Chapter 6 - “Make Him Touch You”
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Rachel copied the memory card before opening it.
Nobody wanted the only evidence corrupted.
The footage began at 7:53 p.m.
The nursery was empty.
At 7:56, Celeste entered.
She moved the security camera.
Not toward Lily’s high chair.
Toward the doorway.
At 8:01, Hannah carried Lily in.
Celeste dismissed her.
Hannah left.
Then Celeste took out the burner phone.
The camera captured only her side of the call.
“He’s downstairs.”
Pause.
“Yes, I know.”
Pause.
“No. Lily won’t eat much.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
Then came another sentence.
“I still think this is disgusting.”
Whoever was on the other end responded.
Celeste rolled her eyes.
“Fine.”
She poured dog food onto Lily’s plate.
Dominic gripped the edge of the desk.
Rachel said quietly—
“Keep watching.”
Celeste positioned herself beside the high chair.
Her phone rang again.
This time, the camera microphone picked up part of the speaker.
A man’s voice.
Low.
Older.
“Make him touch you.”
Dominic looked at Grant’s empty chair.
The voice wasn’t clear enough to identify.
Celeste replied—
“He might do more than touch me.”
“That helps.”
Then the man said—
“The petition is already filed.”
Rachel paused the footage.
There it was.
Direct coordination.
The incident was designed after the guardianship petition had already been filed.
She resumed.
Celeste asked—
“What about the child?”
The voice answered—
“She is the leverage, not the objective.”
Dominic’s expression changed.
Hannah covered her mouth.
Celeste looked toward Lily.
For a moment, something almost human appeared in her face.
Then she said—
“And if Dominic doesn’t react?”
The man answered—
“He will.”
The footage continued.
Footsteps approached.
Celeste picked up the spoon.
Dominic entered.
Everything unfolded exactly as he remembered.
Then the camera captured something the edited clip did not.
Celeste smiling after Dominic dumped the bowl over her.
She knew she had gotten the image she wanted.
Rachel stopped the recording.
“This destroys her claim that the confrontation was spontaneous.”
Dominic looked at the audio waveform.
“Can we identify the voice?”
“Possibly.”
Security would send it to a certified forensic lab.
But Dominic wanted something faster.
Hannah spoke.
“I’ve heard that voice before.”
Everyone turned.
“Where?”
She hesitated.
“At Lily’s christening.”
Dominic’s eyes narrowed.
“Whose?”
“I don’t know.”
“Think.”
Hannah closed her eyes.
Then she whispered—
“He was arguing with Mrs. Sofia.”
Dominic went completely still.
“My wife?”
Hannah nodded.
“In the hallway outside the chapel.”
“What were they arguing about?”
“I only heard one sentence.”
“What?”
Hannah looked at him.
“Mrs. Sofia said, ‘If Dominic finds out what you did with that trust, you’re finished.’”
The room fell silent.
Sofia had known there was a problem before she died.
And whoever ordered Celeste’s trap had apparently been afraid of Dominic’s wife first.
May you like
👉 The conspiracy surrounding Lily hadn’t begun at tonight’s dinner—it had started while Sofia was still alive.
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