Chapter 3 - The Invisible Witness
Fifteen minutes earlier, in the sprawling, industrial-grade kitchen on the first floor of the estate, a young maid named Rosa had been diligently polishing the family’s antique silverware.
Rosa wore the standard estate uniform: a modest, unadorned gray dress covered by a crisp, heavily starched white apron. She was an invisible presence in the massive house, explicitly trained to keep her head down, her mouth shut, and her eyes averted whenever the family was present. She needed this job to support her own family back in a much poorer district of the city.
But as she wiped down a heavy silver serving tray, her reflection caught a movement in the pantry.
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She had watched the matriarch, Evelyn, standing alone in the shadows, hovering directly over the baby’s freshly prepared milk bottle.
Rosa had frozen entirely, holding her breath in absolute terror. She watched as the powerful older woman pulled a small, unmarked glass vial from the pocket of her tailored suit. With chilling precision, the matriarch emptied the clear, viscous contents of the vial directly into the infant’s warm milk. She swirled the bottle gently to dissolve the liquid, placed it back on the counter, and walked away without a single trace of emotion.
