Chapter 4 - The Voice Behind the Camera
Chadworth watched the video three times.
Not because he doubted what he had seen, but because he could scarcely believe someone had convinced his daughter to speak those words.
Lorelai sat stiffly in an upholstered chair. Her hands rested in her lap, her shoulders were unnaturally straight, and her eyes repeatedly moved toward someone standing outside the camera's view.
The recording lasted forty-seven seconds.
She said she was frightened of her father.
She claimed Rosamund had told her to keep secrets.
She said she sometimes wished she could live somewhere else.
Then the recording stopped.
Chadworth placed his phone on the desk.
"That's not how Lorelai speaks."
Miriam looked up.
"What do you mean?"
"She doesn't use phrases like 'emotionally unsafe environment.' She's ten years old."
Miriam nodded.
"That language certainly deserves scrutiny, but we need the original recording before drawing conclusions about how it was made."
Graham leaned toward the screen.
"She keeps looking to the right."
Chadworth rubbed his forehead.
"Someone was telling her what to say."
"Possibly," Miriam replied. "But the important thing is not to make Lorelai feel she needs to defend herself. She has already told you she was pressured."
Chadworth sat silently.
He wanted to call Sabina immediately.
He wanted to demand answers, expose every lie, and tell her exactly what he thought of her.
But he knew she was waiting for an emotional reaction.
She had spent months manipulating his perceptions. Now she was trying to manipulate his behavior.
He would not give her another opportunity.
Miriam asked Graham to preserve the message, its delivery details, and the original security footage. She also recommended that Chadworth avoid forwarding the video unnecessarily.
"These are children," she reminded him. "Their privacy matters more than winning an argument."
That sentence remained with him throughout the afternoon.
He had spent most of his professional life treating information as leverage.
This time, the information was his daughter's pain.
It could not become another weapon.
At four o'clock, Chadworth received a telephone call from an unfamiliar number.
He answered cautiously.
"Hello?"
Sabina's voice came through the speaker.
"Have you watched the video?"
Chadworth glanced toward Miriam.
"Yes."
"Then perhaps you're ready to discuss this like an adult."
"Where did you get it?"
Sabina laughed.
"Oh, Chadworth. You really should pay more attention to what happens inside your own home."
"Did you make Lorelai say those things?"
"I gave her an opportunity to express herself."
"You frightened her."
"Children can be dramatic."
"She told me you threatened to have Rosamund fired if she didn't cooperate."
A pause followed.
Then Sabina's voice changed.
"Do you understand what a recording like that could do to you?"
Chadworth remained silent.
"A billionaire father who is never home. Two grieving daughters who say they're afraid of him. An unusually close relationship with a housekeeper who has unrestricted access to the children."
She allowed the words to settle.
"Imagine how that would look."
"Are you threatening my family?"
"I'm offering you a chance to avoid embarrassment."
"What do you want?"
Another pause.
Then she spoke almost tenderly.
"Come back to your senses. Apologize for this morning. Stop listening to Rosamund. We can still have our wedding."
Chadworth stared at the phone.
He had once mistaken this woman's possessiveness for devotion.
Now he understood that she regarded his family as something to control.
"Sabina, our relationship is over."
"You're making a terrible mistake."
"The only mistake I intend to correct is the one I made by trusting you."
Her voice hardened.
"You have no idea what I can do."
Chadworth took a slow breath.
"Then I suggest you speak to my attorney before you do anything else."
He ended the call.
Miriam had heard enough to understand the situation.
"Document the time and what was said," she instructed.
Chadworth looked exhausted.
"She wants me to marry her because she's afraid I'll expose her."
"Or because she believes marriage would give her additional influence over your assets and household. We need evidence before deciding which."
He rubbed his eyes.
"How did I miss this?"
Miriam closed her notebook.
"That's a question worth answering, Chadworth. But not while you're trying to make the house safe."
He looked at her.
"What would you do first?"
"Build a routine your daughters can count on. Then let the investigations proceed without involving them more than necessary."
That evening, Chadworth did something he had not done in months.
He cooked dinner.
The kitchen staff offered to help, but he insisted on preparing a simple meal himself.
He remembered Elena making grilled cheese sandwiches on rainy afternoons, cutting the bread diagonally because Lorelai believed triangles tasted better.
He found the ingredients and attempted to recreate the meal.
The bread burned slightly.
The tomato soup was too salty.
When Lorelai entered the kitchen, she stared at the plates.
"Did you make this?"
"Unfortunately."
She examined the sandwich.
"It's a little dark."
"I noticed."
A small smile appeared.
Gemma climbed onto her chair.
"Rosamund makes better sandwiches."
Chadworth laughed softly.
"She certainly does."
Rosamund stood near the doorway, uncertain whether to stay.
Chadworth pulled out another chair.
"Would you join us?"
She hesitated.
"Sir, I can eat afterward."
"You don't have to."
Rosamund glanced at the girls.
Gemma patted the empty chair.
"Please?"
Rosamund sat down.
It was an ordinary dinner.
Nobody made a speech.
Nobody discussed the cameras, the missing bracelet, or Sabina's threats.
They simply ate together.
For Chadworth, the silence was almost unfamiliar.
He had grown accustomed to dinners organized around his schedule, conversations interrupted by business calls, and meals that ended before his daughters had finished talking.
This time, he stayed.
After dinner, Gemma showed him a drawing of a house with four people standing outside.
"Who's this?" he asked, pointing to a figure wearing blue.
"Rosamund."
"And this one?"
"That's you."
He looked at the drawing.
His figure stood slightly apart from the others.
"Why am I so far away?"
Gemma shrugged.
"You're usually at work."
The answer contained no accusation.
That made it hurt more.
Chadworth moved his chair closer.
"Would you like me to be closer next time?"
Gemma nodded.
"Yes."
He kissed the top of her head.
"Then I will be."
Later that evening, Graham came to the dining room.
"Sir, there's a courier at the gate."
Chadworth looked up.
"For whom?"
"Ms. Price. It's marked as urgent legal correspondence."
Miriam, who had remained in the study reviewing records, joined them as Graham carried in the envelope.
Inside was a document bearing Chadworth's full legal name.
Its heading read:
Temporary Delegation of Parental Authority.
Chadworth read the first paragraph.
Then the second.
The document purported to authorize Sabina to make decisions concerning Lorelai and Gemma during an extended absence or period of incapacity.
At the bottom was a signature.
His signature.
Chadworth stared at it.
Miriam looked at him.
"Did you sign this?"
He shook his head.
"Never."
Miriam studied the document more carefully.
Then she turned to the final page.
May you like
Her expression changed.
"Chadworth, this isn't the only document. Someone has also prepared papers giving Sabina access to your daughters' financial trusts."
