Chapter 3 - The Message From Inside My Home
I stared at the phone screen.
The photo was recent.
Very recent.
The angle was impossible.
Whoever took it had been inside my house.
I looked at Elena.
“Did you send this?”
She shook her head.
“No.”
Vanessa watched us.
For once, she wasn’t controlling the room.
She was waiting.
That scared me.
Because Vanessa never waited.
She planned.
I turned back to the security camera.
The hallway system had always been connected to my phone.
But when I opened the app…
Nothing loaded.
The feed was gone.
Vanessa noticed.
“You should stop digging.”
I looked at her.
“Why?”
She didn’t answer.
That was enough.
I called my security company.
While waiting, I checked the room again.
The chair blocking the door.
The empty pitcher.
The missing medication.
Everything was intentional.
My mother wasn’t trapped by accident.
She was trapped because someone wanted her powerless.
Margaret reached for my hand.
“I tried to tell you.”
My chest tightened.
“Why didn’t you?”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“Because she told me you would hate me.”
I froze.
Vanessa looked away.
The accusation wasn’t against me.
It was against her.
She had manipulated my mother into believing I wouldn’t believe her.
Then the security company answered.
The technician sounded confused.
“Sir… your system was manually disconnected.”
“By who?”
A pause.
Then:
“Your wife’s access code.”
The room went silent.
Vanessa’s expression finally cracked.
Only slightly.
May you like
But enough.
📖 Chapter 4 reveals what Vanessa was hiding inside the security system and the recording Daniel was never supposed to find. 👇
