Chương 3
“You were not asked to go into the nursery,” Victoria said.
“No.”
“Then why did you?”
“Because he had been crying for a while.”
“How long?”
Elena hesitated.
She had not checked a clock.
Maybe three minutes.
Maybe ten.
Time changed shape when a baby cried.
“I don’t know.”
“Exactly.”
Marcus looked at Victoria.
“Where were you?”
“In my dressing room.”
“Doing what?”
Her eyes flashed.
“Do I need an alibi for getting dressed now?”
“No.”
He paused.
“But you’re acting like I asked for one.”
Rosa looked down at the floor.
Elena could almost hear her deciding whether to leave.
She stayed.
“I went into the nursery,” Elena said.
“Leo was in the crib.”
“He was supposed to be in the crib.”
“He had spit up.”
Victoria blinked.
“There was some on his collar and the sheet.”
“So you changed him.”
“Yes.”
“And then?”
Elena looked at Leo.
His eyes were half-closed now, his lashes wet and clumped together.
“I picked him up.”
Victoria gave a brittle little nod.
“There.”
Marcus frowned.
“There what?”
“She picked him up.”
“He was crying.”
“He cries.”
“He’s a baby.”
“I know what he is, Marcus.”
The words came out low.
Elena felt Rosa shift beside her.
Marcus’s jaw moved once.
“That’s not what I meant.”
“No, I know exactly what you meant.”
Victoria looked at Elena again.
“You pick him up every time he makes a sound.”
“Not every time.”
“You rush in.”
“I’m asked to help with him.”
“You hover.”
Elena almost laughed from sheer disbelief.
She stopped herself.
Victoria saw the movement anyway.
“Something funny?”
“No, ma’am.”
“Then don’t smirk at me.”
“I wasn’t.”
“You were.”
“Victoria.”
Marcus’s voice hardened.
She turned on him.
“You think this is easy?”
“No one said that.”
“You think I don’t see it?”
“See what?”
Victoria pressed her lips together.
For a moment it appeared she might refuse to answer.
Then Leo made a tiny sound in his sleep.
Victoria’s eyes closed.
“He doesn’t do that with me.”
No one moved.
The admission was so quiet Elena almost wished she had not heard it.
Marcus stared at his wife.
“What?”
“He doesn’t settle like that with me.”
Victoria swallowed.
“He arches away.”
“That’s not true.”
“It is.”
“He’s six months old.”
“Seven next week.”
Marcus looked down.
The correction struck him harder than it should have.
Victoria noticed.
“See?”
“Don’t.”
“You don’t even know.”
“I know my son.”
“You know photographs of your son.”
Marcus’s face reddened.
Elena lowered her gaze.
This was no longer a confrontation she belonged inside, yet the sleeping child strapped to her body made escape impossible.
Marcus glanced toward the carrier.
“I’ve been working.”
“Yes.”
“That’s not a crime.”
“I didn’t say it was.”
“You’re saying something.”
Victoria laughed softly.
“I’m saying the woman we pay to wash sheets knows how to calm our child better than either of us.”
Rosa’s head lifted.
“Elena doesn’t wash sheets.”
Victoria looked at her.
Rosa shrugged.
“Not usually.”
It was such an absurd correction that Elena nearly laughed again.
Marcus did.
One short breath escaped him before he covered his mouth.
Victoria stared at him.
The laugh died immediately.
“I’m glad this is amusing.”
“It isn’t.”
“Then don’t laugh.”
“I know.”
He rubbed his face.
“I’m sorry.”
Victoria’s expression faltered.
For two seconds she looked younger.
Then she looked at Elena.
“And she kissed him.”
Elena stiffened.
Marcus frowned.
“What?”
“Just now.”
Victoria pointed toward Leo.
“She kissed his head.”
Elena felt heat rise into her neck.
“I do that sometimes.”
“I know.”
The words were almost inaudible.
Marcus looked from one woman to the other.
“You knew?”
Victoria’s eyes filled but did not spill.
“I have cameras.”
The hallway went silent.
Elena’s hand stopped moving on Leo’s back.
Rosa unfolded her arms.
Marcus looked toward the ceiling as if one of the cameras might be visible from where he stood.
“What cameras?”
“In the nursery.”
“You put cameras in the nursery?”
“It’s a nursery camera.”
“That’s not what you said.”
Victoria’s breathing changed.
“There are two.”
Elena stared at her.
She knew about the monitor mounted over Leo’s crib.
Every modern nursery had something like it.
She had not known about another one.
“Where?” Marcus asked.
Victoria said nothing.
“Where is the second camera?”
“In the bookshelf.”
Elena’s stomach tightened.
The built-in bookshelf stood opposite the rocking chair.
It faced almost the entire room.
“You never told me,” Marcus said.
“I didn’t need permission.”
“You recorded staff without telling them?”
Victoria’s eyes moved toward Elena.
“It’s my house.”
Rosa muttered something in Spanish.
Victoria snapped her head toward her.
“What did you say?”
“Nothing useful.”
“Rosa.”
“I said nothing useful.”
Marcus pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Elena, did you know?”
“No.”
“Have you ever changed clothes in there?”
Elena shook her head.
“No.”
“Fed him?”
“Yes.”
“Anything private?”
“I don’t know.”
Victoria interrupted.
“Oh, for God’s sake, it’s pointed at the crib.”
“You said the bookshelf.”
“It captures the crib.”
“And everything around it.”
“Mostly.”
Elena looked at Victoria.
“How long?”
Victoria’s face hardened again.
“What?”
“How long has the camera been there?”
“That is not your concern.”
“It is if you recorded me.”
“I record my child.”
Elena’s voice went very still.
“I asked how long.”
Marcus turned toward his wife.
“Answer her.”
Victoria’s eyes moved between them.
“About two months.”
Elena felt something cold pass through her chest.
Two months.
She pictured mornings in the nursery.
Rocking Leo.
Singing badly when he would not sleep.
Talking to him when no one else was there.
Once, after receiving a call from her mother, sitting on the floor beside the crib and crying into a burp cloth because she had not wanted anyone downstairs to see.
Victoria had watched.
Maybe not all of it.
Maybe enough.
“You watched me?”
“I checked the feed.”
“How often?”
“I don’t know.”
“You knew he calmed down with me because you watched.”
Victoria looked away.
Elena’s throat tightened.
“You knew.”
May you like
“I saw it.”
“And that made you angry.”
