CHAPTER 2 — The Mother Who Knew Too Much
I couldn't sleep.
Rebecca lay beside me breathing peacefully.
Or pretending to.
Around two in the morning her phone vibrated.
She quietly climbed out of bed.
I waited five seconds before following barefoot.
She stood in the laundry room.
Whispering.
"No... he doesn't suspect anything."
A pause.
"Josephine almost broke today."
Another pause.
"No... I'll keep her under control."
Every word felt like a knife entering my chest.
Who was she talking to?
I leaned closer.
The floor creaked.
Rebecca spun around.
"Elias?"
I forced a yawn.
"Couldn't sleep."
She smiled.
Too quickly.
"Me neither."
She locked her phone before I could see the screen.
But I noticed one thing.
The caller wasn't saved with a name.
Only one letter.
R.
The next morning I skipped work again.
Instead of hiding in the house...
I followed Rebecca.
She didn't drive to the dental clinic.
She drove across town to an abandoned warehouse.
I parked half a block away.
A black SUV pulled in moments later.
Three teenage boys stepped out.
The same laughter.
The same voices.
The voices from Josephine's recording.
Rebecca handed one of them a thick envelope.
Cash.
Thousands of dollars.
The tallest boy grinned.
"She's almost ready."
Rebecca nodded.
"Just don't leave bruises anymore."
I stopped breathing.
The world tilted beneath me.
She knew.
She had always known.
She wasn't protecting our daughter.
She was paying the people destroying her.
Before I could process it...
Someone grabbed my shoulder.
I turned, ready to fight.
It was Mrs. Gable.
She looked terrified.
"You finally saw it."
"You've been watching?"
She nodded slowly.
"For almost six months."
"Why didn't you call the police?"
Her eyes filled with tears.
"I did."
"They said there wasn't enough evidence."
Then she handed me a flash drive.
"I've been recording everything."
I stared at the tiny piece of plastic.
Inside it...
Could be the truth.
Or something even worse.
That night I waited until everyone slept.
I plugged the flash drive into my laptop.
The first video appeared.
Date.
Seven months earlier.
The camera pointed toward my backyard.
Josephine wasn't alone.
Rebecca was standing beside her.
Holding her shoulders.
While a strange man filmed them.
Then Rebecca said words I'll never forget.
"Cry louder."
"No one believes happy girls."
Josephine screamed.
Rebecca smiled.
I nearly vomited.
But then...
The camera shifted.
The strange man turned toward Rebecca.
And called her...
"Doctor."
Not Rebecca.
Doctor.
My wife had lied about far more than her job.
May you like
She had another life.
One I knew nothing about.
