Chapter 4 - The House of Glass
The front gates clicked shut behind Pia with a sharp, metallic finality.
Marcus stood alone on the back patio, his chest heaving, his fists clenched so tightly his fingernails dug deep into his palms. The silence rushed back into the yard, heavier and more suffocating than ever before.
Good riddance, he told himself fiercely. She was arrogant. Unprofessional. Out of line.
Yet, as he walked back inside the mansion, the house felt entirely dead.
He pushed open the door to Ben’s bedroom. The room was dark. The wooden block tower sat half-built on the floor. Ben was curled up in the corner of his bed, clutching a small stuffed bear to his chest, staring blankly at the wall with dry, tear-stained cheeks.
Marcus walked over and sat down on the edge of the mattress. "Ben?"
The boy didn't move. He didn't look at his father.
"Ben, listen to me. Pia wasn't... she wasn't following the rules. It was time for her to go."
Ben slowly turned his head, his wide hazel eyes locking onto Marcus with a heartbreaking, devastating maturity that no three-year-old child should ever possess. "You make everyone go away, Daddy. Anyone who is nice to me. Anyone who makes me smile."
The words struck Marcus like a bullet to the heart. He opened his mouth to speak, to defend himself, to explain about rules and discipline and the harsh realities of life, but no sound came out. The bitter taste of defeat filled his mouth.
He stood up silently, turned off the bedroom light, and walked out, closing the door behind him.
Back in his study, Marcus sat down at his desk and pulled out the encrypted surveillance tablet. He needed to work. He needed to drown himself in corporate spreadsheets and international contracts.
Instead, his trembling fingers tapped open the historical archive folder of the video feeds.
He fast-forwarded through hours of footage from the past week. He watched Pia helping Ben build a puzzle. He watched her gently wiping away his tears when he scraped his knee on the sidewalk. He watched her teaching him how to tie his shoes with infinite, unyielding patience.
And then, his thumb hovered over a file labeled Monday, 9:15 PM—two days before she resigned.
Marcus tapped play.
The high-definition video showed the master study at night. Pia was downstairs, but the camera in the hallway outside his office caught something unexpected.
The door to his private home office—the one Marcus kept locked with a biometric deadbolt—was standing open by a few inches.
Marcus frowned, leaning closer to the screen. He never left that door open. Inside that room sat his most confidential corporate files, his private safe containing Victoria’s jewelry, and a locked filing cabinet holding documents related to the tragic car accident that claimed his wife's life.
On the screen, a figure stepped out of the study.
It wasn't Pia.
It was Maria, the elderly housekeeper, clutching a small, leather-bound diary in her trembling hands—Victoria’s personal journal, the one Marcus thought was safely secured inside his private safe.
Marcus froze, his breath catching in his throat as he watched Maria frantically flip open the diary, snap several photos of the handwritten pages with her smartphone, carefully place the journal back inside the open safe, lock it, and scurry down the hallway like a frightened rat.
Marcus stared at the screen, paralyzed by shock and cold fury. Maria? After fifteen years of loyal service? What on earth was she stealing from his dead wife's private records?
Before Marcus could fully process the betrayal, his office door swung open.
Standing in the doorway, framed by the dim hallway light, was Maria herself. Her hands were trembling, and the usual warm, deferential smile on her wrinkled face was replaced by a cold, calculating sneer.
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"You shouldn't spend so much time watching screens, Mr. Delgado," Maria said, her voice dropping all its previous subservience, turning sharp and venomous. "You miss what's happening right under your own roof."
Marcus stood up slowly behind his desk, his eyes narrowing into dangerous slits. "Maria... what the hell do you think you're doing?"
