“Clean it again!” Marta snapped.
The camera whipped toward eight-year-old Lena kneeling on the floor in thin clothes, quietly crying as she scrubbed the same spot again and again. Across from her, Marta lounged in an armchair, eating chips while watching like cruelty was entertainment.
Lena kept mopping.
Then she slowly looked up at the security camera blinking above the staircase.
“My dad watches the foyer first,” she whispered.
The chip bag stopped crinkling.
Marta’s smile vanished. “What did you say?”
The camera pushed in on the camera light.
The red blink turned solid.
Click.
The front security system unlocked.
Marta shot to her feet so fast the chair nearly tipped over.
“Go upstairs. Now!” she hissed.
But Lena didn’t move.
The giant front doors opened.
Heavy footsteps crossed the marble.
Gabriel Laurent entered wearing a travel coat, calm and unreadable. His eyes moved once across the room.
The mop.
The open chips.
The bucket of dirty water.
Then Lena’s small wrist… marked red where fingers had gripped too hard.
Silence swallowed the foyer.
Gabriel slowly raised his phone.
“I watched all of it.”
Marta’s face drained white as the camera pushed closer and Lena stood for the first time.
Watch Part 2 in the comments.
