Chapter 1 - DON'T TOUCH THAT DRAWER
Seraphina Blake waited until Arthur Caldwell had been gone for less than twenty minutes.
Then she stopped pretending.
Clara sat on the living-room sofa in pajamas with a book open across her knees. Lily was beside her.
Seraphina crossed the room fast, snatched the book from Clara’s hands, and slammed it onto the coffee table.
“You’re a GUEST here.”
Clara’s eyes filled.
“This is my home!”
“Go cry upstairs.”
Clara ran toward the hallway. Lily followed.
The second both girls disappeared, Seraphina’s expression changed from anger to calculation.
She entered Clara’s bedroom, took Catherine Caldwell’s pearl locket from the bedside table, checked the hall, then crossed to housekeeper Elena Ramirez’s room.
She yanked open Elena’s personal drawer, dropped the locket inside, and shut it.
“Let’s see who Arthur believes.”
Across town, Arthur stared at a live security monitor.
He had left the house deliberately.
The living-room camera showed Seraphina humiliating Clara.
The hallway feed showed her carrying the locket.
The staff corridor showed the drawer.
Arthur froze.
Then his face turned cold.
“Got you.”
He called.
Seraphina answered confidently.
“Arthur?”
“Don’t touch that drawer.”
Her smile vanished.
She slowly looked toward the camera.
May you like
Arthur continued:
“And don’t leave the house.”
