Chapter 6
Mason answered before the second ring.
“Ethan?”
He heard the party behind me.
Then Chloe’s breathing near the phone.
“I need emergency controls.”
His voice changed immediately.
“Who is unsafe?”
“My daughters.”
The ballroom went completely silent.
Bianca stepped down from the table, nearly losing her balance in her heels.
“Ethan, stop.”
I looked directly at her.
“Mason, freeze every card she touched and send the doctor now.”
Bianca moved toward me.
I raised one hand.
She stopped several feet away.
“You cannot humiliate me in front of our friends.”
I looked around the room.
None of those people were my friends.
Friends would have asked where the girls were.
Friends would have noticed the dark dining room.
Friends would not have laughed while a woman danced on a table above children being denied food.
One guest lowered his eyes.
Another quietly placed his glass on a tray.
The party began separating itself from Bianca without anyone announcing it.
Lorraine reached for her phone.
I said, “Put it down.”
She froze.
“You cannot speak to me that way.”
“I just found my daughters beneath a table eating moldy bread.”
“They refused the meals we offered.”
Ava’s hand tightened around the plate.
I looked at her.
“Did they offer you another meal?”
She watched Lorraine before shaking her head.
Mia copied the motion.
Chloe buried her face against my shoulder.
Grace whispered, “Water makes hungry go away.”
A woman near the fireplace began crying silently.
Bianca heard Grace.
Her face tightened, not with remorse but frustration.
“They exaggerate because they know Ethan gives them whatever they want.”
Mason remained on the phone.
“Ethan, I am initiating the emergency review. Do not let Bianca access documents, devices, medication, or the children’s rooms.”
Bianca’s confidence flickered.
“What review?”
I ignored her.
“Send someone to secure the staff records.”
“Already being arranged.”
No confirmation came about the accounts.
No dramatic numbers.
Only movement beginning beyond the room.
Bianca looked toward the hallway.
Then toward the staircase.
May you like
For the first time, she seemed afraid of what might still be inside the mansion.
Read the full story 👉 Ethan’s call did more than threaten Bianca’s spending; it began preserving the records she suddenly wanted to reach.
