The image on the screen froze me in place.
Lina sat on the floor, her back pressed against the wall between the two cribs. Mateo lay against her chest, his tiny body finally relaxed for the first time in hours. Samuel slept quietly in the other crib.
But Lina wasn’t calm.
Her eyes kept darting toward the door.
Every few seconds she looked at the hallway camera—almost as if she knew exactly where it was, even though I had sworn the system was undetectable.
Then she whispered something.
The microphone barely caught it.
“Not tonight… please not tonight.”
A cold sensation slid down my spine.
Who was she talking to?
Mateo began to stir again, his thin cry rising in the darkness.
Lina tightened her arms around him.
“It’s okay,” she murmured softly. “You’re safe with me.”
Safe.
The word echoed in my head.
Safe from what?
I switched the feed to the hallway camera outside the nursery.
Empty.
The house was silent.
Fifty million dollars’ worth of glass, steel, and marble… and not a single moving shadow.
I almost closed the tablet.
Then Lina suddenly stood up.
Her entire posture changed.
She moved quickly—too quickly for someone who was supposedly lazy.
She carried Mateo to the closet door.
Opened it slightly.
And slipped inside.
My heart started pounding.
Why would she hide in a closet with my child?
I switched to the closet camera.
Yes.
I had installed one there too.
Inside the cramped space, Lina crouched on the floor, Mateo still pressed against her chest. Her breathing was shallow now.
She looked terrified.
Then the hallway camera flickered.
A shadow moved across the screen.
Someone was walking toward the nursery.
At three in the morning.
I leaned closer to the tablet.
The figure stepped into the light.
And my blood ran cold.
Clara.
My sister-in-law.
She pushed the nursery door open slowly, as if she didn’t want anyone to hear.
Inside, Samuel slept peacefully.
But Mateo’s crib was empty.
Clara frowned.
She stepped closer, scanning the room.
Then she did something that made my stomach twist.
She reached into her pocket.
And pulled out a small glass bottle.
I zoomed the camera.
The label wasn’t fully visible, but I recognized the shape instantly.
Liquid sedative.
The kind hospitals use in extremely small doses.
Why would Clara have that?
My fingers tightened around the tablet.
Clara walked to Samuel’s crib.
She watched him sleep for several seconds.
Then she whispered something under her breath.
“If only there had been just one of you.”
The words hit me like a punch to the chest.
She opened the bottle.
Dipped a dropper inside.
My mind exploded with questions.
What was she doing?
Why my son?
Why at night?
Before she could lift the dropper—
The closet door burst open.
Lina stepped out like a storm.
“Stop.”
Clara jumped.
The dropper slipped slightly in her hand.
“Excuse me?” Clara said coldly.
Lina held Mateo tightly.
“You’re not touching them tonight.”
The room went silent.
Even through the camera, I could feel the tension.
Clara’s face hardened.
“You’re a nanny,” she said slowly. “You don’t tell me what to do in my sister’s house.”
Lina didn’t move.
“This isn’t your sister’s house anymore,” she said quietly.
“It belongs to their father.”
Clara laughed softly.
“And you think Damian would believe a poor nursing student over family?”
Lina’s jaw tightened.
“I’m not the one sneaking into a nursery at three in the morning with sedatives.”
Clara’s eyes flashed.
“For a colicky baby,” she snapped. “The doctor prescribed it.”
“Dr. Vela never prescribed sedatives for Mateo.”
Clara froze.
For half a second.
Just long enough for the truth to slip through the cracks.
My heart slammed against my ribs.
How did Lina know that?
Clara recovered quickly.
“You’re overstepping,” she hissed.
“You’re poisoning him,” Lina replied.
The word poisoned echoed through the silent room.
Clara’s expression turned icy.
“You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
But Lina stepped closer.
“Yes I do.”
She lifted Mateo slightly.
“Every time you visit, he starts screaming within minutes.”
Clara said nothing.
“You insist on feeding him yourself.”
Still silence.
“And afterward,” Lina continued, her voice shaking with anger, “his pupils dilate and his body stiffens.”
Clara’s lips curled.
“You’re imagining things.”
“No,” Lina whispered.
“I’m studying nursing.”
The room felt like a pressure chamber.
Clara slowly placed the bottle back into her pocket.
“You should remember your place.”
“And you should stop drugging a newborn.”
The words hung in the air like a loaded weapon.
Clara stepped closer.
For a moment, I thought she might slap her.
Instead, she smiled.
A cold, terrifying smile.
“You’re smarter than you look.”
Lina didn’t respond.
Clara leaned in slightly.
“So tell me… how long have you been watching me?”
Lina hesitated.
“Long enough.”
Clara’s eyes drifted toward Mateo.
“That sick child is the only thing standing between me and the Blackwood Trust.”
My breath stopped.
On the screen, Lina’s face went pale.
Clara continued speaking calmly, almost casually.
“If Mateo dies, Samuel becomes the sole heir.”
My hands began to shake.
“And if Samuel inherits everything,” Clara added softly, “guess who manages the trust until he turns eighteen?”
The answer punched through my chest.
Clara.
My sister-in-law.
The woman who had been living under my roof for three months.
Lina took a step back.
“You’re insane.”
Clara shrugged.
“I’m practical.”
Mateo whimpered in Lina’s arms.
Clara looked at him with pure irritation.
“That one cries too much anyway.”
Something inside me snapped.
I stood up from my chair so fast it nearly toppled over.
I was already grabbing my car keys when the tablet screen changed again.
Because Lina did something I never expected.
She didn’t run.
She didn’t scream.
She simply said one sentence that made Clara’s smile vanish.
“I know Aurelia didn’t die from postpartum complications.”
The room went completely still.
Even through the camera, I could feel the temperature drop.
Clara’s voice came out slowly.
“What did you say?”
Lina looked straight at her.
“I read the hospital report you tried to hide.”
Clara’s face drained of color.
“You weren’t supposed to see that.”
Lina’s voice was barely above a whisper.
“Aurelia was poisoned.”
My heart stopped.
On the screen, Clara’s eyes darkened.
And for the first time since I started watching the cameras…
I realized something far more terrifying than a greedy relative.
The real danger in my home wasn’t just Clara.
It was the fact that Lina had just confronted a murderer…
While standing alone in a locked nursery with my two newborn sons.
