CHAPTER 2 THE MEMORY CARD SHOWED A DIFFERENT WOMAN THAN THE ONE WHO RAISED ME
The police had not arrived yet.
Building security waited outside the penthouse exactly as I ordered.
No one entered.
No one left.
I inserted the memory card into my laptop.
Victoria leaned back with surprising confidence.
"Fabricated."
Marissa nodded.
"Videos can be edited."
Neither woman knew Audrey had once worked as a documentary editor before leaving her career because of pregnancy complications.
If anyone understood authentic footage...
It was my wife.
The first recording began.
Hidden-camera footage from the kitchen.
Timestamp...
Eight days earlier.
Victoria stood beside Audrey while arranging flowers.
Her smile looked warm.
Her voice did not.
"You should be grateful my son married beneath his social class."
Audrey answered softly.
"I love your son."
Victoria laughed.
"Love is cheap."
Another clip.
Five days earlier.
Marissa checking Audrey's blood pressure.
Everything appeared normal until Victoria entered.
"Too high."
Marissa immediately repeated it.
"Much too high."
"But the monitor says—"
Victoria interrupted.
"Throw it away."
The nurse obeyed without question.
Another recording.
Three days earlier.
Victoria speaking while Audrey washed fruit.
"If this baby doesn't survive..."
She paused long enough to smile into the reflection of the kitchen window.
"...Daniel can always marry again."
The apple slipped from Audrey's hand.
My stomach twisted.
The next video...
Today's recording.
Marissa unscrewing the bleach bottle.
"You'll scrub until Madam Victoria says you're clean."
Audrey cried.
"I'm pregnant."
Victoria answered without emotion.
"So was I."
Then came the sentence that changed everything.
"If you lose the baby, perhaps Daniel will finally stop worshipping you."
The recording ended.
No one spoke.
Marissa collapsed into a chair.
Victoria remained perfectly composed.
Then...
She smiled.
"You think those recordings matter?"
I stared at her.
"They prove abuse."
She shook her head.
"They prove family discipline."
The confidence in her voice confused me.
Until my phone rang.
Our family attorney.
I answered.
His first sentence made the room spin.
"Daniel... did you know your mother changed your father's trust six months before he died?"
"What?"
"Everything transfers to you only if there are no surviving grandchildren."
Silence.
Then every conversation from the videos replayed inside my head.
The insults.
The bleach.
The stress.
The threats.
This had never been about towels.
Or hygiene.
Or discipline.
Someone wanted Audrey to lose our child.
May you like
Because a baby...
Would cost someone billions.
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