Chapter 8 - DADDY FALL DOWN
We searched every blue-room file containing Graham.
There were nine.
Most dealt with trust documents.
Two included Ethan.
One had no video.
Audio only.
Date:
Three weeks earlier.
Victor played it.
Serena’s voice:
“He won’t sign if Claire keeps pushing doctors and therapists.”
Graham:
“Then Claire goes first.”
Serena:
“How?”
Graham:
“Employment issue. Boundary concern. Anything.”
My hands went cold.
Then Serena:
“And Victor?”
Pause.
Graham’s voice lowered.
“We don’t need to remove Victor permanently.”
My skin prickled.
Serena:
“You said the capacity clause.”
Graham:
“Temporary. Forty-eight hours would be enough.”
Serena laughed.
“How exactly do you make Victor temporarily incapable?”
Silence.
Then Graham:
“Stress. Medication. An accident. We’ll decide if we need it.”
Victor stopped the audio.
His face changed.
Not fear yet.
Rage.
I said, “Keep listening.”
He did.
Serena:
“You make that sound easy.”
Graham:
“Victor works sixteen-hour days and lives on coffee. People believe exhaustion.”
Serena:
“And if something happens in front of Ethan?”
Graham:
“Better.”
I felt sick.
Serena:
“Then we have emotional impact on the child.”
The recording ended.
Victor stood.
“They planned to drug me.”
“We don’t know that.”
“They said medication.”
“They discussed it.”
He looked at me sharply.
I refused to let fear turn inference into fact.
“Victor, evidence first.”
He stared.
Then nodded.
“You’re right.”
That became our rule.
Evidence first.
Not because Serena deserved fairness.
Because we could not afford mistakes.
We searched Victor’s medication records.
He took nothing regularly.
Then household purchases.
Serena had ordered a prescription sleep medication three weeks earlier.
Legally prescribed to her.
Nothing unusual by itself.
But the timing matched the audio.
Victor checked his calendar.
Monday’s trust review was scheduled for 8:00 a.m. at Blackwood Manor.
Sunday night Serena had planned an anniversary dinner.
I looked at him.
“You have an anniversary?”
“Tomorrow.”
I had forgotten.
Their third wedding anniversary.
Serena had spent weeks telling staff about the private dinner.
Special wine.
No work calls.
No interruptions.
Victor went pale.
“She chose Sunday.”
The night before Monday’s trust review.
Not proof.
But terrifying context.
I asked, “Who prepares dinner?”
“The chef.”
“Drinks?”
“Serena usually chooses wine.”
Victor immediately messaged the chef instructing him not to prepare anything without direct approval.
Then he stopped.
“If Graham knows we’re suspicious, they may change plans.”
“They already know you opened the blue room.”
“Yes.”
“Then pretend you found less than you did.”
Victor looked at me.
“What do you suggest?”
“Tell Serena the drive was corrupted.”
He almost smiled.
“Lying?”
“Evidence preservation.”
That smile disappeared quickly.
He sent Serena a message:
Blue-room drive is damaged. Most files unreadable. We will discuss Ethan tomorrow after everyone calms down.
Her response arrived thirty seconds later.
I told you there was nothing important there.
Too fast.
She was waiting.
Victor typed:
Doctor says fracture is several days old. I need space tonight.
Serena:
Fine. Claire needs to leave.
Victor:
Not tonight.
No response.
I looked at Ethan.
“What about me?”
“What?”
“If I’m the target, leaving might actually make it easier for them.”
Victor’s expression hardened.
“You’re not bait.”
“I’m not offering to be.”
“Then what?”
“Serena thinks I only know about the foyer.”
He understood.
“If she believes you don’t know the trust scheme, she may keep talking.”
I hated the idea.
But not as much as allowing Graham and Serena to erase everything.
Victor checked the security-system audit.
Someone had accessed his capacity file from the mansion network during our conversation.
Not Serena’s phone.
Not the office computer.
Device:
Unknown wired terminal.
Location:
East wing.
We returned to the blue room.
The network box had another cable disappearing into the wall.
Victor followed it into the neighboring storage closet.
Behind stacked linen crates was a second terminal.
Small monitor.
Keyboard.
Still logged in.
Graham Mercer’s account.
On-screen:
VICTOR CAPACITY REVIEW.
The file was open.
So was a document titled:
SUNDAY INCIDENT PLAN.
Victor’s face went white.
I clicked before he could stop me.
One line appeared at the top.
Objective: establish Victor Blackwood’s temporary impairment before Monday trust review.
Then:
Method dependent on Serena execution.
Beneath that was a checklist.
Wine.
Medication.
Witness.
Staircase.
My breath stopped.
“Staircase?”
Victor stared at the word.
Ethan’s sleepy voice came from behind us.
“Daddy fall down.”
The phrase suddenly had a location.
They weren’t only planning to make Victor appear impaired.
May you like
Someone had considered making him fall.
📖 Read what the Sunday Incident Plan said about Victor’s staircase “accident”—and who Graham intended to use as the witness in CHAPTER 9. 👇
