CHAPTER 3 — The Hidden Cameras Told a Different Story
Nathan carried all three children upstairs himself.
He wrapped them in blankets.
Called the family doctor.
Then locked Victoria inside the library.
"Don't leave this room."
She laughed.
"You think anyone will believe the children?"
Nathan didn't answer.
Instead, he picked up his phone.
"Marcus."
His head of security answered immediately.
"Sir?"
"I want every security recording from this house."
"Every camera."
"Every backup."
Marcus hesitated.
"Sir..."
"The basement cameras were disabled six months ago."
Nathan frowned.
"I never approved that."
"You didn't."
"The request came from Mrs. Harrington."
Nathan ended the call.
Ten minutes later, Marcus arrived carrying a portable hard drive.
"We found something else."
"What?"
"The children's nanny."
"She secretly installed two hidden cameras before she resigned."
Nathan's pulse quickened.
"Show me."
The first video began.
Victoria smiled at breakfast while Nathan kissed the children goodbye before leaving for New York.
The front door closed.
Her smile vanished instantly.
She grabbed Emma by the arm.
"So..."
"Your father is gone."
The second clip showed Liam trying to protect Jacob.
Victoria slapped him hard enough to knock him into the kitchen counter.
The third...
was almost impossible to watch.
The children sat in the basement eating dry crackers and water.
Above them...
Victoria hosted charity dinners celebrating "family values."
Nathan's hands trembled.
Marcus quietly placed another document on the desk.
"There's more."
"Mrs. Harrington transferred nearly twelve million dollars over the past year."
Nathan looked up.
"To whom?"
Marcus swallowed.
"A man named Daniel Cross."
"The private investigator believes..."
"...they've been having an affair."
Silence filled the room.
Nathan stared at the frozen image on the monitor.
His daughter curled into a ball on the cold basement floor.
His wife smiling for the cameras upstairs.
His marriage.
His family.
Everything he believed.
Gone.
Then the house alarm suddenly sounded.
Marcus looked toward the front gate.
"Sir..."
Victoria's lawyer just arrived.
And she's not alone.
Child Protective Services is with them.
May you like
Victoria wasn't trying to defend herself.
She was trying to take the children away before Nathan could expose the truth.
