Chapter 1 - The Green Light
Sarah heard Leo cough from two rooms away.
Not the soft cough babies sometimes made after waking.
This was sharp.
Repeated.
Frightened.
She abandoned the basket of folded towels in the hallway and ran toward the drawing room.
The mansion was bright with late-afternoon sunlight. Pale walls reflected gold from the tall windows. The fireplace was cold. Leo’s luxury crib stood near the center of the room beneath the baby monitor mounted above the mantel.
Sarah reached the doorway and stopped.
Victoria stood beside the crib.
A heavy steam iron was in her right hand.
Its cord stretched toward a wall socket.
Thin white steam drifted above Leo.
The infant’s face was flushed. He coughed again and cried.
Victoria pressed the steam button.
HISS.
“Stop crying.”
Sarah’s stomach turned cold.
“What are you doing?”
Victoria spun.
For half a second, Sarah saw something naked in her expression.
Not panic.
Annoyance at being interrupted.
Then Victoria lowered the iron.
“I’m removing a wrinkle from my scarf.”
Sarah looked across the room.
The scarf lay folded over a chair nearly twelve feet away.
She moved immediately.
Victoria stepped in front of her.
“Sarah—”
Sarah pushed past.
She lifted Leo from the crib and held him against her chest.
The baby buried his face against her uniform.
He was breathing.
Coughing.
Terrified.
But breathing.
Sarah turned her body between Leo and the iron.
Victoria’s face hardened.
“Give him to me.”
“No.”
“You’re only the maid.”
Sarah stared at her.
“And he’s a helpless baby.”
Victoria reached for Leo.
Sarah shifted away.
Victoria grabbed her forearm.
“Give him to me.”
Sarah jerked free.
“Touch him again and I’ll scream for Ethan.”
Victoria’s mouth curved.
“Who do you think he’ll believe?”
Footsteps sounded in the hall.
Victoria released her instantly.
She placed the iron on the side table.
Her expression changed before Ethan even entered.
Tears appeared.
Sarah watched in disbelief.
Ethan rushed in.
“What happened?”
Victoria covered her mouth.
“She attacked me.”
Sarah stared.
“What?”
“She shoved me and took Leo.”
Sarah tightened her hold on the infant.
“She was holding that iron over his crib.”
“That’s a lie!”
Ethan looked between them.
Victoria crying.
Sarah furious.
Leo trembling.
“Stop.”
Nobody did.
Victoria pointed.
“She has hated me since I moved in.”
“I have never—”
“She thinks she runs this house.”
Sarah almost answered.
Then she saw it.
A tiny green light above the fireplace.
The monitor.
She pointed.
“The camera.”
Victoria followed her finger.
Her face went white.
Ethan looked upward.
Then at Victoria.
She took one step backward.
“Ethan…”
He pulled out his phone.
“Don’t.”
The word came too quickly.
Sarah watched Ethan open the monitor application.
He scrolled backward.
The room became silent except for Leo’s uneven crying.
Ethan pressed play.
On the screen Victoria entered the drawing room carrying the iron.
The scarf was already on the chair.
She checked the hallway.
Moved beside the crib.
Pressed the steam button.
Leo startled.
Victoria pressed it again.
Then leaned over him.
“Stop crying.”
Ethan’s face changed.
Shock.
Disbelief.
Then something colder.
Victoria reached for his phone.
“It wasn’t what it looked like.”
Ethan stepped away.
“What was it?”
“I was trying to calm him.”
“With steam?”
“It was away from him.”
“He was coughing.”
“He coughs all the time.”
Sarah said quietly:
“No, he doesn’t.”
Victoria turned on her.
“Stay out of this.”
Ethan’s head snapped toward her.
“Do not speak to her.”
The anger in his voice silenced everyone.
Leo’s crying softened.
Sarah rubbed his back.
Ethan approached.
“Let me see him.”
Sarah hesitated.
Only for a second.
Then gave Leo to his father.
Ethan checked his face and breathing.
“We’re calling his pediatrician.”
Victoria laughed nervously.
“This is insane.”
Sarah looked toward the iron.
That was when she noticed the paper.
A folded note was partly trapped beneath Victoria’s handbag on the side table.
Ethan saw Sarah looking.
He lifted it.
Victoria lunged.
“Give me that.”
Ethan pulled away.
He opened the page.
Only one sentence had been written across the center.
ONCE THE WEDDING IS OVER, THE BABY BECOMES THE PROBLEM.
Nobody spoke.
Ethan read it again.
Then slowly looked at Victoria.
Sarah had never seen him look afraid inside his own home before.
“Who wrote this?”
Victoria said nothing.
Ethan’s eyes dropped to the signature area.
Blank.
No name.
No explanation.
He looked back at Victoria.
“Who wrote it?”
Her lips trembled.
Then she whispered:
“You won’t understand.”
Sarah held out her arms for Leo as Ethan reached for his phone again.
But before he could call anyone, another notification appeared.
The baby monitor app.
OLDER MOTION RECORDINGS AVAILABLE: 17 EVENTS.
Ethan stared at the number.
Sarah felt something colder than fear.
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Today had not been the first time the camera had seen Victoria near Leo’s crib.
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