CHAPTER 4: FIFTY-THREE VIDEOS
Victor lowered the phone from his ear.
For the first time in years, the world around him seemed to disappear.
The bustling hospital corridor.
The flashing monitors.
The hurried footsteps of doctors and nurses.
Everything faded beneath a single sentence.
Fifty-three videos.
Fifty-three.
Not one.
Not two.
Someone hadn't captured a single terrible moment.
Someone had been documenting a pattern.
Victor slowly looked at Lily.
She was staring at him, confused.
"What happened?"
He didn't answer.
Instead, he handed the phone to his chief of security.
"Bring every file to me."
"Now."
"Yes, sir."
The call ended.
Lily's heart pounded.
"Is it about Ethan?"
Victor finally spoke.
"Your phone."
Her eyes widened.
"They found it?"
He nodded once.
"There are videos."
Lily's lips parted.
"The videos..."
She whispered.
"I thought she deleted them."
Victor's gaze sharpened.
"You knew?"
"I... I wasn't sure."
She closed her eyes, forcing herself to remember.
"Every time I noticed bruises, I secretly recorded what I could."
"But Serena almost caught me several times."
"So I hid the files inside a locked folder."
"I was waiting."
"Waiting for proof strong enough that no one could call me a liar."
Victor didn't speak.
The elevator doors opened.
His head of security stepped out, carrying Lily's cracked phone inside a sealed evidence bag.
Behind him came two digital forensic specialists from Blackwood Security.
One of them carried a laptop.
The other, a portable data recovery kit.
Victor pointed toward a private consultation room.
"Inside."
Five minutes later.
The room was silent except for the hum of the laptop.
The forensic technician connected Lily's damaged phone.
The screen flickered.
Then came to life.
"Password?"
Lily quietly entered six digits.
The phone unlocked.
A hidden folder appeared.
The technician clicked it.
A prompt appeared.
53 Video Files.
Each file was automatically labeled by date.
Victor noticed something immediately.
The earliest recording was nearly four months old.
This had been happening for months.
The technician opened the first video.
Static.
The image shook violently.
Then...
The nursery appeared.
Lily had hidden the phone behind a teddy bear on a bookshelf.
The camera captured nearly the entire room.
Serena entered carrying Ethan.
She smiled.
A beautiful smile.
The kind photographers loved.
She gently placed Ethan inside his crib.
Then she waited.
The moment the door clicked shut...
Her smile vanished.
Completely.
It disappeared so suddenly that even the security specialists exchanged uneasy glances.
She leaned over the crib.
"You cried again today."
Her voice was calm.
"You embarrassed me in front of Victor."
Ethan reached toward her.
Tiny hands searching for comfort.
Instead...
Serena slapped his little hand away.
Hard.
The child burst into tears.
Serena didn't flinch.
"Stop crying."
Ethan cried louder.
She grabbed his arm.
Not enough to leave obvious marks.
Just enough to make him scream.
Victor's jaw tightened.
Nobody in the room dared look at him.
The video ended.
Silence.
The technician hesitated before opening the second file.
Another day.
Another hidden recording.
This time Serena stood beside Ethan's high chair.
"You don't deserve dinner."
She deliberately pushed the plate farther away.
The hungry toddler reached for it.
She watched.
Smiling.
"You'll eat when I say."
The recording lasted eleven minutes.
Eleven minutes during which Ethan cried from hunger while Serena calmly drank coffee and scrolled through her phone.
Lily covered her mouth.
She had never seen that recording before.
She had hidden the phone and left to prepare lunch.
She thought nothing had happened.
She had been wrong.
Victor remained expressionless.
Only the veins in his hands betrayed him.
The third video played.
Ethan had a fever.
His tiny face burned bright red.
Serena looked at the thermometer.
103 degrees.
She sighed in annoyance.
"You always get sick when Victor has business dinners."
She opened the bedroom window.
Outside...
Snow fell heavily.
The freezing winter wind rushed into the nursery.
She removed Ethan's blanket.
The little boy began shivering violently.
One of the forensic specialists suddenly whispered,
"My God..."
Nobody answered.
Victor never looked away from the screen.
The fourth.
The fifth.
The sixth.
Each recording peeled away another layer of Serena's perfect public image.
She pinched Ethan whenever no one watched.
She forced him to stand long after his tiny legs had grown tired.
She mocked him whenever he cried.
She whispered words no child should ever hear.
"Your mother abandoned you."
"Your father barely notices you're alive."
"One day this house will finally be quiet."
Lily couldn't stop crying.
She had suspected abuse.
She never imagined it was this monstrous.
Then...
The technician opened Video 17.
The room became silent again.
The date read:
Three weeks ago.
Serena was on the phone.
"...No."
She laughed softly.
"I'm handling it."
A man's voice crackled faintly through the speaker.
The audio was weak.
Almost impossible to understand.
Then Serena said something that froze everyone.
"No."
"I'm not killing him."
"That would create questions."
She looked toward Ethan.
The toddler sat on the floor, playing with wooden blocks.
"I only need Victor to believe he's a sickly child."
She smiled.
"If everyone thinks he's fragile..."
"...his death later won't surprise anyone."
Victor's fingers slowly curled into fists.
The table creaked beneath the pressure.
The technician swallowed.
No one dared breathe.
The video ended.
Another file automatically loaded.
Video 18.
It showed almost nothing.
Just Serena speaking to someone standing outside the camera's view.
The unknown person never appeared.
Only a pair of polished black shoes became visible for less than two seconds.
Male.
Expensive.
Custom-made.
The voice was distorted.
"...The investors are impatient."
Serena answered calmly.
"They'll have the Blackwood empire."
"When the child is gone..."
"...Victor will be easier to control."
Victor's eyes narrowed.
Investors?
This wasn't only about money.
Someone else was involved.
Someone powerful.
The technician paused the video.
"Sir..."
Victor looked at him.
"Enhance the audio."
"It may take time."
"You have ten minutes."
"Yes, sir."
The room exploded into activity.
Digital specialists isolated sound frequencies.
Removed background noise.
Filtered interference.
Slowly...
The distorted male voice became clearer.
Still not perfect.
But understandable.
"...Council..."
"...shipment..."
"...the heir..."
"...accident..."
Victor listened carefully.
Then one word emerged with chilling clarity.
"Consortium."
Every muscle in Victor's body stiffened.
The Consortium.
A shadow organization that had tried to buy the Blackwood empire twice in the past.
When Victor refused...
Three of his warehouses mysteriously exploded.
His accountant disappeared.
Two trusted captains were assassinated.
He had crushed every attack.
Or so he believed.
Now...
It appeared they had chosen a different battlefield.
His family.
Before anyone could speak, another Blackwood operative burst into the room without knocking.
He was breathing hard.
"Boss!"
Victor turned.
"What?"
The man's face was pale.
"We searched Miss Serena's bedroom."
"And?"
"We found a hidden passport."
Victor frowned.
"Whose?"
The operative slowly placed a photograph on the table.
A passport.
Different name.
Different nationality.
Different hair color.
Different birthday.
But the face...
Was Serena's.
The room fell completely silent.
Victor stared at the document.
"Run facial recognition."
The technician typed rapidly.
Five seconds later...
A red warning flashed across the screen.
IDENTITY MATCH: 98.7%
Current Identity: Serena Montigue
Original Identity: UNKNOWN
Before anyone could process the result, Victor's phone rang again.
It was the team guarding Blackwood Mansion.
He answered immediately.
"What is it?"
The voice on the other end was frantic.
"Boss..."
Victor's expression darkened.
"Speak."
A gunshot echoed through the phone.
Then came the guard's terrified shout.
May you like
"Miss Serena is gone!"
END OF CHAPTER 4
