Chapter 3 - The Secret His Daughters Couldn’t Say
The first recording lasted twenty-eight seconds.
Chadworth almost could not press play.
The timestamp was from February.
Five months earlier.
Gemma sat at the breakfast table.
Sabina stood behind her.
Nothing happened for several seconds.
Then Gemma asked, “When is Daddy coming home?”
“Friday.”
“Can I call him?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because he’s working.”
Gemma looked disappointed.
“I miss him.”
Sabina leaned down.
“Your father has important things to do, Gemma. You need to stop bothering him every time you feel lonely.”
Chadworth flinched.
The recording ended.
The second clip was worse.
Lorelai stood in the hallway holding Chadworth’s phone.
Sabina removed it from her hand.
“I wanted to call Dad.”
“He’s in a meeting.”
“He said I could always call.”
Sabina smiled.
“He says lots of things because you’re a child.”
The video stopped.
Chadworth stared at the frozen image.
“Next.”
Malcolm played another.
Then another.
None showed dramatic physical harm.
That almost made the pattern more disturbing.
Sabina did not need violence.
She used isolation.
Coldness.
Belittling remarks.
She repeatedly told the girls their father was too busy.
She corrected them whenever they talked about Rosamund affectionately.
She removed small comforts as punishment.
And whenever another adult entered, Sabina became warm again.
Clip seventeen showed Lorelai trying to tell Chadworth something during a video call.
“Dad, I need—”
Sabina appeared behind her.
Lorelai stopped.
Chadworth, distracted by someone speaking off-camera, said, “I have to go, sweetheart. Tell Sabina whatever you need.”
The recording ended.
Chadworth stood so abruptly his chair rolled backward.
“I said that.”
Malcolm did not respond.
“I handed her directly back to Sabina.”
His voice was barely audible.
He walked toward the dark wall.
For years, Chadworth had told himself he was building security for his daughters.
Trust funds.
Property.
Schools.
A financial future no disaster could touch.
But a nine-year-old did not need a diversified portfolio when she was frightened.
She needed her father to answer the phone.
Chadworth turned.
“Why did Rosamund save these?”
Malcolm opened the metadata.
“She created a protected security folder.”
“Could she access it?”
“Only from staff terminals, apparently. She couldn’t export the footage. But she could flag clips against automatic deletion.”
“So she was collecting evidence.”
“Looks that way.”
“Why didn’t she show me?”
Malcolm looked toward the live monitor.
“Maybe we should ask her.”
Not yet.
Chadworth wanted the whole truth first.
At 3:40 that afternoon, another piece arrived unexpectedly.
Sabina entered Chadworth’s study.
She believed the room empty.
It was.
But the camera remained active.
She opened a drawer.
Chadworth frowned.
“That drawer is locked.”
“Apparently not anymore,” Malcolm said.
Sabina removed a small velvet box.
She opened it.
Inside was a bracelet.
Chadworth stopped breathing.
He knew it immediately.
The bracelet Sabina claimed Rosamund had stolen.
Sabina had spent weeks telling him it had vanished.
She had even suggested searching Rosamund’s room.
Yet there it was.
In Sabina’s hand.
She placed it inside her purse.
Chadworth whispered, “Son of a—”
He stopped himself.
Malcolm looked equally stunned.
Sabina left.
Chadworth stared at the empty study.
The theft had been fabricated.
There was no interpretation left.
No misunderstanding.
No alternative explanation.
Sabina had lied.
But why?
Getting Rosamund fired was obvious.
The deeper question was why Rosamund frightened her so much.
The answer came that evening.
The girls had finished dinner.
Sabina went upstairs to dress for what she claimed was a charity event.
Rosamund helped Gemma prepare for bed.
Lorelai sat on the edge of Gemma’s bed.
The stuffed rabbit rested between them.
Rosamund turned on a small lamp.
“Rosamund?” Lorelai asked.
“Yes?”
“If Dad married Sabina, would you still work here?”
Rosamund stopped.
“If your father wanted me to.”
“Sabina wouldn’t.”
Rosamund sat beside her.
“Why do you say that?”
“She told me.”
Gemma looked toward the door.
Lorelai lowered her voice.
“She said after the wedding, everything changes.”
Chadworth leaned closer to the monitor.
“What changes?” Rosamund asked.
Lorelai hesitated.
“Us.”
Rosamund’s expression tightened.
“What do you mean?”
“She said we might go to boarding school.”
Chadworth shot upright.
He had never discussed boarding school.
Not once.
Gemma whispered, “I don’t want to go.”
“You’re not going anywhere,” Rosamund said.
“But she said Dad already agreed.”
“No.”
Rosamund’s answer was immediate.
Lorelai looked surprised.
“How do you know?”
“Because your father would never make a decision like that without talking to you.”
Chadworth looked down.
Rosamund had more faith in him than his own daughters did.
Then Lorelai said, “There’s something else.”
Gemma immediately grabbed her arm.
“Don’t.”
“Gemma.”
“She’ll know.”
“Know what?” Rosamund asked.
Lorelai stared at the door.
Then she reached beneath Gemma’s mattress.
She removed a folded piece of paper.
Chadworth leaned toward the screen.
Rosamund unfolded it.
Her expression changed.
“What is that?” Chadworth asked.
Malcolm zoomed slightly, but the writing remained too small.
Rosamund read silently.
Then looked at Lorelai.
“Where did you get this?”
“Sabina dropped it.”
“When?”
“Last week.”
“Does she know you have it?”
Lorelai shook her head.
Rosamund folded the paper.
“You need to give this to your father.”
Lorelai’s eyes filled.
“What if he doesn’t believe me?”
Rosamund took her hands.
“Then I’ll stand beside you when you tell him.”
That was when Chadworth made his decision.
He could not remain behind the screens.
He stood.
Malcolm did not stop him this time.
Chadworth left the monitoring room.
He moved through the service hallway and climbed the rear staircase.
Every step felt heavier.
He reached the second floor.
Gemma’s bedroom was twenty feet away.
He could hear Rosamund speaking quietly inside.
Then another sound came from behind him.
Footsteps.
Chadworth turned.
Sabina stood at the opposite end of the hallway.
She was dressed for her evening event.
For one second, neither moved.
Her face lost all color.
“Chad?”
Silence.
“What are you doing here?”
He looked at her.
No anger.
Not yet.
Only an expression Sabina had never seen from him before.
“I could ask you the same thing.”
She stared.
“You’re supposed to be in Canada.”
“I know.”
The bedroom door opened.
Rosamund appeared.
Behind her stood Lorelai and Gemma.
When Lorelai saw her father, she froze.
Then she looked at Sabina.
And Chadworth saw the fear return to his daughter’s eyes.
He finally understood.
He crossed the hallway and knelt in front of Lorelai.
“I need you to hear me.”
She stared at him.
“You can tell me anything.”
Lorelai began crying silently.
Chadworth opened his arms.
She fell into them.
Gemma followed.
He held both girls.
Then Lorelai whispered against his shoulder:
“Dad… Sabina has been planning something for after the wedding.”
May you like
And in her shaking hand was the folded paper Rosamund had found.
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