PART 1
The wealthy corporate tycoon pretended to fly out to Canada for an urgent board meeting, but what he witnessed on the silent surveillance screens between his long-time housekeeper and his little girls left him frozen on the spot.
Chadworth Prescott turned off the lights in his grand estate, retrieved his heavy leather traveling bag, and gently kissed his two daughters goodbye as though it were just another routine Tuesday morning.
“I will only be gone for three or four days,” he reassured them with a calm, comforting smile while tightening his coat. “Be good for everyone while I am away.”
The young girls wrapped their arms tightly around his waist, reluctant to let him walk out the front door.
They had absolutely no idea that he was lying to them.
The private jet never left the runway, and there was no corporate trip scheduled for Toronto or Ottawa.
No luxury hotel penthouse was waiting for him across the border either.
Instead, less than forty-five minutes after his black executive sedan pulled out through the main security gate, the most powerful real estate developer in the state returned to his own home through a hidden rear service entrance, moving in complete silence alongside his head of private security.
He had not returned home to throw a surprise party or bring back gifts for the household.
He was there to observe everything from the shadows because a silent poison had already been planted inside his mind.
The previous evening, his sharp and glamorous fiancée had leaned across the dining table, lowered her voice to a soft murmur, and whispered a warning that had haunted him throughout the entire night.
“You trust that quiet housekeeper far too much,” Sabina had said gently while stroking his wrist. “She is secretly stealing high-value items from your collection, and even worse, she is quietly manipulating your daughters against us.”
That single sentence had echoed repeatedly in Chadworth’s head as he lay awake until dawn.
It was not because he immediately believed the accusation, but because a dark part of his mind worried that it might actually be true.
For nearly five years, Chadworth had placed absolute trust in the soft-spoken young woman who cleaned his massive home and cared for his children whenever business pulled him away.
Rosamund had always been quiet, diligent, and deeply respectful toward the family.
