Chapter 2 - The Cameras My Fiancée Never Knew About
The ambulance arrived eight minutes later.
Police arrived two minutes after that.
Vanessa spent those ten minutes trying every version of herself I'd ever known.
First came anger.
“You are humiliating me in my own home.”
“It isn't your home,” I said.
Her eyes flashed.
Then came affection.
“Elijah, sweetheart, please. We're both upset.”
I said nothing.
Then came tears.
“I was scared. My mother's bracelet disappeared.”
Maria sat on the edge of a velvet bench, holding a cold cloth against one wrist.
Vanessa pointed toward her.
“She provoked me.”
Officer Lena Ortiz entered with her partner and heard that sentence.
Her expression didn't change.
“Ma'am, step away from her.”
Vanessa stared.
“Do you know who I am?”
Officer Ortiz replied calmly, “At the moment, you're someone I need to speak with separately.”
Vanessa looked at me for rescue.
I gave her none.
While paramedics examined Maria, I went into my father's old study and called Nathan.
He answered immediately.
“You're home?”
“Yes.”
“You weren't supposed to return until Sunday.”
“Plans changed.”
I looked through the open doorway toward the foyer.
“So did everything else.”
I told him what I'd found.
For several seconds Nathan said nothing.
Then: “Elijah, listen carefully. Do not tell Vanessa what I found.”
“She already knows something about cameras.”
“What cameras?”
“I was hoping you could tell me.”
“I can't.”
That answer chilled me.
“What did you find in London?”
Nathan exhaled.
“The transfers you asked me to investigate aren't isolated.”
“How much?”
“At least $2.8 million attempted. We can prove roughly $640,000 moved.”
My grip tightened around the phone.
“From where?”
“Accounts connected to you.”
“Connected how?”
“Someone created authorization documents using scanned copies of your signature.”
Vanessa had access to dozens of documents during our engagement.
Wedding paperwork.
Property discussions.
Charity applications.
I remembered her joking that marrying a billionaire involved more paperwork than joining the CIA.
It wasn't funny anymore.
Nathan continued.
“There's more. The receiving companies connect to a man named Grant Holloway.”
I knew the name.
Vanessa's “cousin.”
She had introduced us twice.
He wasn't her cousin.
Nathan confirmed it.
“They've known each other for years.”
“How many?”
“At least nine.”
“Relationship?”
“I'm still establishing that.”
A knock interrupted me.
Officer Ortiz stood at the study door.
“Mr. Mercer?”
“I'll call you back.”
I ended the call.
Ortiz entered.
“Ms. Cole says the housekeeper stole jewelry and became physically aggressive.”
“Maria?”
“Yes.”
I almost laughed.
Maria was five foot four and sixty-one years old.
Vanessa attended private boxing sessions twice a week.
“Do you believe her?”
Ortiz didn't answer directly.
“We collect facts.”
Good answer.
“So do I.”
“She also says you prevented her from leaving.”
“I locked the door while waiting for emergency services. She's free to leave with you.”
Ortiz studied me.
“Maria mentioned security cameras.”
“I just learned about them.”
“You own the house.”
“My father designed the security system. It has been upgraded several times.”
“How many cameras?”
“I don't know.”
“Could footage exist?”
“Yes.”
I called Daniel Cho, head of residential security.
He answered on the first ring.
“Mr. Mercer?”
“Daniel, I need every camera recording from this property preserved immediately.”
A pause.
“All systems?”
“Yes.”
“Including Archive Twenty-Six?”
I frowned.
“What is Archive Twenty-Six?”
Another pause.
“Sir, I think we should discuss that privately.”
My stomach tightened.
“Daniel.”
“It was installed by your father.”
I looked through the doorway.
Vanessa stood between two officers.
Her eyes were fixed on me.
“Why?”
“He said if anything ever happened inside the house, the house should remember.”
“When was it last active?”
“It never stopped.”
My pulse slowed.
Not from relief.
From dread.
“Where are the recordings?”
“Encrypted local server. Separate from the smart-home network.”
Meaning Vanessa couldn't erase them through the ordinary security panel.
“Who has access?”
“You. Me. And your father's estate attorney.”
“Vanessa?”
“No.”
Now Maria's words made sense.
She knows about the cameras.
Not necessarily where they were.
But enough to fear them.
“Preserve everything from the last eighteen months.”
Daniel hesitated.
“That is a significant amount of footage.”
“Do it.”
I hung up.
Vanessa was watching me.
She understood enough from my face.
“Elijah.”
I walked back into the foyer.
The paramedic helped Maria stand.
Officer Ortiz approached Vanessa.
“Ms. Cole, we're going to need you to come with us while we sort this out.”
Vanessa laughed nervously.
“For what?”
The officer began explaining.
Vanessa stopped listening.
Her attention remained on me.
“You're choosing her?”
“No.”
I stepped closer.
“I'm choosing the truth.”
Her face hardened.
“You'll regret this.”
Perhaps.
But regret was no longer what worried me.
Daniel arrived twenty minutes later.
After police left with Vanessa, he took me downstairs into a section of the mansion I'd entered hundreds of times.
Wine cellar.
Mechanical room.
Storage.
Then he pressed his thumb against a panel behind an electrical cabinet.
A hidden door opened.
Behind it was a small server room.
Twenty-six camera feeds filled the monitors.
Kitchen.
Foyer.
Hallways.
Garage.
Exterior doors.
My father's study.
I stared.
“Why didn't I know?”
“You did,” Daniel said quietly.
“What?”
“Your father told you shortly before he died.”
I remembered.
Morphine.
Hospital bed.
Dad squeezing my hand.
“The house remembers, Eli.”
I'd thought he was being sentimental.
He hadn't been.
Daniel typed.
“Date?”
I gave him the day I'd flown to London.
Footage appeared.
Vanessa walked into my study at 2:13 a.m.
She wasn't alone.
Grant Holloway followed her.
My blood turned cold.
They closed the door.
Daniel glanced at me.
“Audio?”
“Yes.”
He activated it.
Vanessa's voice filled the room.
“We have six weeks until the wedding.”
Grant answered.
“And if Mercer finds out before then?”
Vanessa smiled.
“He won't.”
Grant placed a folder on my father's desk.
“What about the housekeeper?”
Vanessa's smile vanished.
“Maria saw too much.”
Daniel looked at me.
On-screen, Grant asked the question that changed everything.
“So what are you going to do about her?”
Vanessa leaned against my desk.
Her answer was quiet.
May you like
But the microphone caught every word.
“Whatever I have to.”
