Chapter 10 - THE PERSON BEHIND THE FIRST LOCK
I stared at Elena.
“Who?”
She looked toward Leo.
I understood.
Not in front of him.
Evelyn took Leo into the playroom.
He didn’t want me to leave.
So I promised I would stay where he could see me through the glass doors.
Elena sat at the kitchen table.
Her hands shook around a cup of coffee she never drank.
“I worked for you for almost three years.”
“I remember.”
“You were kind to me.”
“That isn’t important right now.”
“It is to me.”
Her eyes filled.
“Because I betrayed you.”
I sat across from her.
“Tell me what happened.”
Elena nodded.
“When you first left for Singapore, Leo was sad.”
“I know.”
“He cried for you.”
“He asked every morning if that was the day you were coming home.”
My throat tightened.
“Dominic was patient at first.”
I looked at her.
“Patient?”
“For maybe two months.”
“What changed?”
“Brooke started staying overnight.”
There it was.
Much earlier than Dominic admitted.
“Two months after I left?”
Elena nodded.
“She told Leo not to come into the main bedroom.”
“My bedroom.”
“Yes.”
“What did Dominic say?”
“He said Leo needed to learn privacy.”
I almost laughed.
A two-year-old.
Privacy.
Elena continued.
“Then Liam started coming over.”
“How did Leo react?”
“At first, he liked him.”
That hurt in a different way.
“They played?”
“Yes.”
“Leo shared everything.”
“His toys.”
“His crayons.”
“His dinosaur blanket.”
Elena looked down.
“Then Victoria started correcting him.”
“What kind of correcting?”
“She said Liam was a guest and should get first choice.”
“First choice of what?”
“Everything.”
“Food.”
“Toys.”
“Television.”
“Where to sit.”
I felt my jaw tighten.
“At first it was small.”
“If Leo took the blue cup, Victoria told him Liam wanted it.”
“If Leo sat beside Dominic, she moved him.”
“If both boys wanted the same toy, Leo had to give it up.”
“Why?”
“She said he needed to learn not to be selfish.”
I looked through the glass.
Leo was lining toy cars beside Blue.
“Then?”
“Leo started getting angry.”
“Of course.”
“He pushed Liam once.”
I shut my eyes.
“How did they punish him?”
Elena’s hands tightened.
“Dominic did it.”
I opened my eyes.
“What?”
“The first time.”
My heart pounded.
“He put Leo in the storage room.”
“The red room?”
“It wasn’t red yet.”
Everything inside me stopped.
Elena wiped tears from her cheeks.
“Leo had pushed Liam.”
“Liam wasn’t hurt.”
“But Dominic was furious because Brooke was crying.”
“He grabbed Leo by the arm.”
My hands curled against the table.
“He said if Leo wanted to act like a bad kid, he could sit alone until he learned.”
“How long?”
“Twenty minutes.”
I breathed out.
Not because it was acceptable.
Because I had feared worse.
Elena looked at me.
“The first time.”
My stomach dropped.
“What happened next?”
“Victoria liked the idea.”
Of course she did.
“She said ordinary punishment didn’t work on him.”
“She started using the room.”
“She painted it.”
“Why red?”
Elena shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
“She said he hated the color.”
My throat tightened.
“So she deliberately painted it a color that frightened him?”
“Yes.”
“Did Dominic know?”
“He knew she used the room.”
“Did he know how long?”
“Sometimes.”
“Did he ever stop her?”
“Once.”
Elena’s story matched Dominic’s.
“He carried Leo upstairs.”
“Victoria screamed at him.”
“They argued.”
“Then Brooke told Dominic that his mother was right.”
My eyes narrowed.
“Brooke?”
Elena nodded.
“She said Leo was becoming jealous of Liam.”
“She said he needed boundaries.”
I stared at the table.
Brooke had lied about barely interacting with him.
Of course she had.
“What about the medicine?”
Elena looked confused.
“What medicine?”
So that started later.
“What made you leave?”
Her face changed.
“It wasn’t my choice.”
I waited.
“One night, Leo was sick.”
“He had a fever.”
“Victoria wanted to put him in the red room because he wouldn’t stop crying.”
“I refused.”
“Good.”
“I told her I would call you.”
“What happened?”
“She laughed.”
My skin went cold.
“She said you wouldn’t answer.”
“She said Dominic controlled what calls reached you.”
I stared.
“What do you mean?”
“Whenever you called the house, Dominic got a notification first.”
“That’s normal.”
“No.”
Elena shook her head.
“He had your calls forwarded.”
My breathing stopped.
“What?”
“If you called the house directly, the call routed to his phone.”
“He decided whether to connect you.”
I had never known.
I thought back to all those strange calls.
The ringing.
The delays.
Dominic saying Leo had just fallen asleep.
Dominic saying Leo was in the bath.
Dominic saying he was outside.
He had controlled access.
Elena continued.
“I tried to call you from my own phone.”
“What happened?”
“Victoria caught me.”
“She took my phone.”
“Dominic fired me the next morning.”
“And they paid you?”
“Victoria offered me one hundred thousand dollars.”
“Why did you take it?”
Elena started crying.
“My husband had cancer.”
The anger inside me stumbled.
“We were losing our apartment.”
“She knew.”
“She offered enough to pay his treatment.”
I looked away.
“I told myself I could take the money and then still report them.”
“But?”
“She made me sign an agreement.”
“That wouldn’t stop a child abuse report.”
“I know.”
“She also had photographs of my husband buying medication in Mexico.”
“He couldn’t afford it here.”
“She threatened to report him.”
Elena covered her face.
“I was scared.”
I sat in silence.
I hated what she had done.
I also understood fear.
That was uncomfortable.
“What’s on the drive?”
“Videos from the nursery camera.”
“I thought the house cameras were deleted.”
“These weren’t connected to the house system.”
“I installed one myself.”
“Why?”
“Because I didn’t trust Victoria.”
Evelyn returned.
We plugged the drive into an isolated laptop.
The first video showed Leo in his bedroom.
Two years old.
He was crying at the door.
“Mommy.”
Again.
“Mommy.”
Again.
Then Dominic entered.
For one second, hope exploded across Leo’s face.
“Daddy!”
Dominic crouched.
“Buddy.”
Leo reached up.
Dominic picked him up.
My chest tightened.
Then Dominic said it.
“Mommy is busy.”
Leo shook his head.
“Mommy come.”
“Not today.”
“Tomorrow?”
“Maybe.”
Leo started crying.
Dominic looked exhausted.
“Stop.”
Leo cried harder.
“I want Mommy.”
Dominic closed his eyes.
Then Brooke appeared in the doorway.
“She’s going to hear him if she calls.”
Dominic looked at her.
“What do you want me to do?”
Brooke shrugged.
“Put him somewhere he can calm down.”
The video cut.
The next one showed Dominic carrying Leo down the hall.
Toward the storage room.
Not Victoria.
Dominic.
He opened the door.
Set Leo inside.
Then closed it.
Leo started screaming.
“Daddy!”
Dominic stood outside.
His hand remained on the doorknob.
For five seconds, he almost opened it.
Then Brooke walked up behind him.
She touched his back.
“Come on.”
Dominic let go of the knob.
They walked away together.
My body went numb.
Elena whispered.
“That was the first time.”
I couldn’t speak.
The video continued.
Leo screamed for seventeen minutes.
Then his voice became hoarse.
Then quiet.
Then he sat down beside the door.
Waiting.
Eventually he whispered.
“Daddy?”
No answer.
He curled onto the floor.
The video ended.
I stood.
Walked to the bathroom.
And threw up.
When I came back, Evelyn had turned the laptop off.
Elena was crying.
I sat down.
“No more today.”
Evelyn nodded.
Then her phone rang.
She answered.
Her face changed.
“What?”
I watched her.
She looked toward me.
“When?”
A pause.
“Send it now.”
She ended the call.
“What happened?”
Evelyn opened her email.
“Brooke filed an emergency petition.”
“For what?”
“Temporary custody of Leo.”
I laughed because the idea was so absurd.
Then I saw Evelyn wasn’t laughing.
“She has no standing.”
“She claims she does.”
“How?”
Evelyn turned the screen toward me.
Brooke had attached a document.
A declaration signed by Dominic.
It stated that during my prolonged absence, Brooke had acted as Leo’s primary maternal caregiver.
It claimed Leo was deeply bonded to her.
It claimed removing him from her care had caused severe emotional distress.
At the bottom was Dominic’s signature.
Dated six months earlier.
I stared at it.
Then my phone rang.
Dominic.
I answered.
“Tell me that signature is fake.”
Silence.
My blood went cold.
“Dominic.”
May you like
His voice came out barely above a whisper.
“I can explain.”
