Chapter 2 - The CameraAmanda met Rosa in the hospital parking garage.
The housemaid looked terrified.
“You shouldn’t be here,” Amanda said.
“I know.”
“Where is Derek?”
“At home.”
“Mrs. Clark?”
“With him.”
Rosa held a small flash drive.
“I copied it.”
“The security footage?”
“Yes.”
Amanda took it.
“Why?”
Rosa looked down.
“Because Mr. Derek deleted the original.”
Amanda stopped breathing.
“When?”
“Twenty minutes after you left.”
“Why would he delete it?”
“He told me the camera made him look bad.”
Amanda’s fingers tightened around the drive.
“Did you watch it?”
Rosa nodded.
“What does it show?”
Rosa looked toward the hospital entrance.
“You should see.”
Amanda opened the file on her laptop inside a quiet waiting room.
Timestamp.
11:08 a.m.
The wide-angle camera showed the foyer.
Derek on the sofa.
Leo upstairs.
At 11:07:14, Leo wandered toward the railing.
Derek looked directly at him.
At 11:07:23, Leo placed one foot onto the decorative ledge.
Derek continued watching.
Amanda felt sick.
“Why didn’t he yell?”
Rosa whispered, “I don’t know.”
At 11:07:31, Derek picked up his phone.
Not to call anyone.
He checked the screen.
Leo climbed higher.
Derek looked up again.
Then back down.
Seven seconds later, Leo fell.
Amanda covered her mouth.
“Oh my God.”
She watched the rest.
Derek did not move for nine full seconds after the fall.
Then he shouted:
“ROSA!”
Amanda shut the laptop.
Her hands trembled.
“He could have stopped it.”
“Yes.”
“He saw Leo.”
“Yes.”
Rosa’s eyes filled.
“I am sorry.”
Amanda looked at her.
“Why?”
“Because I should have told you before.”
“Before what?”
Rosa hesitated.
Amanda’s stomach tightened.
“Rosa.”
“This was not the first time Mr. Derek ignored something dangerous.”
Amanda stared.
Rosa described the pool.
Two months earlier, Leo had walked toward an unlocked gate while Derek sat outside.
Rosa reached the child first.
Derek later told her Amanda was “too paranoid.”
Then the kitchen.
Leo once pulled a chair toward the stove.
Derek watched until Rosa intervened.
Amanda’s face went pale.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Mrs. Clark said Mr. Derek needed time to adjust.”
Amanda looked sharply at her.
“Mrs. Clark knew?”
“Not everything.”
“What did she know?”
Rosa looked uncomfortable.
“She knew he did not want responsibility for Leo.”
Amanda felt as though someone had removed the floor beneath her.
Derek had been charming before they married.
He bought Leo toys.
Read bedtime stories.
Told Amanda he understood that marrying her meant becoming part of Leo’s life.
After the wedding, that warmth slowly disappeared.
Never dramatically.
Just enough to be explainable.
“I need everything you remember.”
Rosa nodded.
Amanda returned to Leo’s room.
At 8:17 p.m., Derek finally came to the hospital.
Mrs. Clark was with him.
Amanda stepped into the hallway.
Derek looked relieved.
“How is he?”
“He’s okay.”
“Good.”
The casual tone enraged her.
Mrs. Clark spoke first.
“Amanda, we need to discuss what happened.”
“We do.”
“You cannot strike Derek.”
Amanda looked at her.
“I shouldn’t have slapped him.”
Derek seemed surprised.
Amanda continued.
“But that is not the most important thing that happened today.”
Mrs. Clark’s expression hardened.
“It is important.”
Amanda opened her laptop.
“Watch.”
She played the footage.
Derek’s face changed immediately.
“Where did you get that?”
Amanda stared at him.
Not denial.
That was his first question.
Mrs. Clark watched.
Her expression shifted when Leo began climbing.
She glanced at Derek.
“Why didn’t you call him?”
Derek crossed his arms.
“He climbs everything.”
Then Leo fell.
Mrs. Clark’s face drained.
Nine seconds.
Ten.
Eleven.
Derek still sitting.
Then:
“ROSA!”
The video ended.
Mrs. Clark looked at her son.
“Derek?”
He became defensive.
“I froze.”
Amanda laughed without humor.
“You froze?”
“Yes.”
“You checked your phone while he was climbing.”
“I didn’t realize how dangerous it was.”
Mrs. Clark stared.
“You were looking directly at him.”
Derek turned on her.
“Whose side are you on?”
The question hung there.
Amanda heard something inside it.
Side.
Not truth.
Side.
Mrs. Clark straightened.
“This is not about sides.”
“It always is with you.”
Amanda looked between them.
Something older existed here.
A pattern.
Derek walked away.
Mrs. Clark followed him with her eyes.
Then Amanda asked:
“What did he mean?”
“Nothing.”
“What did you know about the way he treated Leo?”
Mrs. Clark looked at Amanda.
“I knew he struggled with the arrangement.”
“Arrangement?”
“Raising another man’s child.”
Amanda’s eyes sharpened.
“Leo is not an arrangement.”
“I know.”
“Does Derek?”
Mrs. Clark said nothing.
Amanda closed the laptop.
“I am not bringing Leo home tonight.”
Derek spun around.
“You can’t just—”
“I can.”
“That house is your home.”
Amanda looked at him.
“No.”
Her voice was quieter now.
“It’s yours.”
Mrs. Clark’s expression changed slightly.
Because that statement was not technically true.
May you like
The mansion belonged to a family trust.
And Amanda had no idea yet that Derek had spent the last six months trying to change who controlled it.
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