Chapter 8 - THE THREAT
I showed Alexander.
His face went cold. “Dominic.”
Within ten minutes, my niece was picked up from her apartment and moved to a secure hotel with her mother.
I hated that caring about Noah had dragged my family into Sterling problems.
“I’m leaving tonight,” I told Alexander.
“No.”
He corrected himself. “Sorry. That came out wrong.”
“Yes.”
He exhaled. “Do you want to leave?”
“Yes.”
“And no.”
Alexander nodded. “That’s different.”
Dominic traced the threat to a prepaid number.
But the leaked ballroom clips came from an internal event-production server.
Only seven people had administrator access.
Alexander’s jaw tightened. “She planned the statement too fast.”
The first edited clip had been exported twelve minutes before Noah walked toward me.
Unless someone had prepared templates in advance.
OPTION_A_VANESSA.
OPTION_B_MADELINE.
OPTION_C_CLAIRE.
OPTION_D_STAFF_INCIDENT.
Alexander stared. “Staff incident?”
The video template included lower-third text:
CHILD DISPLAYS INAPPROPRIATE ATTACHMENT TO EMPLOYEE.
Someone had expected Noah might choose me.
Alexander turned. “You knew this could happen.”
She looked exhausted. “I knew he was attached.”
“So you prepared to humiliate Emma?”
“To protect Noah.”
“How?”
“If public opinion believed the attachment was unhealthy, removing her would look responsible.”
I could not believe how calmly she said it.
He looked at his mother. “You were going to destroy her reputation to make sending Noah away easier.”
Eleanor’s mouth tightened. “I was going to end a dependency.”
“Sir. There’s more.”
The St. Alden intake packet had been created one month earlier.
Noah demonstrates fixation on domestic employee Emma Carter and may require separation to restore appropriate family attachment.
May you like
Then Alexander’s eyes stopped on the date.
The report had been signed three weeks before Dr. Feldman ever met Noah.
