CHAPTER 6 – THE LETTER ON THE PILLOW
CHAPTER 6 – THE LETTER ON THE PILLOW
Seattle police found Meredith's car three hours later.
It sat abandoned beneath the west span of the bridge.
Her purse remained inside.
Her wedding ring rested neatly on the driver's seat.
But Meredith herself...
Had vanished.
News of the billionaire's missing wife spread before sunrise.
Television helicopters circled the Calloway estate.
Reporters gathered outside the gates.
Speculation exploded across every news channel.
Kidnapping.
Suicide.
Affair.
Corporate revenge.
No one knew the truth.
Not even Wyatt.
The following morning...
Detective Elena Brooks entered the mansion carrying an evidence bag.
"We found this."
Inside was a folded envelope.
It had been hidden beneath Meredith's pillow.
Across the front, written in elegant handwriting, were four words.
For Wyatt Alone.
He opened it with unsteady hands.
Wyatt,
By the time you read this, I'll already be gone.
Everyone thinks I've been running away from my son.
That's not true.
I've been running away from myself.
Every time I looked at Jonah... I saw the day I almost died bringing him into this world.
Everyone celebrated his first cry.
No one heard mine.
They said motherhood would come naturally.
It never did.
Every smile he gave Clara reminded me of everything I wasn't.
Every time he cried, I heard failure.
Every time you defended me, I hated myself even more.
Then I started hating her.
Because she could love him so easily.
Because she became the mother I couldn't be.
I know what I did was unforgivable.
I know you saw the videos.
I know you will never forgive me.
You shouldn't.
But there is one truth you still don't know.
The reason I refused to let Clara leave Jonah's side...
The reason I watched her every moment...
Was because someone else was watching him too.
Wyatt stopped reading.
His pulse quickened.
Someone else?
He turned the page.
I wasn't the only one hiding things.
Look inside the blue nursery elephant.
Trust no one until you do.
The letter ended there.
No signature.
Only a single tear stain that had dried into the paper.
Wyatt looked toward Clara.
She stood frozen across the room.
"I've never seen a blue elephant."
James suddenly spoke.
"There used to be one."
Everyone turned.
"It disappeared about two months ago."
Wyatt frowned.
"What do you mean it disappeared?"
"I assumed one of the staff donated it."
Clara shook her head immediately.
"No."
"I remember that toy."
"Jonah slept with it every afternoon."
She looked toward the nursery.
"Then one day..."
"It was simply gone."
Wyatt's expression hardened.
He looked at James.
"Search every room."
"Every storage closet."
"Every attic."
"Every box."
"If that elephant is still in this house..."
"I want it found."
No one realized it yet.
But somewhere inside the Calloway mansion...
Hidden in an ordinary stuffed toy...
May you like
Was a secret so devastating...
It would prove that Meredith had not been the only person living behind a mask.
