Chapter 14 - Clara Comes Back
Adrian did not ask Clara to return to the Mercer house.
Olivia did.
The request came during a supervised video call.
“Please stay with us until Vanessa is caught.”
Clara looked at Adrian on the screen.
He said nothing.
That mattered.
He was leaving the decision to her.
“Your dad has security.”
“I don’t want security.”
Olivia shook her head.
“I want you.”
Clara’s resistance broke.
Two days later, she returned.
Not as an employee.
Not as the nanny.
She returned because Olivia and Emma needed someone they trusted.
Adrian prepared the guest wing.
He gave Clara a separate security code.
He told the staff she answered to nobody.
He removed Vanessa’s belongings from the house.
He also moved himself into the study on the opposite side of the property.
Clara noticed.
“You didn’t have to do that.”
“Yes, I did.”
“Why?”
“So you never wonder whether I’m going to appear outside your door.”
She had no answer.
That evening, Emma crawled across the rug when she saw Clara.
Clara dropped to her knees.
Emma buried her face against Clara’s chest.
For the first time since returning, Clara cried.
Olivia joined them.
Adrian watched from the hallway.
He did not enter.
He understood something important.
Some reunions were not his to claim.
Later, Clara found him in the kitchen making tea.
He looked at the tea bag.
Then laughed bitterly.
“I don’t think I’ll ever drink tea again.”
Clara sat across from him.
“How are you sleeping?”
“Badly.”
“Nightmares?”
“Yes.”
“About Emma?”
“About all of you.”
Clara looked down.
Adrian continued.
“In one dream, the stroller falls.”
His voice became rough.
“In another, I hit you and Rachel is standing behind you.”
Clara’s eyes softened.
“I’m not telling you that so you’ll feel sorry for me.”
“I know.”
“I started seeing a therapist.”
Clara looked surprised.
“Olivia said I needed one.”
That made her smile.
“She’s probably right.”
“She usually is.”
For a moment, the house felt almost normal.
Then Clara’s expression changed.
“What?”
Adrian asked.
She looked toward the hallway.
“The painting.”
“What painting?”
A landscape hung beside the pantry door.
It was slightly crooked.
Clara stood.
She lifted it from the wall.
Behind it was a small black device.
Adrian’s face hardened.
“A camera.”
Clara shook her head.
“No.”
She examined it.
“A microphone.”
Police searched the house.
They found four more listening devices.
One under Adrian’s desk.
One behind the television.
One inside Olivia’s room.
And one beneath Emma’s crib.
Adrian nearly lost control when he saw the last one.
Reed reminded him to breathe.
The devices had been transmitting data to a remote server.
Investigators traced the server.
It was paid for using an account connected to Derek.
Vanessa had been listening to the family for months.
Clara stared at the microphone from Emma’s room.
“She heard everything.”
Adrian nodded.
“Every conversation.”
“Rachel’s will.”
“The accounts.”
“Olivia’s recordings.”
Adrian looked toward the ceiling.
Then a terrifying realization hit him.
“Vanessa knew about every place we discussed moving Clara.”
Reed turned.
That explained how Vanessa found the pharmacy.
It also meant the Mercer house had never been secure.
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And if Vanessa had been listening long enough, she already knew the one thing police hoped she did not.
Where Adrian kept Rachel’s original trust amendment.
