Chapter 4 - The Man in the Gray Coat
Victor moved toward the bedroom door.
“Lily, lock yourself in the nursery.”
She hesitated.
“Victor—”
“Take Oliver.”
Something in his voice made her obey.
Lily hurried through the hidden passage.
Victor closed the panel behind her.
Serena watched him.
“You’re making this into something it isn’t.”
Victor placed the folder inside his jacket.
“Who came into my house?”
Before Serena could answer, a man appeared at the bedroom door.
He was in his late fifties.
Tall.
Gray coat.
Wire-rimmed glasses.
Victor recognized him.
Dr. Adrian Mercer.
Mercer had once worked as a pediatric neurologist at Blackwood Children’s Foundation.
Victor had personally removed him from a research project eighteen months earlier after auditors discovered improper documentation.
Mercer looked almost as shocked to see Victor as Victor was to see him.
“Mr. Blackwood.”
Victor stared at Serena.
“Why is he here?”
Serena stepped between them.
“Adrian was helping Oliver.”
Victor’s expression changed.
“You brought a doctor I fired into my home?”
Mercer raised both hands.
“I can explain.”
“Start explaining.”
Mercer looked toward Serena.
That single glance told Victor everything.
They had rehearsed a story.
Mercer cleared his throat.
“Oliver has been experiencing sleep disturbances.”
Victor stepped closer.
“Who diagnosed that?”
“I observed him.”
“When?”
Mercer hesitated.
Serena interrupted.
“While you were traveling.”
Victor stared at her.
“You allowed a doctor I explicitly banned from my foundation to treat my son without my permission?”
“He wasn’t treating him.”
Victor pulled the folder from his jacket.
Mercer’s face changed.
Victor opened it.
“Then what is this?”
Mercer said nothing.
Victor’s phone buzzed.
His security chief, Daniel Reed, was calling.
Victor answered immediately.
“Sir, are you inside the mansion?”
“Yes.”
“We received an automatic alert from the secondary server.”
Victor frowned.
“What alert?”
“Someone attempted to permanently delete archived camera footage.”
Victor looked directly at Serena.
Daniel continued.
“The local cameras may show gaps, but the backup server should still have copies.”
Serena heard him.
She bolted toward the hallway.
Victor caught her wrist.
“Let go!”
Mercer suddenly shoved Victor.
Victor stumbled into the dresser.
Serena escaped into the corridor.
Mercer ran after her.
Victor recovered quickly.
He grabbed his phone.
“Daniel, lock every exterior gate.”
“Already doing it.”
Victor rushed toward the nursery.
“Lily!”
The hidden panel opened.
Lily appeared with Oliver.
“He’s okay.”
Victor took his son.
For one brief moment, Oliver stopped crying.
Then Victor smelled something strange.
A faint medicinal odor clung to the toddler’s blanket.
Victor handed Oliver back.
“Daniel is coming.”
Lily stared at him.
“What did Serena do to him?”
Victor did not answer.
Because he didn’t know.
But he knew one thing.
Serena had not been trying to separate Oliver from Lily because she hated the nanny.
May you like
She had been trying to get Lily out of the way.
And somewhere inside the mansion’s backup security system was the reason.
