The moment those words left her lips, an icy chill settled over the car, cold and heavy as the dead of winter.


    Evadne and Jason exchanged a startled nce. Evadne quickly turned back to Alva.


    "Alva, what do you mean by ''mental problems''?"


    Alva''s eyelids fluttered as if she were struggling against a memory that made her physically ill. She drew in a trembling breath before she spoke.


    "I''ve worked for the Abernathy family for nearly thirty years now. I''m still a housekeeper at Windermere Estate. Other than the butler and Dennis, who serves Mr. Frederic, there aren''t many staff left with as many years as I have.


    When I first joined, I was assigned to serve Elspeth and the eldest son. I wasn''t their personal attendant, just a junior maid following the head maid around— washing linens, scrubbing floors, doing the rough work. The finer tasks, like serving tea or helping with their dressing, were never given to me.


    At first, I thought Elspeth just looked down on me for being a country girl, thought I was clumsy and rough. Butter I realized, all her daily needs were taken care of by her own trusted maids, people she brought with her from the Austin family. Ordinary Abernathy staff couldn''t get close to her at all."


    Jason frowned in confusion. "Why? Was Elspeth hiding something from the Abernathys? Some dirty secret?"


    "Could she really have been mentally ill?" Evadne''s eyes darkened as she recalled her brothers'' earlier suspicions.


    Alva''s brow knit tight. "To be precise, Elspeth... she was aplete lunatic."


    Evadne and Jason stared, stunned. "A lunatic?!"


    "Even though she had her own attendants and lived alone in the guest house at the back of Windermere, it was still on the estate. Secrets like that can''t stay hidden forever. I heard the worst episode was absolutely horrifying-Elspeth had a fit, didn''t recognize anyone, and lunged at a maid delivering food, bit a chunk of flesh out of her face. There was blood everywhere. People said it was like something out of a nightmare."


    Jason flinched, his face pale. "That''s not even human... It''s—” He couldn''t bring himself to say the word.


    "It was a severe psychotic disorder. At that point, Elspeth had lost all sense of reality, gued by hallucinations and delusions,


    Sometimes violent and im


    She had no control over herself.” Evadne let out a quiet sigh her heart heavy with sorrow.


    to s


    Madness, abandonment by her husband, and in the end, losing control and


    turning a gun on herself—it was tragic, but it made sense.


    "I signed a confidentiality agreement about all this. Elspeth''s been gone for years,


    and I''d intended to take her secret to the grave."


    Alva squeezed Evadne''s hand so hard her knuckles turned white, voice trembling with anxiety. "But now-I have to tell you everything I know! The eldest son... I fear he takes after his mother. He seem perfectly normal, but there''s something dangerous beneath. He''s


    got a violent streak-worse than hers."  s


    Evadne''s face grew grave. She gentlyid a hand on Alva''s tense back. "Alva, what is it you know? Please, tell me."


    "It was over twenty years ago. The young master hadn''t been at the estate long.


    One evening, it was my turn to take dinner to Elspeth at the guest house."


    Alva''s face went chalk white as the


    memory surfaced. "I was in the


    ет


    wrong ce at the wrong time... I saw it with my own eyes-the young masten torturing a stray cat in the backyard! He had a knife, stabbing he poor thing''s t did it. The way he smiled. I''ll never forget it. I was so terrified, I couldn''t move."  s


    ady, grinning as he<fna52c> This content belongs to Find~Novel</fna52c>


    Jason shuddered, the mere thought making his skin crawl.


    Evadne felt a sudden, sharp pain in her chest.


    Chad... torturing animals?


    If Alva hadn''t said it herself, she never could have connected the gentle, refined man she knew with such monstrous cruelty.


    "And it wasn''t just one animal. The head housekeeper used toin in private every so often, they''d find bloody remains of kittens or puppies buried in the garden beds. He didn''t just kill them-he mutted them."


    Alva''s eyes were wide, her voice still shaking. "Mrs. Abernathy, tell me―could a normal, sane person do that? How could anyone even bring themselves to?"