CHAPTER 2 – The Camera No One Knew About
Emily clung to her father's shirt, crying so hard she could barely breathe.
David wrapped both arms around her.
"It's okay, sweetheart."
"I'm here."
"I'm not leaving."
For the first time in months...
Emily believed him.
Lauren folded her arms defiantly.
"You have no idea what she's really like."
David looked at the bruise spreading across his daughter's tiny arm.
"I know exactly what I'm looking at."
Lauren pointed toward the dresser.
"My diamond bracelet disappeared."
"I found it under her pillow."
Emily immediately shook her head.
"I didn't take it!"
"I promise!"
Lauren laughed bitterly.
"Of course you'd say that."
David gently lifted Emily into his arms.
"Go wait in the living room, sweetheart."
She hesitated.
"What if she gets mad again?"
His heart shattered.
"She won't touch you again."
After Emily left the room, David slowly turned toward Lauren.
"When did you become this person?"
Lauren rolled her eyes.
"Oh, please."
"Children need discipline."
"This isn't discipline."
"It's abuse."
Lauren's face darkened.
"So now I'm the villain?"
"I gave up my life for this family."
"I cook."
"I clean."
"I raise your daughter while you're gone twelve hours a day."
David remained silent.
Because part of what she said was true.
His long shifts meant Lauren spent more time with Emily than he did.
He had trusted her completely.
Too completely.
That night, after Lauren went to bed, David quietly entered his home office.
He remembered something.
Six months earlier, after a series of unexplained accidents involving Emily, he had installed a small security camera in the hallway outside her bedroom.
Lauren never knew.
He opened the recordings.
At first...
Everything looked ordinary.
Emily coloring.
Lauren cooking.
Television playing in the background.
Then another video appeared.
Lauren placing her bracelet beneath Emily's pillow.
David stopped breathing.
A few minutes later...
Lauren stormed into Emily's room.
"Where is my bracelet?"
"I don't know."
"Don't lie!"
She searched beneath the pillow.
Then dramatically held up the bracelet.
"I knew it!"
Emily burst into tears.
"I didn't do it!"
"You did!"
The recording continued.
Lauren slapped her.
Hard.
David's hands began shaking.
He opened another recording.
Lauren throwing away Emily's homework.
Another.
Lauren ripping apart one of Emily's birthday cards.
Another.
Lauren whispering into the frightened little girl's ear.
"If you tell your daddy..."
"...he'll send you away."
David covered his mouth.
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His daughter hadn't become quiet because she missed her mother.
She had become terrified.
