Chapter 2 - The Shield
I shifted the camera feed to the kitchen. Mrs. Gable was already there, her wrinkled hands trembling as she arranged cleaning supplies on the island. Evelyn entered a moment later, her heels clicking aggressively against the marble tile.
"Are the girls moving?" Evelyn demanded, crossing her arms.
"They are on their way, Miss Vance," Mrs. Gable said, keeping her eyes firmly on the floor. "But please... the weather outside is freezing, and the mudroom has a draft. Grace has a cough. Let me do the heavy scrubbing today. I can account for the time."
Evelyn laughed—a dry, humorless sound. "You'll do what you're paid to do, Martha. And let’s be entirely clear: those corporate accounts you think I don't know about? If you say one word to Arthur when he calls from London, I will ensure the police find the missing twenty thousand dollars right under the mattress in your staff quarters. I built the paper trail perfectly. You will take the blame, and you will go to prison."
Mrs. Gable looked up, tears brimming in her faded eyes. "Arthur loves those girls, Evelyn. If he knew what you did to them when he travels—how you lock them in the dark, how you threaten them—he would destroy you."
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"He won't know," Evelyn said smoothly, stepping up to the older woman. "Because Arthur thinks I am his savior. He thinks I am the perfect woman to heal his broken family. And you are going to help me keep that illusion intact, or you will lose your freedom, your pension, and the ability to ever see those children again to protect them."
In the dark service hallway, my hands shook so violently I nearly dropped the tablet. The missing money wasn't a theft for profit; it was a frame-up engineered by Evelyn to keep my loyal housekeeper silent. Every time I went on a business trip, my home became a psychological prison for my daughters.
