Chapter 2 - The House Manager They Blamed First
Richard ordered the foyer doors locked while Victoria demanded Grace be removed immediately.
“She was alone with your children, holding a letter from your dead wife. How much more obvious must betrayal become?”
Richard looked at Grace with fresh suspicion.
For fifteen years, she had managed the Bellamy mansion, raised the twins after their mother’s death and accepted treatment that wealthy relatives disguised as tradition.
She entered through service doors.
She ate after guests.
She was introduced as “the help” even when she knew the children better than anyone seated at the family table.
Grace handed Richard the envelope.
“I never saw this before tonight.”
Victoria laughed.
“Of course not. Poor women always discover evidence only after someone offers them sympathy.”
Grace’s eyes hardened.
“And wealthy women call every inconvenient truth jealousy because money has protected them from consequences.”
Inside the envelope, Richard found a note from his late wife, Catherine.
She wrote that someone had been replacing her heart medication and that Grace had tried to warn her.
Richard turned toward Grace.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I did. Your mother said a house manager accusing a Bellamy physician would be dismissed as bitter staff.”
Richard’s face fell.
Before Catherine died, Grace had been accused of stealing jewelry and nearly fired.
Victoria had provided the missing necklace as evidence.
Then Liam whispered, “The necklace is in Victoria’s room.”
Grace looked at him.
“How would you know that?”
The twins said Victoria had forced them into the playroom after they saw her hiding it inside Catherine’s old music box.
Richard ordered security to search the suite.
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They found the necklace.
Beneath it was the missing page from Catherine’s medical chart—signed by Richard’s mother.
