Chapter 2 - THE PERFECT MOTHER-IN-LAW
Marcus stood so quickly he almost slipped.
“Mom?”
Victoria looked from him to Elena.
Her expression changed immediately.
“Oh my God.”
She rushed forward.
Elena scrambled backward.
“Stay away from me.”
Victoria stopped.
“What happened?”
“You know exactly what happened.”
“Elena.”
“Don’t.”
Marcus stepped between them.
“Mom, you were supposed to be in Boston.”
“I was.”
Victoria held up her phone.
“My meeting ended early. I changed my flight.”
Elena laughed.
It came out sharp and ugly.
“How convenient.”
Victoria stared at the blood on Elena’s hand.
“Marcus, call Dr. Avery.”
“No.”
Elena pointed at her.
“No doctors.”
“Honey, you’re bleeding.”
“Stop calling me honey.”
Victoria’s face tightened with what looked like hurt.
She was good at that.
Victoria was always good.
Good posture.
Good manners.
Good charity dinners.
Good photographs.
Every room inside Hale Manor seemed to straighten when Victoria walked into it.
Elena had moved into the estate six months earlier after Marcus’s father died. She had hated the idea.
Marcus had promised it would only be temporary.
Then Elena got pregnant.
Then Victoria became helpful.
Almost too helpful.
Breakfast trays.
Warm tea.
Prenatal vitamins.
Rest schedules.
Doctor appointments.
“You’re family now,” Victoria had told her.
At the time, Elena had cried.
Now she wanted to vomit.
Marcus picked up the silver pillbox.
“What are these?”
Victoria glanced at it.
“Her vitamins.”
“What brand?”
“I don’t remember.”
“You give them to her every morning.”
Victoria blinked.
“I move half a dozen supplements into that box so she doesn’t have to carry bottles around.”
Elena stood.
“You put something in my tea.”
Victoria looked genuinely shocked.
Marcus turned.
“Elena.”
“She did.”
“Do you have proof?”
Elena stared at him.
“Are you kidding me?”
“I’m asking.”
“I’m your wife.”
“And she’s my mother.”
The sentence landed between them like a knife.
Victoria lowered her eyes.
Elena saw it.
The smallest movement.
The faintest satisfaction.
There you are.
Elena stepped closer to Marcus.
“She wants you to think I’m crazy.”
“Nobody said that.”
“She does.”
Victoria sighed.
“Elena, you’ve been under enormous stress.”
“Shut up.”
“You barely sleep.”
“Shut up.”
“You told me last week you heard a baby crying inside the walls.”
Marcus slowly turned toward Elena.
She felt ice spread through her chest.
“That was different.”
Marcus stared at her.
“You never told me that.”
“Because I knew how it sounded.”
Victoria spoke softly.
“And two days ago, she insisted a woman was standing outside the nursery window.”
Elena looked at her.
“You said you saw her too.”
Victoria’s eyebrows pulled together.
“No, sweetheart.”
“Yes, you did.”
“I said I saw a tree branch.”
“You’re lying.”
“Elena.”
“You’re lying!”
The baby kicked.
Elena doubled over.
Marcus caught her.
“Okay. That’s it. We’re going to the hospital.”
“No.”
“Elena—”
“No hospital connected to your family.”
Victoria went very still.
Elena noticed.
So did Marcus.
“What does that mean?” he asked.
Elena held up the pillbox.
“It means I want this tested somewhere your mother can’t touch.”
Victoria’s voice hardened.
“You need rest.”
“No.”
“You need medical care.”
“No.”
“Elena looked directly into her eyes.
“I need the truth.”
For one long second, Victoria’s mask slipped.
There was no concern there.
No warmth.
Only calculation.
Then the expression vanished.
Marcus didn’t see it.
But Elena did.
And later that night, after Marcus finally fell asleep beside her, Elena found something beneath her pillow.
A folded piece of paper.
Three words written in black ink.
May you like
YOU SAW NOTHING.
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