Chapter 2
Vincent did not accept Emma’s conclusion automatically.
He wanted facts.
That was new for him.
His old instinct would have been to decide who lied, confront them privately, and impose consequences before morning.
Instead he called Rebecca Sloan.
She handled the legitimate Castellano businesses and had spent fifteen years irritating him by separating suspicion from proof.
By eight the next morning, she was sitting in Vincent’s study with security logs, household schedules, and Emma’s employment records.
The pattern appeared quickly.
During the previous two months, Emma’s evening duties had changed.
She had always worked afternoons and early evenings.
But six weeks earlier, the household scheduling system began assigning her responsibility for Leo until ten or eleven at night whenever Vincent attended council meetings or dinners away from the estate.
Emma looked at the printouts.
“I didn’t make those changes.”
Rebecca asked:
“Who did?”
The system showed administrator approval from Celeste.
Vincent looked up.
“Why does Celeste have scheduling authority?”
“She helped reorganize household coverage during the winter,” the estate manager explained.
Vincent remembered approving that.
Celeste complained the estate operated inefficiently.
Vincent let her fix it.
The late shifts appeared practical at the time.
Emma already knew Leo.
Leo trusted her.
No reason to hire additional childcare.
Rebecca circled six nights.
“These match?”
Emma nodded slowly.
“Those are nights I know Celeste came upstairs.”
Security logs confirmed Celeste entered the private family wing on five.
Brandon appeared on three.
Yet the official childcare notes listed only:
Emma Brooks — sole evening caregiver.
Vincent stared at the words.
“Who writes these?”
The estate manager answered.
“Normally whoever supervises the household schedule.”
“Celeste.”
“Yes.”
First clue.
The records had been deliberately arranged so that on paper Emma was the only adult responsible for Leo during the same evenings Celeste was allegedly hitting him.
Rebecca kept going.
“Any incident reports?”
The estate manager hesitated.
“There are four.”
Vincent turned.
“Four what?”
Minor household concern reports.
One said Leo was found crying after bedtime.
Another noted bruising near his upper arm.
A third described “increasing fear response around household discipline.”
A fourth stated that Emma had become “defensive when asked about Leo’s behavior.”
Vincent read the name at the bottom.
Reported by:
Celeste Castellano.
Emma looked sick.
“She never told me she filed those.”
Vincent read the third report again.
Fear response around household discipline.
Celeste had watched Leo become frightened.
Then documented the fear as though it existed independently of her.
Rebecca tapped the paper.
“She was creating a record.”
Vincent looked at Emma.
“You knew?”
“No.”
“Then how did you know they were trying to blame you?”
Emma reached into her apron pocket.
She pulled out a folded photocopy.
An email.
From Brandon to Celeste.
Sent nine days earlier.
We need one more documented incident before Vincent will believe the staff problem is real.
Vincent read it.
Then looked at Emma.
“Where did you get this?”
“From the printer in the service office.”
Rebecca immediately asked:
“Original?”
“I don’t know. It printed with banquet invoices.”
“Did you take anything else?”
“No.”
That mattered.
One piece of paper could point somewhere.
It could not yet prove what “staff problem” meant.
But Vincent remembered Celeste in the ballroom.
May you like
Look what your maid taught him.
She had been ready with the blame before Leo ever spoke.
