Chapter 3 - What Amy Saw Through the Door
Amy did not follow Dylan immediately.
Frederick needed her.
She carried him downstairs through the laundry entrance, avoiding the guests crowded near the main hall. The family driver, Mr. Ellis, was standing beside the catering van.
“Can you take us to the pharmacy?” she asked.
He looked toward the house. “Mrs. Hale told me no vehicles were to leave.”
Amy thought she had misheard him.
“She told you what?”
“She said Connor might need the driveway clear.”
“My baby needs medicine.”
Mr. Ellis glanced at Frederick and reached for his keys.
“Get in.”
Before they could enter the car, one of the catering workers called him inside to move a table.
Amy waited.
Five minutes passed.
Then ten.
Mr. Ellis did not return.
Amy called him.
His phone rang inside the house.
She walked toward the side entrance and saw it lying on the counter.
The driver was gone.
Amy’s fear deepened.
She opened a ride service application, but every nearby driver canceled after approaching the gated street. When she checked the security panel, she discovered the visitor setting had been activated, preventing outside vehicles from entering without Teresa’s approval.
Connor had administrative control.
Amy had a secondary code.
Teresa should not have had access at all.
Unless she had taken the code from Connor’s office.
Amy carried Frederick back upstairs.
The office door stood slightly open.
Dylan was inside with his back to her.
He held Connor’s property deed beneath the light of a portable scanner.
Beside him, a laptop displayed a digital copy of Connor’s signature.
Amy raised her phone and began recording.
Dylan scanned another page.
Then he called someone.
“I have the original,” he said quietly. “The notary has already dated everything.”
Amy moved closer to the opening.
“What about Connor?” a voice asked through the speaker.
“He’ll sign without remembering.”
“That wasn’t the arrangement.”
“It doesn’t matter. Voss has the declaration.”
Amy’s heartbeat hammered against her ribs.
Dylan continued.
“Once Teresa controls the property, Northstar gets the house. After that, the development group can begin demolition.”
Amy nearly gasped.
Demolition?
Connor’s home was not simply valuable. It had belonged to his grandfather, who had designed it himself. The surrounding land covered twelve acres near the edge of a rapidly expanding commercial district.
Developers had offered Connor millions.
He had refused every offer.
A floorboard creaked beneath Amy’s foot.
Dylan turned.
Amy stepped away from the door, but not quickly enough.
He rushed into the hallway.
“What did you hear?”
“Nothing.”
“Give me your phone.”
Frederick began crying.
Amy backed toward the stairs.
Dylan reached for her wrist.
She shouted.
The office door opened wider.
Teresa emerged from behind it.
She had been inside the entire time.
“Stop,” Teresa told Dylan.
Amy looked from one to the other.
Teresa smiled calmly.
“Connor will never believe you.”
“I recorded him.”
“Did you?”
Amy looked at her screen.
The video had disappeared.
A message read: Storage error. File not saved.
Dylan held up a small electronic device.
A wireless jammer.
Amy’s hands trembled.
Teresa took the medicine bottle from the pocket of Amy’s robe before Amy could stop her.
“You are tired,” Teresa said. “You are frightened, and you are imagining things.”
“Give that back.”
“It will be replaced.”
“With what?”
Teresa glanced at Frederick.
The baby’s eyes were half closed.
Amy’s fear became fury.
She stepped between Teresa and the stairs.
“You will never touch him again.”
Dylan laughed.
Teresa did not.
Instead, she gave Amy a look so empty that Amy finally understood Connor’s mother had never considered her family.
She was an obstacle.
Frederick was leverage.
And Connor was a signature waiting to be stolen.
Headlights appeared beyond the front windows.
Connor was returning.
May you like
Teresa leaned close to Amy.
“Smile,” she whispered. “Or I will make sure Connor loses more than this house.”
