Chapter 5 - The Midnight Storm
I didn't knock on Marlene’s door on the third floor. I kicked it open.
The heavy door slammed against the wall with a thunderous crack that shook the frame. Marlene sat up instantly in her four-poster bed, clutching her nightgown to her neck, her hair wrapped in a net.
"Mr. Hales!" she gasped, her voice shrill with shock. "What is the meaning of this? Is there a fire?"
"Get up," I said. My voice was no longer the voice of a grieving employer. It was the voice of a man who had stared into the abyss of his own failures and found a terrifying resolve.
"Mr. Hales, I don't understand—"
I threw my tablet onto her bed. The screen was playing the crystal-clear video of her unlocking my private study, stealing the key, and berating Marin in the nursery.
Marlene looked down at the playing video. The color drained from her face so completely that her skin resembled yellow parchment. Her thin lips parted, but no sound came out.
"Twelve years," I said, stepping toward her bed, my shadow towering over her. "Twelve years you served my family. My mother trusted you. My wife trusted you. And you turned my home into a prison for my motherless sons."
"Mr. Hales... please..." Marlene stammered, her voice shaking violently as she pushed the tablet away. "I did it for you! I did it to keep the house proper! That girl... she was chaotic! She was changing things! She was making you remember things that hurt you!"
"She was making my sons live!" I roared, the sound tearing through the quiet third floor. "She was teaching my disabled son how to walk while you kept them drugged on silence so you wouldn't have to clean up after them!"
"I never hurt them!" Marlene cried out, tears of genuine panic spilling from her old eyes. "I just wanted order! You wanted order!"
"You are fired, Marlene," I said coldly. "Effective this second. You will take your clothes and your personal items in one bag. If you are still on my property when the sun comes up, I will have the Westchester County Sheriff arrest you for trespassing, illegal entry into my private quarters, and child endangerment based on twenty-four hours of security footage."
"Mr. Hales, you can't do this to me!" she wept, dropping to her knees on the rug. "I have nowhere to go! My whole life is in this house!"
"You destroyed your life the moment you touched my family," I said without a shred of mercy. "You have thirty minutes."
I turned my back on her and walked down the stairs, leaving her weeping on the floor.
I rushed back to the nursery. Owen was awake, sitting up in his crib under the dim nightlight, clutching his knees, weeping silently.
I reached into the crib, lifted him into my arms, and held him tight against my chest. This time, when he pushed against me, I didn't let go. I sat down in the rocking chair, pulled Ellis into my other arm, and held both of my boys while tears streamed down my face.
"I'm sorry," I whispered into Owen’s soft hair, my voice cracking with deep, agonizing sorrow. "I'm so sorry, my brave boy. Daddy was blind. Daddy was so blind. But I'm going to fix it. I promise you, I'm going to fix it."
I pulled out my phone with a trembling hand, opened my contacts, and scrolled down to the agency file for Marin Vance.
Her address was listed as a small residential motel three miles down the highway in White Plains.
May you like
It was 2:30 AM.
I packed both boys into their warm winter car seats, carried them down to the garage, loaded them into the back of the SUV, and drove out into the freezing midnight rain.
