She Wasn't Alone
Chapter 01 - She Wasn't Alone
The penthouse's floor-to-ceiling windows framed the entire city skyline in cold, glittering light, and none of it warmed the marble floor where Claire was curled beneath the black lacquer table, arms wrapped tight around her own head.
She'd stopped counting the minutes since it happened. Long enough that her arms had gone stiff from holding the same protective position, long enough that the shock had settled into something quieter and more exhausting than the initial terror.
Beatrice stood beside the table, cane planted firm against the marble, entirely composed, watching the space beneath the table like she was inspecting a spill rather than a person.
"She fell," Beatrice said, flat, unbothered, when Adrian's footsteps finally sounded from the hallway.
He rounded the corner at a near run, and stopped dead at the sight of his mother standing over the table, at the sound of quiet, ragged breathing coming from underneath it.
He dropped to his knees immediately, reaching carefully beneath the table's edge.
Claire flinched at his touch before recognizing his voice, his hands, and let him ease her out into the open, her fingers digging into his suit sleeve like it was the only solid thing left in the room.
He saw her face fully then, the bruising already darkening along her cheekbone, a thin red scrape near her temple, tears streaking through both.
His breath caught somewhere in his chest and simply stopped.
He looked up slowly at his mother, something shifting behind his eyes, confusion collapsing into a specific, controlled fury he'd never once turned on her before.
His gaze dropped to her hand, to the white-knuckled grip she held on the cane's silver handle.
"Who did this to you?" he asked Claire, voice low, shaking with restraint.
Claire's eyes flicked toward Beatrice, then upward, toward the small black dome mounted in the ceiling above them, its single red light still glowing steady.
She gripped Adrian's arm tighter, voice barely more than a breath.
"She wasn't alone."
Adrian's head snapped upward, following her gaze to the camera.
A sharp, electronic click cut through the silence.
May you like
The red light died instantly.
Beatrice's eyes moved to the same dark, silent camera, unsurprised, and Claire understood, watching her mother-in-law's calm, expectant expression, that somewhere in this penthouse, someone else had just made very sure there would be no record of what came next.
