Chapter 15 - The Poison in the Rose Garden
The rain poured down relentlessly against the stained-glass windows of Bellevue Crest as night descended.
A heavy, suffocating tension filled every corridor of the ancient stone mansion.
The armed guards posted at the perimeter gates checked in every thirty minutes via secure radio channels.
Theodore was finally asleep in the upstairs nursery, exhausted from a day of tears and anxiety.
I sat by his crib, watching his tiny chest rise and fall, praying to a silent heaven for our survival.
At eleven o'clock, Raymond came into the nursery, carrying two cups of chamomile tea.
"You need to rest, Nora," he said gently, setting a cup on the wooden bedside table.
"You haven't slept more than two hours a night since the court summons arrived."
"I can't close my eyes, Raymond," I murmured, staring at Theodore's innocent face.
"Every time I shut my eyes, I see Greg’s fists."
"I see Christopher's cold smile."
"I feel like this house is surrounded by wolves waiting for the walls to crumble."
Raymond sat in the armchair opposite the crib, his face shadowed by the dim nursery light.
"I spent two years trapped inside my own skull, Nora," Raymond said softly.
"Unable to blink, unable to scream, listening to Christopher and those devils plan my demise."
"Do you know what kept my heart beating?"
I looked up at him through the dim light.
"What?"
"The memory of what it felt like to be human," Raymond whispered.
"I had spent forty years building wealth, conquering markets, crushing competitors."
"And at the end of it all, I was lying in my own waste, surrounded by mercenaries waiting for me to rot."
"Then you walked through that door."
"You didn't know who I was."
"You didn't care about my stock options or my offshore trusts."
"You held my cold hand, you sang softly to this child, and you treated me like a human being with a soul."
"You gave me back my life, Nora."
"And I will spend every dollar, every ounce of blood I have left, to defend yours."
Before I could answer, a sharp static crackle erupted from Raymond’s handheld security radio.
"Mr. Winslow! Intrusion at the north perimeter greenhouse!" the head of security, Marcus, yelled through the speaker.
Gunshots echoed through the night air, muffled by the torrential rain outside.
"Marcus! Report!" Raymond barked into the radio.
"Two hostiles in tactical gear cut the outer fence!" Marcus shouted over bursts of gunfire.
"They deployed thermal smoke canisters near the conservatories!"
"They aren't heading toward the main house!"
"They are attempting to breach the old glass conservatory!"
The greenhouse.
Christopher’s words echoed in my mind like a siren: *Under the fourth flagstone behind the orchids.*
"Raymond," I gasped, jumping to my feet.
"They aren't here to hurt us!"
"They are here to destroy the lockbox!"
"Christopher told me Eleanor buried evidence under the fourth flagstone in the greenhouse!"
Raymond’s face turned stark white.
"She didn't..." Raymond muttered in shock.
"She swore she burned those journals before she entered the clinic."
Raymond grabbed the security radio.
"Marcus! Secure the perimeter of the greenhouse immediately!"
"Do not let anyone remove anything from the conservatory floor!"
"Use lethal force if necessary!"
Raymond turned to me, his jaw clenched, his eyes blazing with determination.
"Stay here with Theodore, Nora," he commanded, reaching into the bedside drawer and pulling out a heavy black service pistol.
"Raymond, no! You can't go out there!" I begged, grabbing his sleeve.
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"If those records fall into Julian's hands, Christopher will walk out of prison tomorrow, and Bellevue Crest will fall," Raymond said grimly.
He tore his arm free and raced down the spiral staircase, disappearing into the dark, storm-swept corridors of the mansion.
