Chapter 2 - The Heart of the Beast
The white fluff hit the pink comforter like a handful of fresh snow, but no one looked at the padding.
They were all staring at the metal.
Resting inside the torn cavity of the Belgian-imported bear was a sleek, matte-black circuit board no larger than a matchbook. Attached to it was a miniature speaker mesh and a microscopic lithium-ion battery. The red light wasn’t a dying LED; it was a recording indicator, blinking with rhythmic, predatory precision.
Declan froze, his hand still suspended in mid-air where he had lunged to stop Emma.
The color drained from his face, leaving his skin the shade of wet cement. The man who controlled shipping lanes from Boston to Miami, the man who settled corporate disputes with a loaded firearm and a cold glare, looked entirely dismantled.
"What... what is that?" Declan whispered, his voice stripped of its usual terrifying authority.
"It’s a two-way audio transmitter and a high-frequency acoustic emitter," Emma said, her fingers steady as she carefully lifted the device out of the ruined toy. "It’s been playing a sub-audible tone on a loop every night at 2:59 a.m. To adults, it’s just background static. But to children with sensitive ears, or anyone sleeping right next to it, the frequency creates a localized auditory hallucination. A feeling like something is buzzing inside your brain."
Grace and June stopped crying. They peered over their father's arm, their wide, tear-stained eyes fixing on the ugly piece of technology sitting in Emma’s palm.
"The monster... it went away?" June asked quietly.
Emma swallowed hard, her heart hammering against her ribs. She looked up at Declan. The fury in his eyes had evaporated, replaced by a dark, fathomless terror. Because Declan realized something far worse than a broken toy.
That bear hadn't come from a high-end boutique in Belgium.
May you like
It had been given to his daughters by his own flesh and blood.
Aunt Meredith.
