Chadworth wanted to leave the monitoring room immediately.
He wanted to walk into the living room, tell Sabina to pack her belongings, take his daughters into his arms, and undo every frightening moment they had experienced while he was gone.
But Marcus was right.
They did not yet know how far Sabina had gone.
And Chadworth could no longer afford the luxury of reacting only to what was directly in front of him.
He had done that for too long.
He had listened when Sabina told him Rosamund was suspicious.
He had accepted explanations when Lorelai became withdrawn.
He had believed Gemma's sudden reluctance to remain home was a phase.
One by one, the memories began returning.
Three months earlier, Lorelai had asked whether she could go with him to the office on a Saturday.
He had laughed.
“You hate my office.”
“I can color.”
“At my office?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
She had shrugged.
At the time, he thought she simply wanted attention.
Now he understood something else.
Sabina had been staying at the estate that weekend.
Another memory.
Gemma had started asking whether Rosamund would be home before agreeing to go upstairs for bed.
He had thought it was attachment.
Maybe it had been survival.
Chadworth pressed both palms against the desk.
“How did I not see this?”
Marcus answered quietly.
“You weren't looking.”
Chadworth turned.
The words might have angered another man.
Instead, he nodded.
“No. I wasn't.”
On the screen, Rosamund led the girls into the kitchen.
She began preparing hot chocolate.
Gemma sat on the counter despite a rule Chadworth himself had established against it.
Normally he would have noticed.
Now he watched Rosamund place one hand behind the child so she would not fall.
“Extra marshmallows?” Rosamund asked.
Gemma nodded.
Lorelai said, “Sabina says sugar makes us annoying.”
Rosamund paused.
“Sabina says a lot of things.”
“Do you think we're annoying?”
Rosamund turned.
“No.”
“Ever?”
“Sometimes.”
Lorelai almost smiled.
Rosamund smiled too.
“Everybody is annoying sometimes. I'm annoying before coffee.”
Gemma giggled.
The sound struck Chadworth with unexpected force.
When had he last heard her laugh like that?
Not politely.
Not because an adult expected it.
Actually laugh.
Rosamund poured the chocolate.
Lorelai watched her.
“Are you going to get fired?”
Rosamund's hand stopped.
“Why would you think that?”
“Because Sabina said she was going to make Daddy fire you.”
Chadworth's blood went cold.
Rosamund glanced toward the doorway.
“When did she say that?”
“Yesterday.”
“What exactly did she say?”
Lorelai looked at Gemma.
The little girl lowered her eyes.
“Tell her,” Lorelai whispered.
Gemma's voice was barely audible.
“She said Daddy believes her.”
Chadworth felt as if someone had struck him.
Rosamund crouched beside them.
“What else?”
Gemma whispered, “She said if we tell Daddy things, you'll have to leave.”
Lorelai added, “She said you'd go to jail.”
Rosamund froze.
In the monitoring room, Marcus straightened.
Chadworth stood.
“Jail?”
Marcus gestured toward the chair.
“Keep listening.”
Rosamund's face had gone pale.
“Why would she say that?”
Lorelai looked confused.
“She said you steal things.”
Rosamund stared.
“I don't.”
“We know.”
“Did she tell your dad that?”
Gemma nodded.
Rosamund slowly sat down.
For months, Sabina's little accusations had appeared spontaneous.
A misplaced bracelet.
A missing scarf.
Cash supposedly moved from a drawer.
Rosamund understood now that they were not spontaneous at all.
Neither did Chadworth.
The girls were silent.
Finally Rosamund said, “Listen to me. Neither of you should ever be scared to tell your father something because of me.”
Gemma's eyes filled.
“But she'll send you away.”
“No one should ask you to keep secrets because you're afraid of what will happen to me.”
Lorelai whispered, “You don't understand.”
Rosamund reached for her hand.
“Then help me understand.”
Lorelai stared toward the kitchen doorway.
“She said Daddy already thinks you're a liar.”
Chadworth closed his eyes.
Those words hurt because Sabina had made them believable.
He had questioned Rosamund about the bracelet two weeks earlier.
The conversation replayed in his mind.
Rosamund had been standing beside the library shelves.
“Did you move Sabina's bracelet?”
“No, sir.”
“You're sure?”
“Yes.”
“Think carefully.”
Her expression had changed.
“I am sure.”
He remembered how he had watched her afterward.
He remembered checking security logs.
He remembered locking his office door more frequently.
Had Rosamund noticed?
Of course she had.
She simply had not said anything.
On the monitor, Lorelai continued.
“She said if we told Daddy she yelled at us, he would think we made it up because we don't want him to marry her.”
Gemma added, “She said families break when children lie.”
Rosamund's eyes closed briefly.
When she opened them, her voice was firm.
“You are not responsible for grown-ups' relationships.”
Neither girl spoke.
“Do you hear me?”
Lorelai nodded.
“Your father decides who he marries. Sabina decides how she behaves. I decide how I behave. You are children. It is not your job to keep grown-ups happy by hiding things.”
Gemma whispered, “But Daddy loves her.”
Chadworth looked away.
Rosamund answered carefully.
“Your dad loves you more.”
Gemma's expression crumpled.
“Then why didn't he know?”
That question emptied the room of sound.
Chadworth stopped moving.
Rosamund looked down.
She could have blamed him.
She could have told the girls he cared more about work.
She could have said he should have noticed.
Every accusation would have been justified.
Instead, she said, “Sometimes people don't see things until someone helps them look.”
Chadworth stared at the screen.
Rosamund had defended him even when he did not deserve it.
Marcus quietly said, “She could've turned them against you.”
“I know.”
“She didn't.”
“I know.”
Then another camera detected motion.
Sabina entered Chadworth's office.
Marcus changed the primary screen.
Sabina closed the door behind her.
Chadworth frowned.
“She doesn't use my office.”
Sabina approached his desk.
She tried the top drawer.
Locked.
Then she moved to a cabinet behind the desk.
Marcus leaned closer.
“What is she doing?”
Sabina removed something from her pocket.
A key.
Chadworth's expression changed.
Very few people possessed keys to those cabinets.
He did not remember giving one to Sabina.
She unlocked the door and removed a small velvet box.
Chadworth recognized it.
Sabina's missing bracelet.
Marcus swore under his breath.
Chadworth said nothing.
Sabina opened the box, took out the diamond bracelet she had claimed disappeared days earlier, and slipped it inside her handbag.
Then she returned the empty box to the cabinet.
Chadworth felt rage arrive differently than he expected.
Not hot.
Cold.
Precise.
“You recorded that?”
Marcus nodded.
“Multiple angles.”
“She hid it.”
“Yes.”
“In my office.”
“Yes.”
“Then accused Rosamund.”
“Yes.”
Chadworth sat down again.
The pattern suddenly became clear.
Sabina was not merely cruel to his daughters.
She had been manufacturing evidence.
“Why?” he asked.
Marcus watched the screen.
“To remove Rosamund?”
“That can't be all.”
“No.”
Chadworth stared at Sabina as she left his office.
“What haven't I seen?”
The answer arrived thirty minutes later.
Sabina met a man near the service garage.
The camera angle was partially obstructed by a stone column, but Marcus recognized him.
“That's Adrian Pike.”
Chadworth frowned.
His corporate attorney.
Not his primary attorney, but a senior member of the outside firm representing Prescott Capital in several transactions.
“What is he doing here?”
Marcus increased the audio.
Sabina looked irritated.
“You shouldn't have come.”
Adrian kept his voice low.
“We have a problem.”
“What problem?”
“The foundation paperwork.”
Sabina glanced around.
“Not here.”
“You told me he'd be out of the country.”
“He is.”
“No. His driver never checked in at Logan.”
Sabina's face changed.
Chadworth and Marcus exchanged looks.
Adrian continued.
“Something feels wrong.”
Sabina crossed her arms.
“You're being paranoid.”
“I'm being careful.”
“You weren't careful when you altered the authorization schedule.”
Chadworth went completely still.
Marcus immediately began recording the audio separately.
Adrian hissed, “Keep your voice down.”
Sabina stepped closer.
“Rosamund will be gone by Monday.”
“What does the maid have to do with this?”
“She sees too much.”
“She's a housekeeper.”
“She knows the girls. The girls trust her. Chadworth trusts the girls even if he doesn't always listen to them. I need her out before the wedding.”
Adrian rubbed his forehead.
“We should stop.”
“No.”
“We've already moved enough.”
Chadworth felt his stomach drop.
Moved enough.
Money.
This was no longer family manipulation.
This was financial.
“How much?” Sabina asked.
“Eleven point four.”
Marcus looked at Chadworth.
Sabina smiled slightly.
“And no one noticed?”
“Not yet.”
Chadworth gripped the arm of the chair.
Eleven point four million dollars.
Adrian continued.
“If the marriage happens and the revised trust structure is signed, there's room to move more.”
Sabina's voice turned sharp.
“It will happen.”
“What about the girls?”
Sabina glanced toward the house.
“They're children.”
“They dislike you.”
“They'll adjust.”
“And if they don't?”
Sabina's face showed no emotion.
“Boarding school exists for a reason.”
Chadworth stood so quickly his chair rolled backward into the wall.
Marcus rose as well.
“Chad—”
“She wants to send my daughters away.”
“Stay focused.”
“She wants to steal from me and send them away.”
“We have evidence. Don't destroy the investigation because you're angry.”
Chadworth paced once across the dark room.
Every instinct demanded confrontation.
But another thought stopped him.
Rosamund.
Sabina had said she would be gone by Monday.
How?
A theft accusation?
Police?
Planted evidence?
He turned toward Marcus.
“Search Rosamund's room.”
Marcus hesitated.
“Without telling her?”
“If Sabina planted something, we need to find it before she does.”
Marcus called one trusted security officer.
Ten minutes later, the officer entered Rosamund's small bedroom in the employee wing while she remained downstairs.
The camera followed.
The room was simple.
A narrow bed.
A dresser.
Two framed photographs.
A stack of library books.
No luxury items.
No expensive jewelry.
The officer opened the closet.
Nothing.
He checked beneath the bed.
Then he found a small black pouch pushed behind a suitcase.
He opened it.
Inside were several pieces of jewelry.
A diamond necklace.
Gold earrings.
A designer watch.
Chadworth recognized every item.
All belonged to Sabina.
Marcus exhaled slowly.
“There it is.”
Chadworth stared.
Planted evidence.
If Sabina called police and demanded a search, Rosamund would look guilty immediately.
“How long has that been there?” Chadworth asked.
“We'll review footage.”
“Don't touch it.”
The officer carefully returned everything exactly as it had been.
Chadworth turned back toward the screens.
In the kitchen, Rosamund was helping Gemma clean spilled cocoa.
She had no idea that thousands of dollars in jewelry had been hidden in her room.
No idea that the woman accusing her of theft was preparing to prove it.
No idea that Chadworth himself had been only days away from believing the lie.
The shame of that realization settled heavily in his chest.
He had almost failed her.
More importantly, he had failed his daughters.
He watched Lorelai laugh when Rosamund dabbed cocoa on Gemma's nose.
For the first time, Chadworth understood why his children were comfortable around Rosamund.
It was not manipulation.
She gave them something the mansion had stopped providing.
Safety without conditions.
Marcus sat beside him.
“What do you want to do?”
Chadworth's eyes remained on his daughters.
“First, we protect them.”
“And Sabina?”
Chadworth looked toward the screen showing his fiancée walking calmly through the foyer.
For months, she had believed she controlled the story.
She had convinced him to doubt the wrong person.
She had frightened his daughters into silence.
She had planted jewelry.
She had apparently participated in stealing millions from his companies.
And she still believed Chadworth was on his way to Canada.
He spoke quietly.
“Sabina thinks I'm gone.”
Marcus nodded.
“Then for a few more hours, let's make sure she keeps believing it.”