Chapter 3
I turned toward Felice.
“Where is he?”
“He’s safe.”
Wrong answer.
“Where?”
She lifted her chin.
“With someone who can care for him.”
Anwen stood so quickly the chair scraped stone.
“You said I could see him tomorrow.”
Felice looked at her.
“You were supposed to behave tonight.”
There.
No denial.
No shame.
Control stated plainly.
I stepped between them.
“Why did Anwen come to work here?”
Felice folded her arms.
“She needed money.”
Anwen shook her head.
“No.”
Her voice was stronger now.
“She found me.”
Felice went still.
Two months after the second letter, Felice appeared at the small apartment where Anwen lived with Theo.
She brought an offer.
Come work at the Wycliffe estate.
Good wages.
Housing nearby.
A nursery placement arranged for Theo during shifts.
Anwen thought perhaps I had reconsidered but did not want personal contact.
Felice encouraged that interpretation without ever saying it directly.
Then she tightened the rules.
Anwen could not approach me privately.
Could not mention Theo to other staff.
Could not bring him onto estate grounds.
Every violation supposedly risked losing the “support Duncan approved.”
My stomach turned.
“And the wages?”
Anwen looked at the money floating in the pool.
Felice had begun taking pieces of them back.
Fees for Theo’s caretaker.
Transportation.
Formula.
Punishment for being late.
Punishment for asking questions.
This week, everything.
I looked at Felice.
“You hired the mother of my child into my house so you could keep her close enough to control.”
“I kept a problem contained.”
Anwen’s face changed.
I did not.
“What problem?”
Felice finally looked at me.
“A son by another woman six months before our wedding.”
There.
Her fear.
Not the child.
The timing.
She believed if Theo remained hidden until after we married, the facts would become manageable.
Before marriage, I might choose differently.
Afterward, she thought I would protect the union first.
She had gambled on my priorities.
Badly.
I asked again:
“Where is Theo?”
Felice hesitated.
Then said:
“Cedar House.”
Anwen shook her head immediately.
“No.”
I looked at her.
May you like
“Why?”
“Because she moved him this morning.”
