Chapter 2 - The Camera Was Never Michael’s
Michael carried Lily away from the center of the living room and sat with her on the far end of the sofa.
He did not question her again.
Not yet.
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Her breathing came in short, frightened bursts, and the red marks on her cheek and shoulder were enough to tell him she needed care before explanations.
“Call Dr. Patel,” Michael told the house manager. “And call the police.”
Rebecca stepped forward.
“Michael, you’re making this look worse than it was.”
He turned.
“Do not come closer to her.”
Rebecca stopped.
Then Michael looked at the black camera above the chandelier line.
He knew every security device in his home.
At least he thought he did.
That camera was not part of the system he had approved.
His security chief, Daniel Cross, entered from the hallway seconds later.
Michael pointed upward.
“Is that yours?”
Daniel’s face changed.
“No.”
Rebecca looked toward the terrace.
Michael noticed.
“Who installed it?”
“I don’t know.”
Lily whispered from the sofa.
“The camera man.”
Michael knelt beside her.
“What camera man?”
She said a man had come to the mansion two days earlier while Michael was at work.
Rebecca told Lily he was fixing the internet.
He had carried a small ladder into the living room.
Rebecca interrupted.
“She’s confused.”
Michael raised one hand.
“Let her finish.”
Lily said the man installed the camera and then asked her to stand near the fireplace.
“He said it needed to see me.”
Michael felt cold.
Daniel immediately ordered the mansion’s network isolated.
The unknown camera was wireless.
Its signal was not routed through the Reed family security system.
Someone had created an independent feed.
Police arrived.
So did Lily’s pediatrician.
The initial examination found bruising and superficial marks but no immediately apparent serious physical injury.
Michael stayed beside his daughter.
Only after Lily was calm did investigators ask simple, non-leading questions.
Her story was clear.
Rebecca became angry because Lily refused to wear a necklace.
Rebecca grabbed her arm.
Lily pulled away.
The argument escalated.
Then Rebecca struck her.
Rebecca denied striking Lily intentionally.
She claimed Lily slipped while they struggled over the necklace.
The camera might answer that.
Daniel removed the device under police supervision.
Its memory card was missing.
But the camera had transmitted data.
A network trace showed the feed had been uploaded to a private server.
The account owner was hidden.
Then Daniel found the camera’s installation log.
The device had first connected forty-eight hours earlier.
Its setup name was:
LILY TEST 03.
Michael stared at the screen.
“Test three?”
Daniel nodded.
May you like
Which meant there had probably been a test one.
And a test two.
