Chapter 2 - THE BOOK THAT WAS WATCHING HER
At seven twenty-nine the next morning, Callum Voss stepped out of the private elevator carrying the same battered olive duffel bag.
At seven twenty-nine and thirty seconds, Maisie Blackwood opened the study door and glared at him.
“You’re early.”
“By thirty seconds.”
“My mother said seven-thirty.”
“I can stand in the hallway until then.”
Maisie’s lips twitched.
She stepped aside.
“Thirty seconds is an inefficient use of both our schedules.”
Callum entered without smiling at the tiny victory.
Serena watched from the breakfast room, pretending to review quarterly cybersecurity forecasts while her daughter led the former search-and-rescue officer toward the study.
The previous night, Serena had replayed their ninety-three-minute session four times. She examined Maisie’s posture, her eye movements, and every moment she forgot to be hostile.
Callum had not performed a miracle.
He had simply behaved as though her daughter’s anger did not frighten him.
That alone felt miraculous.
Inside the study, Maisie had arranged the books precisely where they had been before her test.
The rosewood puzzle box sat in the center of the desk.
“You left this,” she said.
“I brought it for you.”
“I don’t accept bribes.”
“It isn’t a bribe.”
“Then what do you want in return?”
Callum pulled out the leather chair.
“An honest answer.”
Her expression closed immediately.
“To what?”
“Why do you keep the astronomy books on the lowest shelf when every other subject is arranged alphabetically?”
Maisie glanced toward the west wall.
Three thick astronomy volumes lay flat beneath the shelves. One was an old illustrated guide to constellations. Its navy cloth cover had faded at the corners.
“I like them there.”
“That wasn’t the question.”
“Yes, it was.”
“No. It was an answer to a different question: whether you wanted to explain.”
Maisie sat behind the desk.
“You’re irritating.”
“My daughter says that too.”
That was the first time he mentioned Penny.
Maisie looked interested despite herself.
“How old is she?”
“Ten.”
“Is she intelligent?”
“Very.”
“Objectively or according to biased parental assessment?”
“Both.”
“What does she study?”
“Whatever holds still long enough.”
Maisie nearly smiled again.
Callum did not push the question about the astronomy books. Instead, he unfolded a map of the New York subway system and asked Maisie to design the fastest evacuation route from Midtown during a hypothetical power failure.
She began explaining bottlenecks around Grand Central.
Twenty minutes later, a housekeeper entered with water and fruit. Her elbow brushed the lower shelf.
The navy astronomy book fell.
It struck the hardwood spine-first.
The cloth binding split open.
A black plastic device no larger than a thumbnail slid from the hollowed spine and stopped against Callum’s boot.
Maisie froze.
The housekeeper gasped.
Callum did not touch the device immediately. His posture changed so subtly that only someone trained to watch danger would have noticed.
“Please leave the room,” he told the housekeeper.
She hurried out.
Maisie stared at the black object.
“What is it?”
Callum crouched beside it.
“A camera.”
All color vanished from her face.
“That’s impossible.”
“It has a lens.”
“My mother already has security cameras.”
“This one isn’t connected to the penthouse system.”
Callum opened his duffel and removed a small radio-frequency detector. He had used it overseas to locate covert transmitters around recovery sites.
The device registered an active signal.
The hidden camera was transmitting.
Callum placed a metal map case over it, blocking the lens.
“Who gave you the astronomy book?”
Maisie’s breathing quickened.
“I don’t remember.”
“Take your time.”
“It was already here.”
“Before your parents divorced?”
“I think so.”
Callum sat on the floor rather than towering over her.
“Did anyone tell you not to move it?”
Maisie looked toward the closed door.
“My father said the stars were always watching.”
The statement chilled him.
“What exactly did he say?”
“He said if I ever felt alone, I should sit where the stars could see me.”
Callum kept his voice calm.
“Did your father speak to you through the book?”
Maisie pressed both hands against her ears.
“No.”
“Did you hear a voice when nobody else was in the room?”
“No!”
The study door opened.
Serena entered at a run, followed by her security director.
She saw Maisie’s face, the split book, and the device on the floor.
“What happened?”
Maisie backed away from her.
“You knew.”
Serena stopped.
“Knew what?”
“That they were watching me.”
“I didn’t.”
“You watch me from the kitchen!”
The accusation hit its target.
Serena had installed visible cameras after Maisie locked Tutor Seven out of the study. She told herself it was for safety.
To Maisie, it was another adult deciding observation was easier than trust.
Serena crouched.
“The camera in the book is not mine.”
“Why should I believe you?”
“Because I’m telling the truth.”
“Dad says you lie when you’re afraid.”
Serena’s face tightened at the mention of her ex-husband.
Callum stood between them without blocking either one.
“Maisie, can you tell us when you last spoke to your father?”
She stared at the floor.
“Sunday.”
Serena inhaled sharply.
Julian Mercer had supervised contact twice a month. The last authorized call occurred three weeks earlier.
“How?” Serena asked.
Maisie refused to answer.
The security director examined the device.
“It’s broadcasting through an encrypted cellular relay. I’ll take it to the lab.”
“No,” Callum said.
The man looked offended.
“You’re a tutor.”
“And if you disconnect that device, whoever installed it will know it has been discovered.”
Serena understood immediately.
“Can we make it transmit a loop?”
“Yes. Record an empty room, then feed the footage back through the device while your team traces the receiver.”
Maisie looked from one adult to another.
“You’re using my study as bait.”
Callum turned toward her.
“Only if you agree.”
Everyone else fell silent.
Maisie was accustomed to adults discussing her as if brilliance made her less capable of consent.
“What happens if I say no?” she asked.
“We disconnect it and investigate another way,” Callum said.
“Even if that makes the investigation harder?”
“Yes.”
She studied him.
“Loop the empty room.”
Serena’s security team created the feed without removing the camera. Callum took Maisie to the library on the opposite side of the penthouse.
She sat beneath a window overlooking Manhattan and said nothing for six minutes.
Then she whispered, “He told me Mom would send me away.”
Callum remained beside the shelves.
“Your father?”
Maisie nodded.
“He said every tutor was a test. If I trusted one, Mom would decide she didn’t need me anymore. If I made them leave, she would have to keep me.”
The cruelty of the manipulation left Callum momentarily speechless.
“How did he contact you?”
“The stars.”
“Through the device?”
“A voice came from the bookshelf at night.”
“Why didn’t you tell your mother?”
“Dad said she would call me delusional and send me to a hospital.”
Callum sat opposite her.
“Do you believe that now?”
“I don’t know.”
“Fair answer.”
Maisie’s eyes filled with tears she refused to release.
“I made them leave.”
“Yes.”
“Some of them cried.”
“Yes.”
“Does that make me bad?”
“No.”
“You don’t even have to think about it?”
“I already did.”
Callum leaned forward.
“It means someone taught an eight-year-old that hurting people first was the only way to keep herself safe.”
A tear slipped down Maisie’s cheek.
“Will you leave?”
“Not today.”
“That isn’t forever.”
“No honest person can promise forever on the second day.”
She wiped her face angrily.
“What can you promise?”
“I will tell you before I go. I will not disappear because you make a mistake. And I will never speak to you through a hidden camera.”
In the security room, Serena’s team traced the transmission.
The signal did not leave Blackwood Tower.
It traveled downward through the building’s internal network and terminated on the thirty-eighth floor.
That floor housed Serena’s executive offices and the private suite of her chief legal strategist, Victor Hale.
Victor had represented her during the divorce.
He had drafted Maisie’s custody agreement.
He was also Serena’s most trusted board member.
Security accessed his office after confirming he was away at court.
They found no receiver.
They found something worse.
Inside his locked desk lay twelve confidential psychological reports—one for each tutor Maisie had driven away.
Every report had been sent to Julian Mercer’s attorney before Serena ever saw it.
Beneath them was a prepared emergency custody petition.
It alleged that Serena’s controlling behavior and relentless career demands had caused Maisie’s emotional collapse.
The petition requested that Julian receive sole custody.
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And control over the eighteen-percent voting stake in Blackwood Systems held in trust for his daughter.
The filing date was three days away.
