Chapter 7 - A Mother Who Never Was
The nursery recording changed everything.
Detective Cole watched the file repeatedly.
Victoria stood beside the crib for three minutes.
Her voice remained soft.
Almost affectionate.
That made it more disturbing.
“You don’t remember her.”
She touched the baby’s blanket.
“You never knew Natalie.”
Marcus’s hands curled into fists.
Victoria continued.
“But you know me.”
She smiled down at the sleeping infant.
“I’m the one who has been here.”
Then she said something Marcus would remember for the rest of his life.
“Marcus just needs to understand that.”
The video ended.
Nobody spoke.
Cole opened another file.
Victoria entered the nursery again.
Different date.
Different night.
She picked up one of Natalie’s framed photographs from the shelf.
She stared at it for several seconds.
Then she placed it face down.
Another recording showed Victoria changing the labels on two medicine bottles.
Another showed her loosening a screw on the stroller wheel.
Marcus felt physically ill.
He remembered blaming Elena when the wheel had nearly come loose during a walk.
Elena had insisted she checked it every morning.
Marcus had believed she was becoming careless.
Now he understood.
Victoria had been constructing a pattern.
Cole looked at him.
“She wanted Ms. Reyes removed.”
Marcus nodded slowly.
“Because Elena was always with the baby.”
“And because Elena noticed her behavior.”
Marcus remembered Elena trying to speak to him three weeks earlier.
He closed his eyes.
He had said, “Not tonight, Elena.”
Victoria had been standing behind him.
Smiling.
Cole continued.
“Was Victoria expected to move into the estate?”
“She stayed here often.”
“Did she talk about marriage?”
Marcus gave a humorless laugh.
“She talked around it.”
“Children?”
“She can’t have children.”
Cole’s eyebrows lifted.
Marcus explained.
“Victoria had surgery years ago.”
“Did that affect her emotionally?”
Marcus remembered conversations he had dismissed.
Victoria once said motherhood had been stolen from her.
Another time she joked that fate had given Marcus a child and given her the ability to love him.
At the time, Marcus thought she meant friendship.
Now the words sounded different.
Cole leaned forward.
“What did she think would happen if Elena was arrested for harming your son?”
Marcus stared at the screen.
“I would need someone I trusted.”
“Victoria.”
“Yes.”
“And after a traumatic event?”
Marcus’s stomach turned.
“I might have depended on her.”
Cole nodded.
“That may have been the plan.”
Marcus walked away from the desk.
He stopped beside Natalie’s photograph.
For three years, grief had made him cautious about relationships.
Victoria had never pressured him directly.
She had done something more effective.
She had made herself indispensable.
She handled birthdays.
Medical appointments.
Household schedules.
Charity events.
She had gradually entered every part of his life.
And when Elena began interfering with that position, Victoria had targeted her.
Marcus turned.
“Find Victoria.”
Cole’s expression remained controlled.
“We’re trying.”
“No.”
Marcus stepped closer.
“You don’t understand.”
“What don’t I understand?”
Marcus pointed toward the nursery recording.
“She knows everything about my son.”
His doctor.
His routines.
His emergency contacts.
His security arrangements.
Cole’s expression changed.
Marcus continued.
“She knows where the surrogate lives.”
The room became silent.
Cole stood.
“What’s her name?”
“Rachel Bennett.”
“Where does she live?”
“Forty minutes north.”
Cole reached for his phone.
Marcus was already calling Rachel.
No answer.
He tried again.
Voicemail.
Then Marcus received a text.
Unknown number.
It contained a photograph.
May you like
Rachel sat tied to a kitchen chair.
And Victoria stood behind her.
