Chapter 5 - THE PEDIATRICIAN
Talia met Serena at the agency’s downtown office.
The conference room had glass walls and an expensive coffee machine no nanny ever used.
Serena placed two folders on the table.
“One is your employment record.”
“And the other?”
“The complaint.”
Talia looked at it.
“Can I read it?”
“Not all identifying details.”
“She identifies herself.”
“Yes.”
Serena slid a redacted copy.
Talia read.
Bianca described Talia as emotionally attached, boundary-challenged, resistant to parental authority, and physically rough during transitions.
The language was careful.
Professional.
Nothing like Bianca’s voice in the mansion.
“She had help writing this.”
“Probably.”
Talia continued.
One paragraph caught her attention.
Ms. Monroe has repeatedly documented ordinary interactions in a manner that suggests inappropriate suspicion of future maternal caregivers.
Talia looked up.
“Future maternal caregivers.”
Serena nodded.
“Odd phrase.”
“Bianca hates that I document how Luca responds to her.”
“Why?”
“Because she thinks being Dominic’s fiancée means nobody should question her.”
Serena leaned back.
“Be careful.”
“I know.”
“No. I mean with your own framing.”
Talia looked at her.
“If you decide this is about class, you may start fitting every event into that explanation.”
Talia exhaled.
Serena was right.
“I need facts.”
“Yes.”
“So do we.”
Serena disclosed that Dominic’s counsel had sent confirmation that the care log contained a deleted entry and that the household was investigating unauthorized modification.
Talia froze.
“What entry?”
Serena read it.
The wrist note.
Talia closed her eyes.
“I knew I wrote that.”
“Did you delete it?”
“No.”
“Could someone access your account?”
“Administrators.”
“Who?”
“Martin. Dominic. Bianca, apparently.”
Serena wrote that down.
Then:
“Why did you document it?”
“Because it was the second time.”
Serena stopped.
“Second?”
Talia nodded.
Two weeks earlier, Bianca had tried to lift Luca one-handed by the forearm when he resisted leaving a play mat.
Talia corrected her.
Bianca called her dramatic.
“Did you log that?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
Talia hesitated.
Because she did not want to lose her job.
There it was.
Even she had made decisions around power.
“I thought one correction was enough.”
Serena’s eyes softened.
“That's useful.”
“My failure?”
“Your honesty.”
Talia looked away.
She had spent days furious at Dominic for not immediately believing her.
Yet she too had minimized something because Bianca was powerful.
Not equivalent.
But instructive.
“What happens now?”
“Your suspension remains.”
Talia’s jaw tightened.
Serena continued before she could object.
“But I am adding Dominic’s statement that he does not endorse the allegation as established fact.”
“Does that clear me?”
“No.”
“Then what does?”
“Evidence.”
Always evidence.
Talia left angry.
But less helpless.
That afternoon, Dr. Menon’s written note reached the agency.
No injury.
Transient wrist erythema consistent with pressure but cause indeterminate.
No other signs of physical mistreatment.
Talia read the summary Serena forwarded.
Cause indeterminate.
Bianca could say Talia did it.
Talia could say Bianca did.
The doctor could say neither.
That was professional evidence.
Not satisfying.
But real.
Meanwhile, Dominic asked Martin a question nobody had asked.
“How did Bianca get administrator access to the care app?”
Martin looked uncomfortable.
“You authorized household integration.”
“I authorized access.”
“She requested full access when wedding planning began.”
“And you gave it?”
“Your office approved.”
Dominic frowned.
“Which office?”
“Family operations.”
He called the director.
The request had come from Bianca herself.
Reason:
As future spouse and maternal figure, I need visibility into all caregiving records relating to Luca.
Dominic had never seen it.
His chief of staff had approved routine access because Bianca was his fiancée.
Another assumption based on status.
Dominic felt something close to shame.
Not because granting a future stepparent access was inherently wrong.
Because nobody had asked whether access should include edit authority over a nanny’s records.
Bianca had.
She knew.
That evening, Dominic sat beside Luca on the nursery rug.
The boy stacked two blocks.
Knocked them down.
Laughed.
Dominic thought about all the systems around his son.
Staff.
Lawyers.
Security.
Money.
His reputation made people afraid to make mistakes.
Yet fear of him might also make staff less likely to challenge someone he loved.
That possibility unsettled him more than Bianca’s lies.
If he had built a house where telling him uncomfortable truths felt dangerous—
then Bianca had not created the weakness.
May you like
She had used it.
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