CHAPTER 1 The Camera Was Never Meant to Catch Vanessa
At exactly 11:42 p.m., the Reed estate was completely silent.
The staff had gone to their quarters.
The lights in the east wing were already off.
Only the luxury kitchen remained softly illuminated beneath warm pendant lights.
Vanessa Reed quietly pushed the kitchen door open.
She stood still for several seconds, listening.
Nothing.
Satisfied that everyone was asleep, she reached into her pocket and removed a small white tablet wrapped inside a tissue.
She walked toward the marble island where a glass of water and Charles Reed's nightly medication had already been prepared.
Charles, the seventy-eight-year-old patriarch of the Reed family, never forgot his routine.
Every evening before bed, he took the same medicine with a glass of water left in the kitchen by the housekeeper.
Vanessa carefully placed the tablet on the counter.
Using the back of a silver spoon, she slowly crushed it into a fine white powder.
Her hands were steady.
Too steady.
It didn't look like the first time she had prepared something with such precision.
She lifted the spoon above the glass.
The powder trembled on its edge.
Just one small movement...
And it would disappear into the water.
Then a calm voice broke the silence.
"Look at the new camera."
Vanessa froze.
The spoon remained suspended in midair.
For several long seconds, she didn't breathe.
Slowly...
She raised her eyes.
In the upper corner of the kitchen, a tiny red light blinked steadily.
Recording.
Every second.
Every movement.
Thomas Reed stepped out from the shadows near the pantry.
His expression was unreadable.
He wasn't shouting.
He wasn't angry.
He simply watched her.
"I installed it this morning," he said quietly.
"I wondered who would notice."
Vanessa slowly lowered the spoon onto the counter.
Her face had turned pale.
"You've misunderstood."
Thomas didn't move.
"Have I?"
Vanessa forced a nervous smile.
"It's just a sleeping supplement."
"For Grandpa."
"He hasn't been sleeping well."
Thomas looked at the crushed powder.
"Then why hide it?"
She hesitated.
"I... wanted to surprise him."
Neither of them believed the excuse.
Thomas walked toward the kitchen island.
Instead of taking the spoon...
He picked up the medicine bottle prepared for Charles.
He studied the label for a moment.
Then looked back at Vanessa.
"Interesting."
"What?"
"This isn't Grandpa's medicine."
Vanessa's expression changed.
Only slightly.
But Thomas noticed.
He turned the bottle over.
The prescription belonged to someone else.
Emily Reed.
Charles's late daughter.
She had died three years earlier.
Thomas slowly looked back at Vanessa.
"Why do you have Emily's medication?"
Vanessa stared at the bottle as if she had never seen it before.
"I..."
She stopped.
For the first time that night...
She looked genuinely confused.
Just then, footsteps echoed in the hallway.
Someone else was awake.
Thomas quickly placed the bottle back on the counter.
Both turned toward the kitchen door.
Charles Reed stood there.
Wearing his robe.
Looking tired.
He glanced at the glass of water.
Then at Vanessa.
Then at Thomas.
No one spoke.
Charles slowly smiled.
"I see..."
"So you've finally found it."
Vanessa frowned.
"Found what?"
Charles looked directly at the medicine bottle.
"The one thing..."
"...I hoped nobody would ever discover."
The room fell silent.
No one knew what Charles meant.
Not even Thomas.
👇 Chapter 2
