Chapter 6
The police reached the estate before Gavin could start a fire.
Barely.
He had poured gasoline across the floor of Vanessa’s private office.
He had already emptied another can over boxes of documents in the garage.
When deputies surrounded him, he tried to run through the garden.
He didn’t make it past the pool.
By evening, Gavin Price was in custody.
That should have made me feel safer.
It didn’t.
Because someone had given him the old gate code.
Only four people besides Adrian had ever known it.
One was me.
One was the former head of security.
One was Adrian’s mother.
And one was Vanessa.
Vanessa was on bond with an ankle monitor.
Police records showed she had not gone near the estate.
So either she had given Gavin the code before her arrest…
Or someone else had.
Detective Harris interviewed Gavin for almost six hours.
He refused to speak without an attorney.
But the attempted destruction of evidence gave police enough reason to search his phone, financial records, and office.
By the next morning, the story had leaked.
BILLIONAIRE’S WIFE ACCUSED IN BABY ABUSE PLOT.
My photograph was everywhere.
Not just Vanessa’s.
Mine too.
Some outlets called me “the heroic nanny.”
Others called me “the employee at the center of a billionaire marriage scandal.”
Then came the photographs.
One showed Adrian putting his hand on my shoulder outside the hospital.
Another showed me carrying Noah into the private residence.
Within hours, strangers online had decided I was sleeping with my employer.
I wanted to throw my phone into the pool.
Adrian walked into the kitchen while I was reading comments.
“Stop.”
I looked up.
“What?”
“Reading that.”
“You’re reading it too.”
“I’m having my communications team track it.”
“I’m being called a home-wrecker.”
His jaw tightened.
“I’ll issue a statement.”
“No.”
“Rachel.”
“If you defend me too aggressively, they’ll say that proves it.”
He knew I was right.
That made it worse.
Then my phone rang.
My mother.
I almost didn’t answer.
I had not told her what happened.
The news had done it for me.
“Rachel?”
Her voice was shaking.
“Mom.”
“What is going on?”
I stepped outside.
For twenty minutes, I explained as much as I could.
My mother cried.
Then got angry.
Then cried again.
“Come home.”
“I can’t.”
“Yes, you can.”
“Mom, they know where I live.”
Silence.
I hated frightening her.
“They threatened you?”
“Yes.”
She whispered my name.
“I’m protected.”
“You’re protecting a billionaire’s family while someone threatens to kill you?”
“I’m not staying because he’s a billionaire.”
I looked through the glass doors.
Noah was sitting on Adrian’s lap.
“I’m staying because there’s a baby who trusts me.”
My mother sighed.
“You always do this.”
“Do what?”
“Decide everyone else needs you more than you need yourself.”
The words hurt because they were partly true.
“I’ll be careful.”
“Promise me.”
“I promise.”
After the call, Adrian stepped outside.
“You don’t have to stay.”
“Please stop saying that.”
His eyebrows lifted.
“I know I can leave.”
I turned toward him.
“But every time you say it, it sounds like you think I don’t understand my own decision.”
He was quiet.
“You’re right.”
That surprised me.
“I’m sorry.”
I nodded.
Then he handed me an envelope.
“What’s this?”
“Temporary leave pay.”
I frowned.
“I’m still working.”
“No.”
My temper rose.
“You fired me?”
His eyes widened.
“No.”
“Then what?”
“Rachel, you are a witness in a criminal investigation involving my family. You are also being threatened. I don’t want you feeling financially trapped here.”
I looked at the envelope.
“I don’t want your money.”
“It’s your salary.”
“I’m caring for Noah.”
“As someone he trusts.”
He paused.
“Not as an employee.”
That mattered more than I expected.
I took the envelope.
“Thank you.”
A security officer opened the back door.
“Mr. Whitmore, Detective Harris is here.”
We went inside.
Harris looked tired.
That usually meant bad news.
“We searched Gavin’s office.”
Adrian sat down.
“And?”
“We found financial transfers from an account controlled by Vanessa.”
“To Gavin?”
“Yes. More than eight hundred thousand dollars over eighteen months.”
“For what?”
“Some were labeled consulting fees.”
Harris’s expression told me he didn’t believe that.
“There’s more.”
He opened a folder.
“We also found payments to two household employees.”
My heart stopped.
“Who?”
“One is a former gardener.”
Adrian frowned.
“And the other?”
Harris looked at me.
“Marlene Tate.”
I knew the name immediately.
Marlene was the weekend housekeeper.
She had worked at the estate for seven years.
Longer than Vanessa had been there.
“She still works for us,” I said.
“Not anymore,” Adrian said.
His face hardened.
“What did Vanessa pay her for?”
“We don’t know.”
The detective slid bank statements across the table.
Three payments.
Ten thousand.
Fifteen thousand.
Twenty-five thousand.
I felt betrayed.
Marlene and I had eaten lunch together dozens of times.
She had held Noah.
She had listened to me complain about Vanessa’s temper.
Then I remembered something.
“The gate code.”
Everyone looked at me.
“Marlene knew it.”
Adrian frowned.
“How?”
“She used the old service gate years ago before you closed it.”
Harris wrote something down.
“We’re bringing her in.”
My stomach twisted.
“What if she told Gavin?”
“We’ll ask.”
He closed the folder.
“But that isn’t why I came.”
Adrian stared at him.
“What now?”
Harris took out his phone.
“Gavin’s attorney approached us thirty minutes ago.”
“About?”
“A deal.”
Adrian laughed bitterly.
“Of course.”
“He says Gavin has information that could implicate Vanessa in multiple planned incidents involving Noah.”
My chest tightened.
“And in exchange?”
“He wants reduced charges for the attempted destruction of evidence and conspiracy.”
Adrian leaned forward.
“What information?”
Harris looked at him.
“Gavin claims the stroller was only Plan B.”
I felt ice move through me.
“What was Plan A?”
The detective’s face was grim.
“A medication overdose.”
Adrian went completely still.
Harris continued.
“According to Gavin, Vanessa put something in Noah’s bottle two months ago.”
I remembered that night.
Noah vomiting.
The emergency pediatric visit.
The doctor saying it was probably a stomach virus.
I gripped the edge of the table.
“No.”
Harris looked at me.
“You remember an incident?”
“Yes.”
My voice barely came out.
“I gave him that bottle.”
Adrian turned toward me.
I felt sick.
“She handed it to me.”
The memory became horrifyingly clear.
Vanessa had prepared the bottle.
She had smiled.
She had said she was trying to help.
I had fed it to Noah.
I covered my mouth.
“Oh God.”
Adrian reached toward me, then stopped before touching me.
“Rachel.”
“I gave it to him.”
“You didn’t know.”
“But I gave it to him.”
Detective Harris spoke gently.
“That may be exactly why she chose you to do it.”
I looked up.
He continued.
“If the child became seriously ill, the person seen feeding him would be you.”
I felt tears burning my eyes.
Vanessa had not only wanted Noah hurt.
She wanted my hands to appear responsible.
Harris’s phone buzzed.
He read the message.
Then his face changed.
“What?”
He looked at Adrian.
“Gavin just changed his offer.”
“To what?”
“He says he’ll tell us everything.”
Harris paused.
“But only if Vanessa’s mother, Celeste Hart, is arrested first.”
Adrian frowned.
“Why?”
The detective stood.
“Because according to Gavin, Vanessa didn’t invent the plan.”
My heart pounded.
May you like
Harris looked between us.
“He says her mother did.”
