Chapter 3 - The Camera Across the Street
Firefighters cleared the garage and removed the gasoline.
Rebecca sat in Daniel’s kitchen wrapped in a blanket while paramedics checked the baby’s heartbeat.
Strong.
Steady.
Alive.
She closed her eyes with relief.
Daniel placed a warm mug of tea beside her.
“I’m sorry I didn’t get there sooner.”
“You saved us.”
“The camera did.”
He showed her the security feed on his phone.
Three days earlier, Rebecca had asked him to connect the hidden garage camera to his network. She had found scratches around the side door and suspected Trevor was moving things at night.
Daniel agreed because his wife had once survived an abusive marriage.
He understood the danger of being dismissed.
The recording showed everything.
Trevor pouring gasoline.
Linda handing him the legal documents.
Trevor threatening Rebecca and the baby.
The police arrested both of them on charges of attempted assault, unlawful confinement, and conspiracy.
But Trevor’s attorney secured an emergency bail hearing before sunrise.
By noon, he was released under a restraining order.
Linda was released two hours later.
Rebecca could not believe it.
“They tried to burn me.”
“They’ll argue the gasoline was for the truck and the lighter was intimidation,” her attorney, Sarah Mitchell, explained. “The recording is strong, but the prosecutor still needs to prove intent.”
Rebecca placed both hands over her stomach.
“He said I wouldn’t live six weeks.”
Sarah’s expression tightened.
“We’ll request protective custody.”
They returned to the house with police.
Trevor had been ordered to stay away.
Yet when Rebecca entered the bedroom, every drawer had been emptied.
Her passport was gone.
So were her medical records and the folder containing documents from Northstar.
On the bathroom mirror, someone had written a message in red lipstick.
SIGN BEFORE THE BABY COMES.
Daniel checked the exterior cameras.
The system had been disabled remotely.
Only a person with administrator access could have done it.
Trevor still controlled the account.
Rebecca changed every password.
Then she searched the desk where Trevor kept old tax files.
Behind a false panel, she found a black phone.
The device contained no contacts.
Only one saved audio recording.
Trevor’s father, Richard, spoke weakly.
“If Rebecca discovers what you used her name for, she will go to the police.”
Trevor answered, “She won’t have time.”
Richard coughed.
“You cannot touch her while she’s carrying my grandchild.”
“I don’t need to touch her. Stress causes accidents.”
The recording ended.
Rebecca stared at the date.
It was made eight months earlier.
Richard had supposedly died eleven months ago.
He had been alive when Trevor claimed the funeral home had cremated him.
Rebecca turned to Sarah.
“Trevor lied about his father’s death.”
Daniel opened the phone’s photo gallery.
The final image showed Richard lying in a hospital bed.
Beside him stood Linda.
May you like
In her hand was a syringe.
👉 The family trust was created by a man Trevor claimed was dead, but the hidden phone suggested Richard’s death had been planned too.
