Chapter 25 Closing in.

Chapter 25 Closing in.
Selina stood at the window of her room, staring at the narrow path that led toward the garden. The early morning light spread gently across the damp earth, softening the sharp outlines of the hedges that bordered the walkway. Everything looked calm. Everything sounded peaceful. Yet her chest tightened with each breath, as if the silence itself were watching her.
She pressed her palm against the cool glass, her reflection faint and tired. Her eyes carried shadows from the night before. Her thoughts spun in circles she could not escape.
Nathan knew something.
She felt it in his gaze when he looked at her during breakfast.
He had not spoken much, but his quiet presence had pressed against her like a question waiting for an answer.
Her spoon had trembled once.
He noticed.
He always noticed.
Selina stepped back from the window and sank onto the edge of the bed. The sheets smelled faintly of lavender, a scent she once found comforting. Now it wound around her like a reminder of how trapped she was. How carefully Nathan curated every detail of her life. How delicately he disguised control as care.
Her fingers touched her throat lightly. She remembered Rosa’s frightened eyes the night before. The girl had avoided her at every turn this morning. No greeting, no small smile, nothing. Only silence and guilt.
Selina knew what that meant.
Nathan had spoken to her.
Her pulse quickened.
She rose abruptly, pacing the room with restless steps. She needed to think. She needed to breathe. She needed to understand how much Nathan had discovered, and what he planned to do next.
A soft knock sounded at her door.
Her heart skipped.
She stood still.
Another knock followed, quieter this time. Almost hesitant.
“Madam?” Rosa’s voice filtered through. Fragile. Tense.
Selina exhaled shakily and opened the door.
Rosa kept her eyes down, holding a folded towel in her hands. “I came to bring this,” she murmured.
Selina stepped aside to let her in. Rosa walked toward the dresser, placing the towel gently on its surface. Her shoulders looked stiff beneath her blouse. Her hands fidgeted at her sides.
“Rosa,” Selina said softly. “You can look at me.”
The maid hesitated before lifting her gaze. Fear shimmered behind her lashes, thin and revealing.
Selina’s voice trembled with quiet pleading. “You spoke to him.”
Rosa swallowed. “I… I had to answer. He asked me directly.”
“What did you say?” Selina stepped closer, trying to keep her voice steady.
“I told him I was not sure what happened,” Rosa whispered. “I did not mention any names. I did not mention where you went. I only said I had seen you leaving.”
Selina felt her legs weaken. She gripped the side of the dresser to steady herself. “And he believed you?”
Rosa shook her head slowly. “He believes what he wants to believe.”
Selina closed her eyes, a wave of despair tightening her chest. She had known this truth for years, but now it weighed differently. He was no longer passively suspicious. He was searching. He was connecting the pieces.
“Did he ask about Alan?” Selina breathed.
Rosa hesitated. “He asked about a man. He did not ask the name.”
Selina stepped back. The room felt smaller. Her breath grew shallow.
She whispered, almost to herself, “He knows.”
Rosa looked at her with trembling concern. “Madam, maybe… maybe you should tell him something before he finds out on his own.”
Selina shook her head quickly. “No. That would be worse.”
Rosa’s voice softened. “He will not stop.”
“I know,” Selina whispered.
Silence stretched between them.
Rosa gathered her courage. “Madam… is Alan the man you went to see?”
Selina’s eyes stung with helplessness she could not hide. She did not answer, but the silence spoke for her. Rosa inhaled sharply.
“Madam,” she said gently, “you should be careful. Mr Nathan is not calm. He is waiting for something. I could feel it when he spoke.”
Selina pressed her shaking hands together. “He always waits.”
Rosa gathered the courage to step closer. “I am scared for you.”
Those words broke something inside Selina. Not loudly. Not sharply. Just a quiet tear in the corner of her strength.
Rosa reached out and touched her arm lightly. “If there is anything I can do, anything at all, you tell me.”
Selina nodded weakly, though she had no answer to give.
The doorbell rang downstairs.
Both women stiffened.
Rosa turned toward the sound, then looked back at Selina. “I should go,” she whispered.
Selina watched her leave, closing the door softly behind her. When she was alone again, she hurried to the window, peering down at the entrance of the house.
A black car had pulled up.
Not the investigator. His car was always dark blue.
This one was unfamiliar.
A man stepped out. Tall. Clean cut. Dressed in a simple shirt and trousers. He carried a folder under his arm. He walked with the confidence of someone coming with purpose.
A chill slipped down Selina’s spine.
Nathan appeared in the doorway to greet him. They shook hands briefly before Nathan led him inside.
Selina pressed a trembling hand to her mouth. Her mind raced through possibilities. The man was not a friend. Not a business partner. Not anyone she recognized.
Nathan did not bring strangers into the house without reason.
Her fear sharpened.
She left the window and sat on the edge of the bed, fingers gripping the sheets. The hum of distant conversation floated faintly through the floorboards. Two male voices. Steady. Low.
Her heart pounded with each muffled word she could not fully hear.
A sudden knock startled her.
Rosa rushed back into the room, her face pale. She closed the door behind her quickly.
“Madam,” she whispered, breathless. “The man who arrived… I heard his name.”
“What is it?” Selina asked, her voice barely audible.
“Mr Carlton.” Rosa paused, afraid to say the rest. “He is a therapist.”
Selina stared at her.
Rosa swallowed. “Mr Nathan brought him for you.”
The room spun.
Her breath hitched painfully.
Her fingers clenched the sheets.
Nathan was not confronting her.
Not yet.
He was reshaping the truth.
He was preparing a new explanation for her behavior.
A reason he could use to justify control.
A reason he could use to keep her silent.
A reason he could use to keep Alan away.
He was not accusing her.
He was diagnosing her.
Selina shook her head in disbelief, tears rising in her eyes. “He wants to make me look unstable.”
Rosa nodded slowly. “It seems so.”
Selina’s chest constricted. She felt the walls closing around her. The careful calm of the house thickened, tightening like invisible hands.
She whispered with growing dread, “He is going to use this to trap me.”
Rosa took her hand quickly. “Madam, you must stay calm. If you panic, it will give him what he wants.”
Selina wiped at her eyes, trying to steady her breath. She stood shakily.
There was a soft knock outside. Nathan’s voice followed, smooth and polite.
“Selina, may I come in?”
Her blood ran cold.
Rosa squeezed her hand once before slipping out through the side door to avoid being seen. Selina stood alone in the center of the room, trembling.
She looked at the door as if it might open itself.
Nathan knocked again, firmer this time.
“Selina.”
She swallowed hard.
Then she whispered, barely audible, “Come in.”
The doorknob turned slowly.
Nathan stepped inside with a gentle smile that chilled her more than anger ever could.
“Selina,” he said softly, “there is someone I would like you to meet.”
Her pulse roared in her ears.
The web of lies was no longer unraveling.
It was closing in.