Chapter 7: The Teddy Bear's Eye
For weeks, Cameron had noticed a horrifying pattern: Leo’s worst behavioral storms always happened after eating or drinking things she hadn't personally prepared.
The final confirmation had come earlier that week. Peeking through the pantry door, she had caught a glimpse of Mrs. Higgins standing over Leo’s cup, carefully squeezing three drops from a tiny, unmarked vial into his apple juice.
Accusing the head housekeeper without evidence would be suicide. Mrs. Higgins had a decade of loyalty; Cameron was just a girl from Queens.
So, she played a dangerous game. She went to an electronics store in Manhattan, bought a micro-surveillance lens, and secretly sewed it into the button eye of an old teddy bear sitting on the top shelf of the kitchen pantry. For three days, she intercepted Leo's food, acting sweet and apologetic to Mrs. Higgins while the camera rolled.
On the fourth morning, while the penthouse was buzzing with preparations for a massive charity gala at the Pierre, Cameron finally pulled the footage onto her laptop.
The video timestamp read 5:02 AM.
Mrs. Higgins appeared on screen, dropping poison into a batch of blueberry muffins. Then, she pulled out a burner phone. The microphone caught her clipped voice perfectly:
“The boy is stabilizing. The new girl won’t leave him alone. No, Sylvio, listen to me... If Dominic Rossi wants Matteo embarrassed in front of the commission tonight, the child needs to lose control publicly at the gala. Yes. I tripled the dose.”
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Cameron’s blood turned to ice. Sylvio. Matteo’s underboss. His trusted right hand was working with their biggest rival, Dominic Rossi, using a traumatized three-year-old as a political weapon.
Grip tightening around the USB drive, Cameron bolted out of her room.
