Chapter 1 - THE FALL
Leo was already falling when I saw him.
I was crossing the foyer with folded towels when his two-year-old body hit the stair runner and rolled toward the marble floor.
“Leo!”
I dropped everything and ran. I caught him three steps from the bottom, the impact knocking me to my knees.
He wrapped both arms around my neck and screamed.
“I’ve got you, sweetheart.”
Then I looked up.
Vanessa stood at the top of the staircase, one hand on the rail.
“You pushed him.”
Her eyes widened. “He slipped.”
“You were behind him.”
She came down slowly. “Anna, you’re hysterical. Give him to me.”
Leo clung tighter.
“No.”
Her expression hardened. “Give me the child.”
Before I could answer, the front door opened.
Richard walked in with his laptop bag and froze.
“What happened?”
Vanessa spoke first. “Anna left him alone upstairs. He fell.”
I stared at her.
“I was downstairs. Vanessa was with him.”
“That’s a lie,” she snapped. “She hates me.”
Richard took Leo, checking his head and arms with shaking hands.
“Call Dr. Patel.”
Vanessa pointed at me. “She should be fired tonight.”
Leo lifted his wet face from his father’s shoulder.
Then his tiny hand rose.
One trembling finger pointed above the staircase.
At the black security camera near the ceiling.
Nobody moved.
Richard followed his son’s finger, then looked at Vanessa.
May you like
“Good,” he said quietly.
“We’ll watch it.”
