I sat at my desk and pulled up the security network for the estate. Vivian controlled the main system, but as the owner of multiple medical facilities, I had a private, encrypted server installed for my own study and the immediate perimeter for data security.
I began reviewing the footage from earlier that afternoon. Sure enough, the camera capturing the hallway outside the staff quarters showed Maya walking out to the garden with the twins. Exactly four minutes later, Vivian appeared. She glanced around the empty hallway, stepped into Maya’s room, and emerged thirty seconds later with empty hands.
But as I continued scrolling through the previous week’s footage, trying to understand the why, I found a clip from three days ago. It was late at night. The camera in the library showed Maya entering to restock the firewood. A moment later, Vivian’s phone, left on the reading table, lit up with a succession of texts. In the video, Maya accidentally glanced at the glowing screen, froze, and then quickly hurried out of the room looking visibly shaken.
I zoomed in on the high-definition feed and paused it on the reflection of the phone screen.
The texts were from an unknown number, discussing a massive siphoning of funds from my medical network’s charitable foundation—millions of dollars routed through an offshore account. And the final text read: “Your husband has no idea. We close the account on Friday.”
PART 3
The room spun. Vivian wasn’t just a cruel, spiteful woman; she was actively destroying my life’s work and embezzling from a charity meant for pediatric medical care. Maya had read those texts. Vivian must have realized it, and framing her for grand larceny was the perfect way to destroy Maya’s credibility before she could ever come to me.
I heard the click of heels on the hardwood floor outside.
