Chapter 9
Allison tried to cry.
Ryder watched it happen like a performance beginning too late.
Her eyes filled.
Her shoulders folded inward.
Her voice softened.
“Ryder, I was overwhelmed.”
Margaret flinched.
Jade’s jaw tightened.
Ryder said nothing.
Allison took his silence as permission to continue.
“You left me alone in this house with your mother, staff, bills, endless expectations. I made mistakes. I admit that. But Jade has been poisoning her against me.”
Jade stared at her.
“I was feeding her when you forgot meals.”
Allison snapped, “I never forgot.”
Margaret whispered, “You said old women don’t need dinner if they don’t move.”
The kitchen went silent.
Ryder’s face changed.
Allison saw it and knew she had lost that path.
She turned toward him fully.
“I love you.”
He looked at her hand.
Not her face.
Her fingers were twisting the black belt of her robe.
A nervous habit.
Not grief.
Calculation.
“Who else had access to the security settings?” Ryder asked.
Allison blinked.
“What?”
“You had admin access. Who else?”
“No one.”
“Wrong answer.”
Her face tightened.
He tapped the phone.
“Some clips are missing. Some camera angles are disabled. Some motion alerts were suppressed. You didn’t do all of that alone.”
Allison’s eyes flicked toward the hallway again.
Tiny movement.
But enough.
Ryder saw it.
Jade saw it.
Margaret saw it.
Allison tried to recover.
“You’re exhausted. You’re imagining—”
“No.”
He cut her off.
One word.
Flat.
Final.
“I spent eight months reviewing industrial failures. Systems don’t fail this neatly without help.”
Allison went pale.
Ryder lifted the phone again and stared at the obscured figure entering Margaret’s room.
His fury became something sharper.
May you like
Investigation.
Read the full story 👉 The missing camera clips proved the abuse was not only physical—it was coordinated through the house’s own security system.
