Chapter 2 - The Video They Forgot to DeleteValentina carried Ellie into the mansion without saying another word.
Every servant looked away.
No one asked what had happened.
No one needed to.
Ellie kept one hand wrapped around her mother's shirt.
She would not let go.
Valentina took her upstairs.
Locked the bedroom door.
Checked the windows.
Only then did she kneel.
"Show Mommy where it hurts."
Ellie hesitated.
"My back."
Valentina's heart sank.
"Anything else?"
"My knees."
Valentina closed her eyes for a second.
She had built half her life around protecting Ellie.
She had negotiated with criminals.
Threatened enemies.
Stared down men who carried guns.
But she had never imagined danger could be sitting at the same dining table.
Ellie whispered, "Mommy?"
"I'm here."
"Am I in trouble?"
Valentina stared at her.
"No."
"Grandpa said bad girls get punished."
Valentina gently touched her hair.
"You are not bad."
Ellie looked toward the bedroom door.
"Grandpa said if I tell you, you won't be my mommy anymore."
Valentina felt her stomach twist.
"Who else said that?"
Ellie lowered her eyes.
"Uncle Marcus."
Valentina's expression changed.
Marcus had filmed.
But he had also participated.
She opened the bathroom cabinet and found the first-aid kit.
As she cleaned Ellie's scraped palms, her phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
ONE IMAGE ATTACHED.
Valentina opened it.
It was a photograph of the family group chat.
Under the picture was a message:
"You should stop looking."
She stared at the screen.
Then another text appeared.
"Some things are safer buried."
Valentina typed:
"Who is this?"
No answer.
She looked back at Marcus's phone.
Something caught her attention.
The videos were not all recorded by him.
Some had timestamps.
Some were edited.
Some had been forwarded.
And several had been sent from an account named "M.C."
Marcus Caruso.
Valentina's brother had uploaded them himself.
She opened one.
It showed Ellie in a dark basement.
Valentina sat down hard.
There were no windows.
Ellie stood near a wooden chair.
Victor's voice echoed from behind the camera.
"Tell us why you're sorry."
Ellie sniffed.
"I don't know."
"Again."
"I'm sorry."
"For what?"
Ellie began crying.
Valentina almost threw the phone across the room.
Then she heard something.
A noise.
Not from Victor.
From behind the camera.
A soft female laugh.
Valentina replayed it.
There.
A woman's voice.
She slowed the video.
The woman whispered:
"She'll break eventually."
Valentina knew that voice.
Clara.
Victor's wife.
Ellie's grandmother.
The woman who had kissed Ellie at Christmas.
The woman who had sent her birthday gifts.
Valentina's hands went cold.
Clara had been there.
She had watched.
Maybe she had done more.
Valentina opened another clip.
Ellie was sitting at a dining table.
Clara stood behind her.
"Smile," Clara said.
Ellie didn't.
Clara whispered something.
Ellie immediately forced a smile.
Valentina stopped the video.
She stared at the screen.
"What are you afraid of?"
Ellie looked at her mother.
"Grandpa says I know something."
Valentina leaned closer.
"What?"
Ellie shook her head.
"I don't know."
"Think."
Ellie squeezed her blanket.
"He says I'm bad because I saw something."
Valentina's pulse quickened.
"Saw what?"
Ellie swallowed.
"A man."
"What man?"
"Someone in Grandpa's office."
Valentina stood.
"Did you tell anyone?"
Ellie whispered:
"Uncle Marcus."
"Why?"
"He told me to forget."
Valentina felt the room turn smaller.
Marcus had not simply filmed.
He had known Ellie had witnessed something.
Something connected to Victor's office.
Something serious enough to frighten a six-year-old into silence.
Valentina opened the group chat again.
She scrolled deeper.
Then she saw a message from one of her cousins.
It had been posted two weeks ago.
"Does she really know?"
Victor replied:
"She saw enough."
Another message appeared beneath it.
"And Marcus?"
Victor's response was immediate.
"He'll handle it."
Valentina froze.
Marcus had not been the helpless son holding a camera.
He had been assigned a job.
Then she noticed a deleted message.
Only the notification preview remained:
"After the account transfer, the girl becomes the..."
The message was gone.
Valentina stared at it.
Account transfer?
What account?
She called her private banker.
"Check every trust under my daughter's name."
There was a pause.
Then:
"Ms. Caruso, there is one."
Valentina's eyes narrowed.
"I never created one."
The banker hesitated.
"That's the problem."
Valentina's blood ran cold.
"Who did?"
Another pause.
"Your father."
At that exact moment, someone knocked on her bedroom door.
Three slow knocks.
Then Ellie whispered:
"Mommy..."
"What?"
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"I think Grandpa knows you're looking."
The doorknob began to turn.
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