Chapter 2 - The Footage They Never Expected to See
The security room was on the lower level, hidden behind a paneled wall in a corridor most guests never entered.
Bruno opened it himself.
He did not ask Camille to join them.
He did not ask anyone else either.
Nikico rolled into the room with Adeline beside him.
Camille followed despite being told not to.
“I have every right to be here.”
Nikico did not look at her.
“Then watch.”
The monitor showed six camera feeds.
The hallway.
The medication room.
The service corridor.
The rear entrance.
The garage.
The staircase.
Bruno entered the timestamp from the previous night.
The recording began.
At 11:42 p.m., Adeline appeared on camera.
She walked toward Nikico’s bedroom carrying water.
At 11:44, she returned to the medication room.
At 11:47, she left.
At no point did she approach the service corridor where her bag had later been found.
Camille exhaled.
“That proves nothing.”
Adeline nodded.
“Correct.”
Bruno changed the camera.
The service corridor appeared.
At 11:51 p.m., a figure entered.
The person wore a dark cardigan and a hood.
The image was blurry.
But the person knew exactly where Adeline’s bag was.
Nikico leaned closer.
“Zoom.”
Bruno did.
The figure turned.
The face remained partially obscured.
But one detail became visible.
A silver bracelet.
Camille looked down.
The same bracelet was around her wrist.
She quickly covered it with her hand.
“That is ridiculous.”
Adeline said nothing.
Nikico did.
“Why were you in the service corridor?”
“I wasn't.”
“The camera says you were.”
“It could be anyone wearing something similar.”
Bruno changed the angle.
The person removed the hood for two seconds.
It was Camille.
Nobody spoke.
Camille’s expression hardened.
“You think I poisoned him?”
Nikico looked at her.
“I think someone changed my medication.”
Camille stepped closer.
“And you think I did it?”
“I think you need to explain why you were standing beside Adeline’s bag at midnight.”
Camille’s eyes filled.
For a second, she looked genuinely hurt.
“Nico.”
He flinched.
Not from the name.
From the tenderness in her voice.
It sounded familiar.
Almost loving.
Adeline suddenly understood something.
Camille was good at this.
She knew exactly which version of herself to reveal.
She knew when to cry.
When to shout.
When to become small.
When to become irresistible.
Camille turned toward Adeline.
“You've known him for 3 months. I have loved him for 4 years.”
Adeline remained silent.
“He was injured because of people who wanted him dead,” Camille continued. “I stayed. I slept beside him in hospitals. I learned how to manage his pain. I was there when doctors told him he might never walk again.”
Nikico looked down.
Camille softened.
“I didn't abandon him.”
Adeline noticed Nikico's reaction.
His hand closed slowly.
There was history here.
Pain.
Promises.
Guilt.
She did not know what had happened before the accident.
But she knew that whatever it was, Camille had found a way to keep him tied to it.
Then Bruno received a call.
He listened.
His expression changed.
“What?”
Bruno ended the call.
“The garage camera was tampered with.”
Nikico looked up.
“When?”
“Last night.”
“By whom?”
“Security says the system registered an administrative override from your office.”
Nikico's face went cold.
“My office password is not shared.”
Bruno hesitated.
“Someone copied it.”
Camille backed away.
Adeline looked at Nikico.
“Who has access to your office?”
“Me.”
Bruno added, “Camille.”
A long silence followed.
Camille shook her head.
“You gave me access.”
Nikico didn't answer.
Adeline remembered the first night.
The medication cabinet.
The bottle.
The label.
The substituted tablets.
She suddenly saw a larger pattern.
“This isn't about the medication.”
Everyone looked at her.
“It is about control.”
Camille laughed bitterly.
“You think you're a detective now?”
“No.”
Adeline looked directly at Nikico.
“I think someone wants you dependent.”
The room became very still.
Adeline continued.
“You are wealthy. You have influence. You have a business empire. But after your accident, someone started controlling what you took, what you remembered, what you were told, and who could speak to you.”
Nikico stared at the floor.
He had noticed those things too.
He just had never put them together.
A week earlier, he had forgotten a meeting he was sure had been scheduled.
A month earlier, he had signed documents he did not remember reading.
Three months earlier, Camille had convinced him to postpone a board vote.
And every time something went wrong, she had explained it for him.
Stress.
Medication.
Recovery.
Trauma.
Fatigue.
Adeline looked at him.
“When was the last time you made a major decision without Camille being present?”
He didn't answer.
That was an answer.
Camille started crying.
“You think I would do that to you?”
Nikico closed his eyes.
“I don't know.”
The tears stopped.
Just for a moment.
Then her face changed.
“Fine.”
She stepped toward the door.
“I won't stay where I'm not wanted.”
Nikico said nothing.
She left.
Bruno waited until the door closed.
Then he asked, “Do you want her removed from the estate?”
Nikico looked at Adeline.
She was still holding the specimen bag.
“No.”
Adeline frowned.
“No?”
“If she is part of this, I want to know why.”
Bruno gave a slow nod.
“You're going to use her as bait.”
Nikico's expression hardened.
“I want the truth.”
Adeline placed the bag on the desk.
“So do I.”
At that moment, her phone vibrated.
Tessa had sent another message.
Adeline opened it.
Her face drained.
“What?”
Nikico noticed immediately.
She turned the screen toward him.
Tessa had found the manufacturer information for the tablets.
The pills had not come from the pharmacy.
They had been custom-compounded.
And the order had been placed using a physician’s account.
A physician who had treated Nikico during the first month after his accident.
A physician whose name was attached to a private rehabilitation clinic owned by Camille's father.
Nikico stared at the screen.
“My accident.”
Adeline looked at him.
“What about it?”
He swallowed.
“I don't remember the hour before it happened.”
Bruno became very still.
Nikico continued.
“They told me I was driving too fast.”
“And you believe that?”
“I did.”
“Why don't you now?”
He looked at Adeline.
“Because I've started remembering something.”
“What?”
“A voice.”
Adeline waited.
Nikico looked toward the closed door.
“I remember someone telling me, right before the crash, ‘You should have trusted me.’”
Adeline's stomach tightened.
“Was it a man's voice?”
Nikico shook his head.
“No.”
“Was it Camille?”
“I don't know.”
The answer haunted all of them.
Because now the question was no longer whether Camille was manipulating Nikico.
May you like
The question was how long she had been doing it.
And what she had needed to hide.
