Chapter 1 - The Room Behind the Locked Door
“LET HER GO!” Naomi Carter shouted, dropping the tray so hard the teacup shattered against the marble floor.
Celeste Vale turned from the bed with one hand still wrapped around Evelyn Vale’s wrist. The old woman’s thin arm shook beneath her jeweled fingers. Evelyn tried to pull away, but Celeste leaned closer and hissed, “You will sign it, or Adrian will learn how confused you really are.”
Naomi had worked in the Vale household for three years. She knew which floorboards creaked, which doors were kept locked, and which family arguments were meant to stay behind thick walls. She had never interrupted one before. But Evelyn’s frightened eyes had found hers in the mirror, and Naomi had seen the red marks on the old woman’s wrist.
Celeste released her as if she had touched something dirty. “What are you doing in here?”
Celeste smiled at Naomi. It was the kind of smile rich people used when they wanted someone to understand how small they were. “You heard nothing. You saw nothing. Pick up the mess and get out.”
Naomi bent to gather the broken pieces, buying herself a second to think. On the bedside table sat a medicine cup, a white bottle with its label peeled off, and a document bearing Evelyn’s signature. The date was tomorrow.
“Your job depends on your memory, Naomi,” she said softly. “I would hate to see you lose it.”
A moment later, footsteps sounded in the hallway. Adrian Vale, Celeste’s fiancé and Evelyn’s only son, was coming upstairs. Celeste straightened her dress, smoothed her hair, and transformed herself into the worried, loving future wife everyone expected.
Then she leaned close to Naomi and whispered, “If you say one word, I will make sure nobody believes you.”
“What happened in here?” he asked.
May you like
Celeste answered before anyone else could speak.
“Naomi attacked your mother.”
