Chapter 8 - THE CAMERA SHE DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT
I almost didn’t open the video.
Not because I wasn’t curious.
Because part of me already knew I wasn’t going to like what I saw.
Rachel sat across from me.
“Are you sure you want to watch this?”
I nodded.
“Yes.”
The screen loaded.
A security camera angle appeared.
It was inside my house.
The basement.
A place I rarely entered.
The timestamp was from two months earlier.
Mireya was sitting on the stairs.
Holding her stuffed rabbit.
Tove was standing in front of her.
I leaned closer.
The audio was unclear at first.
Then I heard it.
“You need to understand something.”
Tove’s voice.
“You can’t always run to your daddy.”
Mireya looked up.
“But Daddy helps me.”
Tove smiled.
“That’s the problem.”
I felt my hands tighten.
“The more he thinks you need him…”
She continued.
“The more he forgets about me.”
Mireya looked confused.
“I don’t understand.”
“I know.”
Tove stepped closer.
“That’s why children are easy to control.”
I stopped the video.
Rachel looked at me.
“Cullen…”
I pressed play again.
I needed to see everything.
Mireya started crying.
“I want Daddy.”
Tove sighed.
“You always want Daddy.”
Then she walked away.
Leaving Mireya alone in the basement.
I felt sick.
Because this wasn’t discipline.
This was manipulation.
Rachel closed the laptop.
“You need to report this.”
“I know.”
“But there’s something else.”
“What?”
She looked uncomfortable.
“The person who sent you this video.”
“Can you find out who?”
She shook her head.
“Not yet.”
My phone buzzed again.
Another message.
This time, a photo.
A picture of Tove sitting in a car with someone.
A man.
I didn’t recognize him.
Underneath the photo was a message.
She’s not doing this alone.
I stared at the screen.
“Who is that?”
Rachel looked at the picture.
Then her expression changed.
“You know him.”
I frowned.
“No, I don’t.”
She pointed at the man.
“You met him before.”
I looked closer.
And suddenly…
I remembered.
A few months earlier.
The man who helped Tove with “legal paperwork.”
The man who told me he was just a family friend.
Rachel whispered his name.
“Daniel Reeves.”
My stomach dropped.
Because Daniel wasn’t just a friend.
May you like
He was a lawyer.
And he was the person who helped Tove create the fake custody papers.
