You said temporary incapacity.”
“And that remains preferable.”
“Preferable?”
Serena laughed bitterly.
“You sound like a contract.”
Graham’s voice became quiet.
“That’s why I survive.”
Victor’s face hardened.
Graham continued.
“Where is Ethan’s passport?”
“I hid it.”
“Where?”
“No.”
“Serena.”
“No.”
A chair scraped.
Then:
“You care about the boy now?”
Serena started crying.
“He’s two.”
“He was two yesterday.”
Silence.
That sentence was brutal because it was true.
Serena had found a conscience only after the plan threatened to consume her too.
Graham:
“You wanted the money.”
“Yes.”
“You wanted the house.”
“Yes.”
“You wanted Victor dependent on you.”
Serena whispered, “Yes.”
My stomach tightened.
Graham:
“Then stop pretending you were innocent.”
“I’m not.”
That answer surprised me.
“I was jealous of Claire.”
My body went cold.
“Because Ethan loved her.”
Victor looked at me.
Serena continued.
“I hated that every time he cried, he reached for her.”
Silence.
“I kept thinking if he stopped depending on Claire, Victor would finally see me as his mother.”
Victor closed his eyes.
Not his wife.
His mother.
Serena had wanted Ethan’s attachment.
Then punished him for not giving it.
“I started the blue room before Graham told me about the trust company.”
My chest tightened.
So not every cruel act had been financial.
Some had been hers.
Graham simply found a way to monetize what she was already doing.
“That’s enough,” Graham said.
“No.”
“What?”
“I’m telling Victor everything.”
Graham laughed.
“You think he’ll forgive you?”
“No.”
“Then why?”
“Because I’m finally more afraid of you than losing him.”
Victor moved.
This time I didn’t stop him.
He opened the door.
Graham turned.
For the first time, I saw surprise on his face.
Victor looked at Serena.
She sat against the wall.
A red mark formed along her cheek.
Graham stood beside her.
No weapon.
No dramatic escape.
Just a wealthy attorney in a gray suit who looked annoyed that his private conversation had become public.
Victor’s voice was frighteningly calm.
“Leave my house.”
Graham adjusted his cuff.
“You don’t understand what you’ve found.”
“Leave.”
“You need me.”
“No.”
“Your trust structure collapses without counsel.”
“I’ll survive.”
Graham looked at me.
“Claire.”
I said nothing.
He smiled slightly.
“Do you really think Victor is your friend?”
“Not relevant.”
“Rebecca thought he was trustworthy too.”
Victor stepped forward.
“Don’t speak about her.”
Graham’s expression shifted.
“Then ask why she hid the ledger from you.”
Victor stopped.
Graham saw the opening.
“She didn’t trust you.”
“She was protecting evidence from you.”
“Was she?”
He looked at Serena.
Then back at Victor.
“Did Serena tell you everything?”
Serena stared at him.
“No.”
“What didn’t she tell me?”
Graham smiled.
“The residential company was not created for Ethan.”
Serena whispered, “Stop.”
Victor’s face changed.
“Then who?”
Graham ignored him.
He looked at me.
“It was created for Claire.”
My stomach dropped.
“What?”
Graham continued.
“Ethan was the funding source.”
“That makes no sense.”
“It will.”
“Graham,” Serena said.
“Enough.”
He looked almost pleased.
“Claire’s employment file contains a psychiatric-care authorization.”
I stared.
“No, it doesn’t.”
“You signed it.”
“I did not.”
“Exactly.”
Victor understood first.
“They forged Claire’s consent too.”
Graham smiled.
“Serena did.”
Serena shook her head.
“No.”
“Your administrator credentials.”
“You used them.”
“Prove it.”
He had returned to his real language.
Paper.
Access.
Doubt.
Then he looked at Victor.
“You think Rebecca’s ledger will save you?”
“She documented your transfers.”
“She documented transfers.”
“Your companies.”
“Companies with names.”
Not admissions.
Never admissions.
Victor stepped aside.
“Leave.”
Graham walked toward the door.
Then stopped beside me.
“Check Claire’s original hiring file.”
I didn’t move.
He smiled.
“Ask who recommended her.”
Then he left.
Victor stared at me.
I felt cold.
“I applied through an agency.”
“Which?”
“Fairmont Domestic Staffing.”
Victor’s face changed.
“I never hired Fairmont.”
Silence.
“What?”
“My office used Blackwood Household Management.”
“That’s not the agency that interviewed me.”
Serena looked up.
Her face had gone pale.
Graham hadn’t simply used me after I became Ethan’s caregiver.
May you like
Someone had placed me inside Blackwood Manor from the beginning.
📖 Discover who secretly arranged my job as Ethan’s caregiver—and why my name appeared in Rebecca Blackwood’s files years before I ever met Victor in CHAPTER 14. 👇
