CHAPTER 4 – THE FOOTAGE NO ONE WAS SUPPOSED TO SEE
CHAPTER 4 – THE FOOTAGE NO ONE WAS SUPPOSED TO SEE
The following morning, Alexander canceled every meeting.
For the first time in nearly fifteen years, Whitmore Global's CEO did not appear at headquarters.
Wall Street panicked.
His board of directors demanded explanations.
Alexander ignored every call.
He had another investigation.
One far more important.
He sat alone inside the estate's security office.
Twenty-four monitors displayed every corner of Whitmore House.
Across from him sat Marcus Hale, the former MI6 officer who had managed Whitmore security for twelve years.
Marcus looked uneasy.
"There is something you should know, sir."
Alexander turned.
"What?"
Marcus hesitated.
"The four-minute blackout..."
"...wasn't the only missing footage."
Alexander's heartbeat slowed.
"What are you saying?"
Marcus inserted another encrypted drive.
"I recovered hidden backup files from an independent storage server."
Alexander frowned.
"I never approved another server."
"You didn't."
"Your father did."
The room became silent.
Charles Whitmore had died five years earlier.
Apparently...
He had trusted no one.
Not even his own family.
Marcus opened the hidden recordings.
The screen displayed footage from six weeks earlier.
Same nursery.
Same toys.
Same children.
Grace sat beside Iris helping her stack colorful blocks.
The bedroom door quietly opened.
Victoria entered.
Grace immediately stood.
The audio was clearer than expected.
Victoria smiled politely.
"Leave us."
Grace hesitated.
"I'd rather stay with the girls."
Victoria's smile disappeared.
"That wasn't a request."
Grace reluctantly walked out.
Victoria closed the nursery door.
Alexander leaned closer.
His mother approached Iris.
The little girl smiled.
Reached upward.
Victoria didn't pick her up.
Instead...
She pushed the walker farther away.
Just beyond Iris's reach.
The child whimpered.
Victoria folded her arms.
"You'll never be normal."
Alexander stopped breathing.
His own mother continued speaking.
"Your father already spends too much time worrying about you."
"You should have been born stronger."
Tears rolled down Iris's tiny face.
Victoria turned away.
Never comforting her.
Alexander's hands clenched into fists.
Marcus quietly paused the footage.
"There are more."
Alexander whispered,
"Play everything."
The next recording began two weeks later.
Vanessa entered the nursery carrying chocolate.
She smiled brightly.
"Want a treat?"
Clara laughed.
Iris reached out too.
Vanessa handed candy only to Clara.
Then looked directly at Iris.
"You'll only make a mess."
The disabled toddler watched her sister eat alone.
Grace entered moments later.
She immediately noticed Iris crying.
Without saying a word, Grace cut fresh strawberries into tiny heart shapes and fed both girls equally.
Alexander stared at the screen.
Every act of kindness.
Every quiet cruelty.
Captured.
Ignored.
Hidden.
Marcus spoke carefully.
"There are eighty-seven recordings like these."
Alexander looked up.
"Eighty-seven?"
Marcus nodded.
"Most were automatically archived."
"Nobody checked them."
Alexander swallowed.
Except one person had.
His late father.
Marcus opened Charles Whitmore's private folder.
Inside was a single document.
A handwritten note.
"If you are reading this, Alexander..."
"...then I was right to fear what this family would become."
Alexander's heart pounded.
The note continued.
"Watch the children."
"They reveal the truth adults spend their lives hiding."
Marcus quietly added,
"Your father instructed me to give you these files only if either child was ever endangered."
Alexander closed the folder.
His father's final warning had arrived too late.
Or perhaps...
Just in time.
Because Alexander no longer doubted one thing.
Someone inside Whitmore House had been hurting Iris for months.
May you like
And the sabotage of the walker...
Had only been the beginning.
