During her lunch break at the office, Eleanor opened the hidden camera app. The feed connected instantly, showing Julian ushering the new nanny into their home. Leo was sleeping soundly in his crib upstairs. Clara, the new nanny candidate, sat across from his desk in his home office, answering routine questions about childcare, schedules, and Leo. At first, everything seemed perfectly normal. Eleanor almost felt foolish for watching. Then Julian stood, closed the office door, and returned to his chair with a look Eleanor had never seen before.
His voice changed. It became flat and controlled. "There are a few additional conditions," he said, opening a locked drawer beside his desk. He removed a plain white folder and pushed it toward Clara. "These stay between us." Clara frowned as she opened it. Her eyes moved quickly across the page. Then she looked up. "Does your wife know about this?" Julian's expression hardened. "My wife doesn't need to know everything that happens in this office."
Eleanor leaned closer to the phone, her pulse rising. Julian unlocked a second drawer and pulled out a thick white envelope. He placed it beside the folder. Clara stared at it. "You're actually paying me to do this?" Eleanor froze. Paying her to do what?