William’s pulse thundered.
Slowly… what?
Miss Evelyn gripped his arm tighter.
A warning.
Stay quiet.
Brandon spoke again.
“And the kid?”
Silence.
Vanessa sighed.
Not with worry.
With annoyance.
“He’s still hanging on. The fever comes and goes… but it’s not enough.”
Not enough?
William felt the room spin.
Brandon lowered his voice.
“Are you sure this isn’t too risky?”
Vanessa calmly took another sip.
“The maid serves the meals. The medicine gets mixed in. Nobody notices.”
William’s entire body went cold.
The maid.
Miss Evelyn trembled beside him.
“When the boy is gone,” Brandon murmured, “everything becomes easier.”
Gone.
William nearly burst from hiding.
But Miss Evelyn held him firmly in place.
Strong enough to stop a father from running straight to his child.
“William notices nothing,” Vanessa continued coldly. “He’s always exhausted. Distracted. Easy to control.”
Every word cut deeper.
“And after that?” Brandon asked.
Vanessa smiled.
William could hear it in her voice.
“After that… everything belongs to me.”
The silence inside the closet became unbearable.
William’s knees nearly gave out.
His son.
Noah.
Sick for weeks.
Fever.
Weakness.
Doctors saying it was probably viral.
But it wasn’t.
It never had been.
It was poison.
Inside his own home.
Served every single day.
Then suddenly
Something fell off a shelf.
Tap.
Such a tiny sound.
Yet in that silence…
It sounded deafening.
The voices outside stopped.
Footsteps approached.
Slowly.
Coming closer.
William stopped breathing.
Miss Evelyn closed her eyes briefly and whispered:
“Now you have to trust me.”
The footsteps stopped.
Right outside the closet.
The doorknob began to turn.
And in that moment William understood something horrifying.
If that door opened…
this would become far worse than a secret exposed.
The knob slowly twisted.
William’s heart pounded wildly.
Miss Evelyn never moved.
Her hand remained steady on his arm.
Hold on.
The door cracked open slightly.
Light spilled inside.
A shadow appeared.
Brandon.
“Strange…” he muttered.
Sweat slid down William’s neck.
One more step and everything would be over.
Then Vanessa called from across the room.
“Brandon! Come here, you need to see this.”
One moment of hesitation.
Then the door shut again.
Closed.
The footsteps retreated.
William exhaled sharply, as if returning to life.
But relief never came.
Only one crushing truth.
His son was in danger.
And time was running out.
“Now you understand,” Miss Evelyn whispered.