Chapter 1 - The Golden Teddy Bear Was Secretly Hurting Rory Starks’s Twin Daughters Every Night—And the Moment I Cut It Open, His Sister Declared WarAt exactly three every morning, Lily and Rose screamed.
Not cried.
Not whimpered.
Screamed.
The sound tore through the mansion like someone had reached inside their nightmares and ripped them open.
The first time I heard it, I thought they were having a nightmare.
The second time, I wondered if they were sick.
By the seventh night, I stopped believing either explanation.
Children could have bad dreams.
Children could wake frightened after losing a parent.
But nightmares did not arrive at exactly the same minute every night.
Three o’clock.
Always three.
Always together.
Always with the same words.
“The buzzing!”
“Make it stop!”
“Please!”
I had worked in Rory Starks's mansion for four months when I finally stopped being afraid of the rules.
The first rule was simple.
Staff were invisible.
We cleaned rooms.
We carried trays.
We changed sheets.
We entered and left without being noticed.
The second rule was more important.
Never interfere with the Starks family.
Especially not Rory.
Rory Starks was the kind of man people whispered about even when he wasn't in the room.
Officially, he owned construction companies, luxury restaurants, and a private transportation business that operated across several states.
Unofficially, people said he controlled half the city's underground economy.
He was feared by men who carried guns for a living.
He was feared by politicians who publicly denied knowing him.
And he was feared by the employees inside his mansion because nobody knew which version of Rory would walk through a door.
The ruthless one.
The silent one.
Or the grieving father.
His twin daughters were six.
Lily had dark brown curls and an endless curiosity.
Rose had lighter hair and the habit of holding her sister's hand whenever she became frightened.
Their mother had died two months before I arrived.
A car accident, everyone said.
Rory never discussed it.
Neither did the staff.
But the girls had changed after it.
They stopped laughing.
They woke screaming.
And then Celeste arrived.
Rory's younger sister.
Elegant.
Beautiful.
Always perfectly dressed.
Always smiling.
She brought the twins a golden teddy bear.
It was expensive.
Handmade.
Soft enough to look harmless.
The girls never let it leave their room.
But whenever I passed them during the day, I noticed something strange.
Lily held the bear against her chest.
Rose touched it carefully.
Yet neither girl actually looked comfortable.
The first night after Celeste gave them the toy, they screamed at three.
I remembered the sound.
I remembered seeing Celeste outside their bedroom afterward.
She had stood in the hallway smiling.
“Children grieve strangely,” she had told me.
Then she walked away.
I had believed her.
Until that night.
I was carrying folded laundry down the second-floor hallway when the screaming began again.
I dropped everything.
I ran toward the nursery.
I knew I was breaking the rules.
I didn't care.
The door flew open.
Rory charged in from the opposite hallway.
He was shirtless.
Barefoot.
A handgun in one hand.
His tattooed chest rose and fell sharply.
He looked terrifying.
But the moment he reached his daughters, the terror disappeared.
He dropped the gun onto the carpet.
He gathered both girls into his arms.
“I'm here.”
Lily clung to his neck.
Rose buried her face against his shoulder.
“The buzzing!”
“Make it stop!”
Rory looked helpless.
“What's buzzing?”
They pointed toward the teddy bear.
I stared at it.
The golden bear sat between them.
I remembered something.
Every time the twins screamed, the bear had been in the nursery.
Every single time.
I stepped closer.
Rory noticed.
“What are you doing?”
“I don't know.”
I crouched.
Rose looked at me.
“Don't touch it.”
That stopped me.
“Why?”
She whispered:
“Aunt Celeste said it helps us sleep.”
Lily nodded.
“But it hurts.”
Rory's face changed.
“What did you say?”
Lily looked frightened.
“Nothing.”
I stared at the bear.
Then placed my palm against its stomach.
The fur was warm.
Not room-temperature warm.
Warm.
Too warm.
Then I felt it.
A faint vibration.
Tiny.
Regular.
Like a phone on silent mode.
I looked at Rory.
“There is something inside.”
His expression hardened.
“Move.”
I turned the bear.
The stitching along its spine was almost invisible.
I grabbed the pink-handled scissors from the craft table.
Rory's voice dropped.
“Put those down.”
“There is something inside.”
“Give me the bear.”
I hesitated.
The vibration pulsed again.
Rose screamed.
So I cut the seam.
The stitching tore.
White stuffing spilled across the carpet.
A small metal device dropped into my palm.
A red light blinked from its center.
One.
Two.
Three.
Rory stared.
His face became completely blank.
Then he took the device from me.
He crushed it beneath his boot.
The buzzing stopped.
The twins went silent.
For several seconds, nobody moved.
I looked at Rory.
“What was that?”
He didn't answer.
He stared at the crushed device.
Then at the ceiling.
Then at the security camera above the nursery door.
“My sister,” he said.
I felt cold.
Celeste.
The woman who had brought the bear.
The woman who had watched the twins scream.
The woman who had stood outside their room smiling.
Rory picked up his gun.
Then the mansion alarms erupted.
Every door locked.
Red lights flashed through the hallway.
Security teams poured onto the floor.
Rory looked at me.
“Stay behind me.”
“What happened?”
“Someone knows.”
“Knows what?”
“That we found it.”
I looked toward the hallway.
Footsteps approached.
Fast.
Celeste appeared.
She wore a silk robe.
Her expression was calm.
Almost amused.
She looked at the destroyed teddy bear.
Then at me.
Then at Rory.
“Rory.”
He raised the gun.
She stopped.
“Put it down.”
“Not until you tell me why my daughters were being tortured.”
Celeste smiled.
“They weren't.”
Lily screamed:
“She lied!”
The entire hall went silent.
Celeste's smile disappeared.
Rose stepped behind Rory.
Lily pointed at her aunt.
“She puts the buzzing thing there.”
Celeste's face hardened.
“You little liar.”
Rory stepped between them.
“Don't speak to my daughter like that.”
Celeste looked at him.
“You're making a mistake.”
“No.”
His voice became terrifyingly calm.
“You made one.”
She stared at him.
Then her gaze moved to me.
“This is what happens when servants are allowed to interfere.”
I expected Rory to defend me.
Instead, he looked at her.
“Get out.”
Celeste laughed.
“You think your house is still yours?”
Rory's expression didn't move.
Celeste stepped backward.
“You have no idea what you've started.”
Then she left.
I looked at Rory.
“Who is she working for?”
He stared toward the door.
“That's what we're going to find out.”
The security chief entered.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“Outside the west gate, we found a vehicle.”
“Who owns it?”
“Registered to a shell company.”
Rory looked at me.
“Where was the driver?”
“Gone.”
“Any cameras?”
The chief swallowed.
“Three cameras failed at 2:57.”
I felt a chill.
Before the girls screamed.
Someone had disabled the cameras.
Rory stared at the destroyed teddy bear.
Then at his daughters.
And finally at me.
“You saved them.”
I shook my head.
“They saved themselves.”
His eyes remained on mine.
For the first time, I realized something.
Rory Starks didn't trust me.
Not yet.
But he had started to wonder whether he could.
And that was dangerous.
May you like
Because in Rory's world, trust was more valuable than money.
It was also far more dangerous.
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