Chapter 5 - The Confrontation
Rosamund reacted with lightning speed. Anticipating the violent outburst, she shielded her face with her arm and took a hard step backward into the hallway, slamming the heavy wooden office door shut to trap Sabina inside.
In the monitoring room, Chadworth stood up so fast his leather chair fell backward onto the floor. "That's it! We're moving in now!"
"Go, go, go!" Marcus ordered into his tactical radio, signaling the team of private security officers stationed around the perimeter.
Chadworth sprinted out of the monitoring room, his expensive shoes slapping loudly against the basement stone floor as he rushed toward the primary staircase. His heart was in his throat. The image of Sabina attacking the woman who had spent years silently keeping his world together burned in his mind.
Upstairs, Sabina violently threw open the office door, her face contorted with rage. She caught up to Rosamund near the top of the grand marble staircase, grabbing the younger woman by her hair and yanking her back with brutal force.
Rosamund gasped in pain, but she didn't strike back. Instead, she twisted her body, using her momentum to shove Sabina away from the top step, risking her own balance to ensure neither of them fell down the long flight of stairs toward the foyer below.
"You ruined everything!" Sabina screamed, reaching into her tote bag and pulling out the stolen sapphire pendant, intending to slip it into Rosamund's apron pocket to frame her for the theft right as the police arrived. "You miserable little parasite!"
"Drop the bag, Sabina!"
A voice like thunder echoed through the vast, high-ceilinged foyer.
Sabina froze, her hand caught mid-motion inside her tote bag. She turned slowly, looking down from the top of the marble staircase.
Chadworth stood at the bottom of the stairs, flanked by Marcus and four uniformed private security officers with drawn tactical lights. Behind them, through the grand glass front doors, red and blue police lights began flashing against the driveway, painting the white walls of the mansion in violent shades of emergency colors.
Sabina’s face drained of every drop of color. She looked from Chadworth to the security cameras mounted in the corners of the ceiling, realizing in one terrifying instant that she had been trapped in a closed room with a tiger.
"Chad...?" Sabina stammered, her high-pitched voice shaking violently as she tried to reconstruct her polished persona. "Chad, thank God you're back! I... I caught her! I caught Rosamund trying to rob your safe!"
She pointed a trembling finger down at Rosamund, who stood on the landing above, breathing heavily, holding her bruised arm.
"She... she stole Victoria's necklace!" Sabina cried out, tears streaming down her face in a desperate performance. "She attacked me when I tried to stop her! Look at her, Chad, she has the house keys!"
Chadworth slowly climbed the marble stairs, his footsteps heavy, deliberate, and terrifying. He didn't look at the glittering diamonds on Sabina's neck. He didn't look at her tear-stained face. His eyes were cold, hard slabs of granite.
He walked straight past Sabina as if she were made of thin air, stopping beside Rosamund.
"Are you hurt?" Chadworth asked, his voice instantly dropping into a soft, deeply remorseful tone.
Rosamund looked up, surprised, shaking her head slowly. "I'm okay, Mr. Prescott. The girls... they're safe in their room. I locked the bedroom door from the outside before I came down."
Chadworth closed his eyes for a brief moment, letting out a long, ragged breath. "Thank you, Rosamund. God bless you."
He turned slowly to face Sabina.
"Chad, darling, what are you doing?" Sabina whimpered, stepping back toward the railing. "You're taking the word of a servant over your future wife?"
"I sat in the monitoring room for four hours, Sabina," Chadworth said, his voice deadly quiet, vibrating with absolute disgust. "I watched every single second. I heard every word you said to my daughters. I watched you throw Gemma's toy in the fire. I heard your phone call with Arthur Vance. And I watched you open my safe with stolen codes."
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Sabina dropped her tote bag. The blue folder containing the waterfront deeds fell out onto the marble floor, along with the stolen sapphire pendant that skittered across the polished stone, stopping right at Chadworth's feet.
The illusion was completely shattered.
