Chapter 8 - The Silent Witness
The video continued to play.
On the screen, Evelyn finished stirring the poison into the golden soup.
She looked nervously over her shoulder, toward the far corner of the kitchen.
"What about the maid?" Evelyn asked on the recording. "What if she notices the packets?"
Dr. Vance scoffed loudly.
He pointed toward a small figure sitting on a stool in the corner of the kitchen footage.
It was Lily, quietly coloring in a book, seemingly oblivious to the world.
"Don't worry about the maid," Dr. Vance said smoothly.
"And definitely don't worry about the brat. She’s completely deaf."
"She can’t hear a word we’re saying. She’s practically invisible."
The video ended.
The dining room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
Evelyn was shaking uncontrollably.
Dr. Vance looked like he was going to vomit.
Arthur slowly closed the laptop.
He looked at the two people who had spent half a year slowly stealing his mind and his life.
"Invisible," Arthur repeated, his voice low and dangerous.
He turned his gaze to little Lily.
The girl who had been entirely dismissed because she lacked one sense.
The girl who had used her other senses to save a billionaire's life.
Lily looked at Arthur.
She knew the video had finished. She knew what they had just heard.
She raised her small hands one last time.
She didn't sign it to Arthur.
She walked right up to Evelyn, looked the terrified woman dead in the eyes, and signed it so Arthur could translate.
Arthur watched her hands, and a slow, triumphant smile spread across his tired face.
"She says," Arthur translated, his voice echoing in the silent room.
May you like
"I can't hear you."
"But I can read lips."
