She moved through the vast halls like a ghost, never seeking attention or meddling in matters that did not concern her.
However, over the last few weeks, Sabina had begun dropping small, calculated comments during their evening conversations.
At first, those remarks seemed completely harmless and offhand.
“I noticed one of my diamond earrings was missing from the dresser top,” Sabina had mentioned over coffee one morning.
“The girls seem far more attached to her than they are to anyone else in this house,” she had added a few days later.
“She is far too comfortable around here, she knows way too much about your personal life, and she acts like she does not exist, which makes those quiet types the most dangerous ones of all.”
Chadworth had tried his best to ignore those subtle warnings at first, but suspicion is an insidious thing that slowly seeps into every thought.
Once it takes root inside your mind, it begins to alter the way you view every simple interaction.
Soon, Chadworth found himself replaying harmless everyday moments that had never bothered him in the past.
He began overthinking the way Rosamund instantly knew how little Gemma liked her afternoon toast cut into tiny triangles, the way nine-year-old Lorelai would race down the hallway to greet her after school, and the undeniable fact that both young girls seemed far more relaxed around Rosamund than anyone else in the entire mansion.
Before Sabina planted those doubts, those little moments would have looked like genuine kindness and deep devotion.
Afterward, through the lens of suspicion, they looked entirely different, alarming, and calculated.
Determined to find out the truth once and for all, Chadworth made a quiet decision that very evening.
During dinner, he casually announced an unexpected business trip to Canada.
“I have to leave tomorrow morning for an urgent series of meetings,” he stated while barely touching the food on his plate.
Lorelai immediately looked up from her plate with wide eyes.
“Another trip already?” she asked, her voice carrying a deep disappointment that hurt him far more than an outburst would have.
Little Gemma remained completely silent beside her sister, gripping her silver spoon tightly while staring blankly at her soup.
For a brief second, Chadworth felt a sharp knot of guilt twisting deep inside his stomach, but he forced himself to brush the feeling aside.
“It will only be for a few short days,” he insisted smoothly.
