Chapter 3 - The Poison in the House
The next morning, Mara considered calling in sick.
She had spent the entire night awake in her small apartment, watching Lila sleep beneath a faded pink blanket.
Every time Mara closed her eyes, she saw Damian Volkov’s face.
The fear hidden beneath his anger.
The way he had looked at Lila as though the child had found a door inside him that everyone else had stopped searching for.
Mara knew enough about Grayhaven House to understand one truth.
Attention from Damian Volkov was not always a gift.
Sometimes it was a target.
But her supervisor had already warned her that another missed shift would cost her the job. The rent was due in ten days. Lila’s hearing-device batteries were expensive. And Mara had spent too long learning that poverty did not allow people the luxury of fear.
So she dressed Lila in a blue sweater, packed crackers and fruit, and drove back to Grayhaven House.
The mansion looked even more intimidating in daylight.
It sat on a rise above the water, all dark stone, black gates, and narrow windows. Security cameras tracked the driveway. Men in suits stood near every entrance.
Lila held Mara’s hand.
“Is the sad man here?”
“Yes.”
“Is he still mad?”
“Probably.”
“Can Bunny help?”
Mara looked down at the rabbit.
“Maybe.”
Viktor was waiting in the kitchen.
He did not greet Mara.
He looked at Lila.
Then at Bunny.
“Mr. Volkov is asking for her.”
Mara folded her arms. “I have work to do.”
“You will be paid for today.”
“That isn’t what I said.”
Viktor’s expression barely shifted.
“Then what are you saying?”
“I’m saying my daughter is not a treatment plan. She’s four.”
For a moment, the security chief seemed surprised.
Then he gave a short nod.
“Fair.”
Mara had not expected that.
“He has not slept,” Viktor continued. “He has not eaten. He refuses medication unless the bottles are sealed in front of him. He dismissed three nurses yesterday before noon.”
“That does not make this my daughter’s responsibility.”
“No,” Viktor said. “But he asked for her.”
Mara looked toward the east wing.
The doors were closed.
The long marble corridor seemed too quiet.
“Ten minutes,” she said. “And I stay with her.”
Viktor nodded.
When Mara entered Damian’s room, she found him sitting by the window.
The curtains had been pulled open slightly, letting in a strip of pale morning light.
Damian wore a black robe. His face was still pale, but he looked more alert than the day before.
On the table beside him were unopened water bottles, medicine packets, and a breakfast tray untouched except for one piece of toast.
Lila walked in without hesitation.
“You opened the window,” she said.
Damian glanced at her.
“Yes.”
“Good.”
She climbed into the chair beside his bed and placed Bunny on the blanket.
“He can sit with you.”
Damian looked at the rabbit.
“Does he have a name?”
“Bunny.”
“That is not a very imaginative name.”
Lila narrowed her eyes.
“You’re not very imaginative.”
Mara tried not to smile.
Damian looked almost offended.
Then he gave a quiet laugh.
It was low and rusty, like a sound he had not used in years.
Mara noticed something else.
His hands were trembling.
Not from anger.
From pain.
“Mr. Volkov,” she said, “you need to take your medication.”
He looked at the pills as if they might attack him.
“Do I?”
“Yes.”
“Everyone keeps telling me what I need.”
“Because you are sick.”
“I am not weak.”
“No,” Mara said. “But you are sick.”
His eyes lifted to hers.
Most people probably avoided speaking to him like that.
Mara had no interest in playing games with a dying man.
“Your body does not care whether you were feared yesterday,” she continued. “It needs help today.”
The room went still.
Lila reached for one sealed bottle of water.
She placed it in Damian’s hand.
“Drink.”
Damian looked at her.
Then, slowly, he twisted the cap open himself.
The seal cracked.
Everyone in the room heard it.
He took the medication.
Viktor, standing near the door, looked stunned.
Lila nodded as if Damian had passed an important test.
“See? You can do hard things.”
Damian stared at the child.
Then he looked at Mara.
“Who is her father?”
The question cut unexpectedly deep.
“He isn’t around.”
“Dead?”
“No.”
“Then why isn’t he around?”
Mara’s jaw tightened.
“Because he made choices.”
Damian’s gaze sharpened.
“What choices?”
“Ones that do not deserve my daughter’s story.”
For several seconds, Damian said nothing.
Then he nodded once.
“I understand.”
Mara doubted that he did.
But his answer was better than sympathy.
Later that afternoon, while Mara cleaned a hallway near the east wing, she heard raised voices from Damian’s office.
The door was not fully closed.
Viktor was speaking.
“Two more staff members quit.”
“Let them,” Damian replied.
“They are afraid.”
“Then they are useless.”
“Sir, this is not sustainable.”
“Neither is trusting people who poison my wine.”
Mara stopped.
Viktor’s voice lowered.
“The kitchen staff has been investigated.”
“Poorly.”
“The physician has been questioned.”
“Poorly.”
“The wine supplier was cleared.”
“Then someone closer did it.”
Mara held her breath.
“Who?” Viktor asked.
Damian’s voice became quiet.
“That is what I intend to discover.”
A floorboard creaked beneath Mara’s shoe.
The conversation stopped.
She moved away quickly, heart pounding.
But she had heard enough.
Damian was not simply sick.
He was hunted.
And the person who poisoned him still had access to the house.
That evening, Mara found something inside Lila’s backpack.
A small silver button.
Not a button from any child’s clothing.
It had an engraved black wolf on its surface.
Mara recognized it immediately.
It was the symbol worn by Damian’s inner security team.
She held it in her hand, confused.
“Lila,” she asked gently, “where did you get this?”
Lila looked at the button.
“The nice man dropped it.”
“What nice man?”
“The man who gave me candy.”
Mara’s blood went cold.
“When?”
“Today.”
“Where?”
“Near the kitchen door.”
Mara’s hands started shaking.
“No one is supposed to give you candy. You know that.”
“He said not to tell.”
Mara stood so fast that Lila flinched.
Then she forced herself to kneel.
“Sweetheart, did he say anything else?”
Lila looked frightened now.
“He asked if the sad man drinks tea.”
The air left Mara’s lungs.
Someone had approached her daughter.
Someone inside the house.
And they were asking questions about Damian’s food and medicine.
Mara grabbed her phone.
But before she could call Viktor, the lights flickered.
Then every light in Grayhaven House went out.
In the darkness, Lila whispered one word.
“Mommy?”
May you like
And from somewhere down the corridor came the sound of glass breaking.
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