Chapter 2 - The Interception
"Stop, please!"
A high-pitched, desperate cry rang out from the arched doorway leading to the service wing.
Elena, the head housekeeper—a woman in her late fifties wearing a crisp maroon uniform and a pristine white apron—came sprinting across the marble floor. Her face was pale with genuine panic, her hands trembling as she threw her body into the space between Victoria and the crying child.
"Miss Victoria, please! He's just a child!" Elena pleaded, her voice cracking as she reached out to grab Victoria's right forearm, trying to pry the black ebony cane away from the boy's collar. "You're going to hurt him! Look at his neck!"
Victoria didn't even flinch. She pivoted her weight on her high-heeled boot with lethal efficiency.
"Get your filthy hands off me, Elena," Victoria spat through gritted teeth.
Before Elena could pull the cane away, Victoria swung her left arm around in a violent, arc-like sweep. The heavy leather shoulder pad struck Elena squarely in the chest, while Victoria's forearm slammed into the older woman's collarbone.
Elena let out a sharp gasp of pain as her feet lost traction on the slippery marble floor. She went airborne for a fraction of a second before crashing heavily onto her side, her elbow striking the stone with a dull, sickening crack. She slid two feet across the white floor, her white apron gathering dirt, her hands clutching her bruised ribs as she groaned in agony.
"You are staff in this house, Elena," Victoria said, stepping over the fallen housekeeper without looking down. "You do not touch me. You do not question how I discipline my nephew."
"He... he is Richard's son..." Elena sobbed from the floor, struggling to catch her breath as she looked up at Victoria with eyes full of terror and disgust. "You have no right..."
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"I have every right!" Victoria screamed, her voice losing its icy composure, cracking into a jagged, unhinged pitch that echoed up into the crystal chandelier. "This house belongs to those who keep its secrets! And this little monster was going to ruin everything!"
She grabbed Leo by the back of his beige blazer again, lifting him off his feet as the child shrieked in absolute terror.
