Chapter 3 - The Name in Charlotte’s PhoneSebastian dismissed everyone except Naomi.
At forty-three, she possessed the polished confidence Sebastian associated with elite private medicine. She had immaculate blond hair, expensive glasses, and a résumé filled with prestigious hospitals and wealthy clients.
Sebastian had personally approved her $280,000 annual contract.
Now he watched her glance at Naomi holding Lily.
Something flashed across Victoria’s face.
It vanished almost immediately.
“Mr. Whitmore,” she said. “I didn’t realize you’d returned.”
Sebastian folded the falsified charts behind his back.
“I changed my schedule.”
Victoria smiled.
“How wonderful. The girls have had a peaceful evening.”
Naomi’s fingers tightened.
Sebastian noticed.
“Have they?”
“Absolutely.”
Victoria crossed toward Lily.
“Let me take her.”
Naomi stepped backward.
Victoria’s smile hardened slightly.
“Naomi.”
The housekeeper did not move.
Sebastian intervened.
“I’ll take Lily.”
Naomi hesitated before carefully transferring the baby into his arms.
Sebastian had held his daughters before, but never comfortably.
Charlotte had been the one who read every parenting book during the pregnancy.
Charlotte had learned how to swaddle.
Charlotte had decorated the nursery.
Charlotte had chosen five names while laughing because Sebastian kept confusing which middle name belonged to which baby.
Then Charlotte died.
Since that day, Sebastian had treated fatherhood like another corporation.
Hire the best.
Pay whatever necessary.
Delegate expertise.
Review reports.
Never admit fear.
But holding Lily now, feeling the tiny rise and fall of her chest, Sebastian realized how completely he had surrendered his daughters to strangers.
Victoria glanced at the floor.
“Why are the other babies out of their bassinets?”
Naomi said, “They were unsettled.”
“That isn’t your responsibility.”
“I know.”
Victoria turned toward Sebastian.
“I’ve warned staff before. Naomi has become emotionally attached. It can happen in homes like this.”
Naomi stared at her.
Victoria continued smoothly.
“She lost a child years ago. Sometimes grief creates inappropriate boundaries.”
Sebastian watched Naomi’s face.
Humiliation.
Pain.
But no surprise.
Victoria had used that weapon before.
“How do you know about her daughter?” Sebastian asked.
Victoria blinked.
“Employment records.”
“My housekeepers’ deceased children are included in employment records?”
Victoria paused.
“Perhaps she told me. I honestly don’t remember.”
Sebastian did.
He remembered every contradiction spoken in a negotiation.
And Victoria had just made one.
He looked toward the bassinets.
“Why is Lily’s monitor off?”
Victoria’s eyes moved toward it.
“It occasionally resets.”
“Does it?”
“Yes.”
“What about the backup?”
“The backup?”
Sebastian pointed.
“The portable monitor my physician ordered.”
Victoria took half a second too long.
“It may be charging.”
Naomi said quietly, “It’s in the linen closet.”
Victoria turned.
Naomi continued.
“Behind the towels.”
Silence settled.
Sebastian’s voice became cold.
“Why?”
Victoria sighed.
“Mr. Whitmore, I understand that seeing five premature infants can be overwhelming, especially after what happened to your wife.”
Sebastian’s jaw tightened.
“Answer the question.”
“The portable alarms are excessively sensitive. They wake the babies and disrupt sleep cycles.”
“Did Dr. Patel authorize you to disable them?”
“Not specifically.”
“Then who did?”
Victoria’s composure slipped.
“They were not disabled. They were temporarily stored.”
Sebastian looked at Harrison, who stood outside the door.
“Call security.”
Victoria stared.
“For what?”
“No one leaves the property.”
“Sebastian—”
“You will call me Mr. Whitmore.”
Her face flushed.
Naomi lowered her gaze.
Sebastian handed Lily back to her.
“Stay with them.”
Then he walked toward his office.
Victoria followed.
“You’re overreacting.”
Sebastian stopped so abruptly she nearly collided with him.
“My seven-week-old daughter stopped breathing less than ten minutes ago.”
Victoria’s face changed.
“What?”
“You didn’t know.”
“Of course I didn’t know. I just arrived.”
“You told me they’d had a peaceful evening.”
“I meant according to the report.”
“What report?”
Victoria said nothing.
Sebastian continued downstairs.
He ordered Harrison to retrieve every security recording from the past month.
Then he called Dr. Arjun Patel, the pediatrician supervising the quintuplets.
The doctor answered on the third ring.
“Sebastian?”
“Come to the house.”
“It’s almost midnight.”
“Lily stopped breathing.”
Dr. Patel was silent for exactly one second.
“I’m leaving now.”
Sebastian ended the call.
Victoria stood near his desk.
“You’re allowing a housekeeper to frighten you.”
Sebastian looked at her.
“No. I’m allowing evidence to frighten me.”
“What evidence?”
He placed the charts on his desk.
For the first time, Victoria visibly paled.
“Where did you get those?”
Sebastian noticed the question.
Not what are those?
Not what’s wrong with them?
Where did you get those?
He leaned against the desk.
“Why?”
“They’re confidential medical documents.”
“They concern my daughters.”
“They belong in the nursery.”
“Apparently you know exactly which documents they are.”
Victoria folded her arms.
“I complete dozens every week.”
Sebastian opened Lily’s chart.
“According to this, she received sixty milliliters of fortified formula at 1:00 a.m. Tuesday.”
“Yes.”
“Naomi says Lily was vomiting that night.”
“Naomi isn’t medically trained.”
“She is.”
Victoria froze.
Sebastian studied her.
“You knew that too, didn’t you?”
A long silence.
Then Victoria laughed softly.
“So she finally told you.”
Sebastian’s stomach turned.
“What happened between you two?”
“Nothing.”
“Why would she be afraid of you?”
“She isn’t.”
“She asked me not to tell you she showed me these charts.”
Victoria stepped closer.
“Mr. Whitmore, Naomi Brooks was dismissed from nursing twelve years ago after a child died under her supervision.”
Sebastian felt the words hit him.
“What?”
“She neglected her own daughter while working an overnight shift.”
The office seemed to shrink.
Victoria continued.
“She became unstable afterward. She left medicine. Apparently she reinvents herself whenever she needs sympathy.”
Sebastian remembered Naomi’s steady hands saving Lily.
“You have documentation?”
Victoria smiled.
“I can get it.”
“Get it now.”
Her smile faded.
“I would need access to archived employment databases.”
“So you don’t have it.”
“I know what happened.”
“How?”
Victoria hesitated.
Sebastian straightened.
“How do you know about an incident from twelve years ago involving a housekeeper you supposedly barely know?”
Victoria’s eyes narrowed.
The doorbell rang.
Dr. Patel arrived fifteen minutes later and went directly upstairs.
He examined each baby.
His concern grew with every child.
Grace was mildly dehydrated.
Sophie had lost nearly nine ounces since her last documented weight—far more than the chart indicated.
Rebecca’s blood level suggested one of her prescribed supplements had not been administered consistently.
Claire showed signs of feeding exhaustion.
And Lily needed overnight observation.
Sebastian stood beside the nursery door while Dr. Patel spoke.
“These records are inaccurate.”
“How inaccurate?”
“Enough that I’m uncomfortable leaving the girls here without direct supervision.”
Sebastian glanced toward Victoria.
Her face had become rigid.
Dr. Patel continued.
“I want all five transported to St. Catherine’s.”
Victoria spoke immediately.
“That’s unnecessary.”
Dr. Patel turned.
“I wasn’t asking.”
“They’re premature infants. Transport creates exposure risks.”
“So does falsifying medical records.”
Victoria’s lips parted.
Sebastian looked at the doctor.
“You believe they’re falsified?”
“I know they are.”
Dr. Patel held up Grace’s chart.
“This weight was supposedly recorded nine hours ago.”
“Yes.”
“She currently weighs eleven ounces less.”
Sebastian frowned.
“Could she lose that much?”
“Not safely, and not without obvious symptoms.”
Naomi stood nearby, rocking Lily.
Dr. Patel looked at her.
“When did you last feed Grace?”
“Ten forty.”
“How much?”
“Forty-eight milliliters.”
“What did she take before that?”
“Twenty-seven at seven fifteen. She was too tired to finish.”
The doctor nodded.
“That matches what I’m seeing.”
Then he looked at Sebastian.
“Her numbers don’t.”
Victoria’s voice sharpened.
“You’re trusting the maid?”
Naomi flinched.
Dr. Patel slowly faced Victoria.
“I’m trusting the former NICU nurse whose observations correspond with the children in front of me.”
Sebastian stared at him.
“You knew?”
Dr. Patel nodded.
“Naomi told me privately three days ago.”
“And you didn’t tell me?”
“She begged me for forty-eight hours.”
“Why?”
Naomi answered.
“Because I needed proof.”
Sebastian turned.
She looked exhausted.
“There are cameras in the nursery,” she continued, “but not in the medication preparation room.”
“What were you trying to prove?”
Naomi looked toward Victoria.
“That someone has been replacing your daughters’ formula.”
Victoria went completely still.
Sebastian felt ice travel down his spine.
“Replacing it with what?”
Naomi walked toward a diaper bag beneath the changing table and pulled out two sealed plastic containers.
One bore the expensive nutritional label Sebastian recognized.
The other contained ordinary powdered formula.
“The babies were prescribed high-calorie premature formula,” Naomi said. “But this cheaper formula has been appearing in their bottles.”
Sebastian stared.
“That makes no sense. Why would anyone save money here?”
Naomi shook her head.
“They’re not saving your money.”
She handed him a folded invoice.
“Someone is ordering the expensive formula under your account.”
Sebastian read the total.
Nearly $18,000 in one month.
Naomi continued.
“But most of it never reaches this house.”
Victoria turned toward the door.
Two security officers blocked her path.
Sebastian slowly raised his eyes.
“Where is it going?”
Naomi’s answer changed the investigation completely.
“I think someone is selling it.”
Victoria laughed.
“That is ridiculous.”
Naomi faced her.
“Then show him your trunk.”
Victoria stopped laughing.
Harrison frowned.
Sebastian looked at his security chief.
“Search her car.”
“You cannot search my vehicle.”
Sebastian’s gaze never left her.
“It’s parked on private property. You can open it voluntarily, or the police can.”
Victoria said nothing.
Harrison left.
Six minutes later, he returned carrying a box.
Inside were twelve containers of prescription premature formula.
All labeled with the Whitmore family’s private medical account number.
Sebastian stared at Victoria.
She finally lost her composure.
“This is not what it looks like.”
Naomi whispered, “It never is.”
Victoria pointed at her.
“You think she’s innocent? Ask her why she really came to work in this house.”
Sebastian looked at Naomi.
Naomi’s face drained of color.
Victoria smiled bitterly.
“Yes, Naomi.”
She stepped closer.
“Tell him.”
Naomi clutched Lily.
Sebastian felt another terrible truth approaching.
“Tell me what?”
May you like
Naomi looked into his eyes.
“I didn’t apply here by accident.”
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