CHAPTER 11: The Mansion with Two Shadows
Victoria did not take Caleb to the Ellison mansion that night.
She took both boys to her private brownstone on the Upper East Side, the home Regina hated because Julian had bought it in Victoria’s name alone. Amelia arranged guards at both entrances. Mateo slept in the front sitting room with his coat still on, refusing to leave until morning.
The brownstone was warm, quiet, and too beautiful for Caleb to trust.
He stood in the foyer staring at the chandelier. His cleaned hair fell damp across his forehead. The nurse had found clothes close to his size, but the sweater’s softness made him tug at the sleeves like they belonged to someone else.
Nathan showed him the kitchen first.
“This drawer has snacks,” he said. “Not the healthy ones. Mom thinks I don’t know.”
Victoria pretended not to hear.
Caleb opened the drawer and stared at granola bars, crackers, fruit snacks, and little packages of cookies. He looked over his shoulder. “I can take one?”
Nathan frowned. “You can take five.”
Caleb took one and put it in his pocket.
Nathan took four more and placed them in Caleb’s other pocket. “For later.”
That undid Victoria more than the DNA results.
At bedtime, Caleb refused the guest room. Too big. Too clean. Too many windows. He chose the floor beside Nathan’s bed, wrapped in two blankets, locket beneath his hand.
Victoria sat in the hallway after the boys fell asleep. Through the open door, she could see them clearly: Nathan breathing softly into his pillow, Caleb curled like a street animal prepared to run.
Amelia sat beside her with a laptop.
“I found Mara,” she said.
Victoria turned.
“Mara Voss. Former maternity nurse at St. Agnes. Resigned one week after your twins were born. Cash deposits began the next month, routed through shell accounts connected to an Ellison family foundation.”
“Regina.”
“Likely,” Amelia said. “But there’s more. Mara died two years ago.”
Victoria closed her eyes.
“Before she died,” Amelia continued, “she sent a package to an attorney in Queens with instructions to deliver it if anyone ever searched the name Ethan Ellison.”
Victoria opened her eyes.
“What package?”
May you like
Amelia’s voice lowered.
“A video.”
