Chapter 5 - Serena Had Tried to Remove Me Three Times
The first complaint happened seven months earlier.
Serena told Victor I left Ethan unattended near the pool.
I hadn’t.
A gardener confirmed Ethan had been inside with me the entire time.
Victor dismissed it as confusion.
The second accusation came after Christmas.
Serena claimed I stole one of her diamond earrings.
It turned up inside her jewelry case.
She said she had misplaced it.
The third happened in April.
She told Victor I was “emotionally overattached” to Ethan and needed replacement.
Victor refused.
He had watched Ethan struggle after Laura died.
I was one of the few adults he trusted completely.
At the time, I thought Serena was jealous.
Maybe part of her was.
But the trust paperwork showed something more practical.
If I remained employed continuously through September, I could become the backup care monitor.
Once that happened, I would receive access to service summaries connected to Ethan’s developmental trust.
Not his entire financial life.
Only the part Serena had been falsifying.
“What date did you start?” Victor asked.
“September eighteenth.”
He looked at the calendar.
We were six weeks away.
Serena had run out of time.
That explained the escalation.
Not why she injured Ethan.
But why she was suddenly desperate to paint me as dangerous.
Then the accountant uncovered another set of payments.
Not therapy this time.
Behavioral support.
$2,600 monthly.
Provider:
EBC Family Development.
I had never heard of it.
Victor hadn’t either.
The company was registered to Serena’s cousin, Emily Brooks Carter.
“She’s a wedding photographer,” Victor said.
Apparently she was also being paid as a child-development provider.
The payments totaled $31,200.
Now the amount connected to questionable care expenses exceeded sixty thousand dollars.
For Victor, that wasn’t financially devastating.
For Serena, it was significant.
But when we looked at her personal spending, the motive didn’t fit simple greed.
No extravagant new purchases.
No gambling pattern.
No luxury account draining Ethan’s trust.
Most of the money moved again.
Into an account belonging to a company called Red Harbor Holdings.
Serena owned no visible interest in it.
Victor recognized the name immediately.
His expression changed.
“That’s my brother’s company.”
I had never met Victor’s brother.
May you like
His name was Andrew Blackwood.
And according to Victor, the two men had not spoken in almost three years.
