Chapter 4
Maya became the most uncomfortable person at the estate.
Not because anyone blamed her.
Because suddenly everyone knew the gardener’s daughter had been recording.
Samuel came to Marco the next morning.
“We’re leaving.”
Marco looked at him.
“For how long?”
“Permanently.”
Maya was outside the office.
She could probably hear.
Samuel continued.
“My daughter filmed a man connected to your family, and he tried to take her phone. I’m not raising her around that.”
Marco did not argue.
That was difficult.
Samuel had maintained the estate grounds for eleven years.
He was trusted.
His wife had died when Maya was six.
The gardener’s cottage was their home.
Maya attended a nearby school because of it.
“You want help relocating?”
Samuel stiffened.
“I don’t want money for silence.”
“That isn’t what I offered.”
“I know how this world works.”
Marco absorbed the sentence.
“Apparently not anymore.”
Samuel looked at him.
Marco continued.
“If you leave, you leave. Your severance gets paid because you earned it. If you want relocation help, your lawyer can arrange it with mine. No confidentiality.”
That surprised him.
“We can really walk?”
“Yes.”
Samuel’s expression softened slightly.
“We haven’t decided yet.”
“Then nobody pressures you.”
Maya entered after her father left.
She looked angry.
“You’re making him quit.”
Marco raised an eyebrow.
“I’m not making anybody quit.”
“He says this place is dangerous.”
Marco thought of Conrad swinging a steel rod inches from Elliot.
“He has evidence.”
Maya crossed her arms.
“I grew up here.”
“I know.”
“My mom’s tree is here.”
Marco had forgotten.
After Maya’s mother died, Samuel planted a dogwood beside the west greenhouse.
Maya looked down.
“I just filmed because the light looked cool under the car.”
That was how random everything had been.
No investigation.
No spying.
A twelve-year-old practicing video shots on an old phone.
Then she saw Conrad.
Marco said:
“You did the right thing.”
Maya looked at him.
“I almost didn’t show you.”
“Why?”
“Because he’s your cousin.”
Marco felt the words harder than he expected.
She assumed family loyalty might matter more than the evidence.
That assumption did not come from nowhere.
Later, Rebecca received the forensic analysis of Maya’s phone.
The clips had not been edited.
Timestamps were authentic.
There was also a third recording Maya had forgotten.
It began accidentally while the phone was pointed down.
Only shoes and grass were visible.
Conrad’s voice could be heard in the distance.
Not enough for a full conversation.
One sentence was clear.
“Not until he sees it.”
Marco listened twice.
“Who was he talking to?”
Maya didn’t know.
The audio ended before the answer.
May you like
But the phrase bothered Rebecca.
If Conrad had discovered a dangerous object under Marco’s SUV, why would anything need to wait until Marco saw it?
