Chapter 4 - The Witness in the Nursery
By eleven o'clock that morning, Grant’s SUV slipped back onto the Mercer estate through the rear service gate, completely unseen by the main house staff.
Grant ushered Elena into the private caretaker's cottage near the edge of the property, where Tessa Monroe was waiting with eighteen-month-old Leo.
The moment Elena walked through the door, Leo let out a high-pitched squeal. "Mommy!"
Elena dropped to her knees, catching the little boy as he barreled into her arms. She buried her face in his curls, sobbing softly as he wrapped his small arms around her neck.
Tessa stood near the kitchen counter, watching the reunion with quiet tears in her eyes. She picked up a small leather bag and stepped toward the door. "I should give you two some privacy. I’ll turn in my resignation to Mr. Mercer—"
"Stop right there, Tessa," Grant said, blocking her path.
Tessa looked up, her expression guarded. "Mr. Mercer, yesterday I put my hands on Miss Cross. I know how it looked. I know she told you—"
"I don't care what Vivienne told me," Grant interrupted gently. "I know what you did. You protected my son when no one else was looking."
Elena rose from the floor, carrying Leo on her hip, and walked over to Tessa. She reached out and took Tessa’s free hand, squeezing it tightly. "Thank you, Tessa. If you hadn't been there yesterday, I don't know what Vivienne would have done to my baby."
Tessa let out a shaky breath. "Miss Cross was trying to give him liquid drops from a brown bottle yesterday afternoon," Tessa explained, her voice steadying. "She claimed it was pediatric vitamins, but Leo kept crying and pulling away. When I tried to take the bottle from her to check the label, she shoved me and threatened to have me fired. I reacted before I could stop myself."
Owen Park stepped into the cottage, holding a small plastic evidence bag containing a tiny amber glass bottle found in Vivienne’s room during a discreet sweep.
"We ran a preliminary scan on the liquid inside this bottle," Owen reported grimly. "It’s a powerful pediatric sedative. In high doses, it causes lethargy, severe confusion, and symptoms that mimic developmental regression."
Grant’s hands clenched into tight fists. "She was poisoning my son to make Elena look like a mother who had passed down a degenerative illness."
"Why?" Elena asked, her eyes burning. "Why would Vivienne go to such insane lengths?"
Owen opened his tablet. "Because two weeks ago, your father’s estate lawyers finalized the transfer of the Mercer Trust funds. If Grant divorced you on grounds of severe psychological instability, Vivienne had already positioned her private consulting firm to assume total legal guardianship over Leo’s multi-million-dollar inheritance."
"It was never about Grant," Tessa realized, looking between them. "It was about the money. She wanted the Mercer estate, and she needed Leo as her puppet to get it."
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Grant looked at his wife, a dark, calculating smile touching his lips. "Vivienne thinks Elena is still trapped in Vermont. She thinks I’m sitting up at the main house right now, trying to figure out how to fire Tessa and handle a broken family."
Elena looked at her husband, matching his expression. "Then let's let her keep thinking that. Until tomorrow night."
