Chapter 3 - Say It Again
Margaret recovered first.
“You’re being dramatic.”
Ava slipped one hand into her purse.
Margaret lunged half a step forward.
“There. Give me the card.”
Instead, Ava pressed the side button on her hidden phone.
A faint vibration moved against her fingertips.
Her emergency recording had already been running for eleven minutes.
Now the phone sent a silent distress signal.
Ava tilted the opening of her purse slightly toward them.
“Say that again.”
Margaret’s hand stopped in midair.
Ethan’s shoulders lowered.
The transformation was immediate.
The two people who had spent the last ten minutes insulting her suddenly became careful.
“Ava,” Ethan said quietly, “turn it off.”
She looked at him.
“You were comfortable talking when you thought nobody else could hear.”
“You’re misunderstanding everything.”
“Then explain it.”
Margaret gripped Ethan’s sleeve.
“Don’t say another word.”
That frightened Ethan more than the phone.
Ava saw it in the rapid movement of his eyes.
Margaret was not afraid of the demand for the card being recorded.
She was afraid Ethan might explain why they needed it.
Ava stepped toward the door.
Ethan instinctively shifted to block her again, then stopped himself when she lifted the purse.
“Move.”
“Ava, please.”
“Move away from me.”
He obeyed.
For the first time that afternoon, Ava stood directly in front of the deadbolt.
Her fingers wrapped around the lock.
Margaret’s breathing turned shallow.
“You think a recording makes you powerful?”
“No,” Ava said. “The truth does.”
She began turning the deadbolt.
Then she paused.
“The police heard everything.”
Ethan’s face drained of color.
Margaret stared at the purse as though it contained a weapon.
Three heavy knocks struck the front door.
Everyone froze.
Another knock followed.
“Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police.”
Margaret clamped both hands around Ethan’s arm.
Ava remained motionless.
Ethan whispered, “Don’t open it.”
Ava looked over her shoulder.
She had never seen him so terrified.
Not even when she confronted him about the missing forty-two thousand dollars.
That meant the money was only the beginning.
She turned the lock.
And from somewhere behind the cream wall, Ava heard a second sound.
A drawer being slammed shut.
May you like
Someone else was inside the house.
👉 As the police waited outside, a hidden person moved behind the hallway wall.
