Chapter 12 - THE PERSON BEHIND THE MASK

I reached the twins’ room faster than I had ever moved in my life.

The door was open.

My heart stopped.

“Jonah!”

“Blythe!”

They were there.

Alive.

Sleeping.

For one second, relief hit me.

Then I saw it.

A small object on the nightstand.

A glass bottle.

My blood froze.

Dr. Yates rushed forward.

“Don’t touch it.”

I looked at him.

“What is it?”

He examined the label.

His face changed.

“No…”

“What?”

He looked at me.

“This is the compound.”

The same thing destroying my children.

The same thing Genevieve discovered.

Someone had placed it inside their room.

Someone had been here.

Recently.

Prescott checked the cameras.

A few seconds later, his face turned pale.

“Lawson…”

“What?”

“The hallway camera was disabled.”

“By who?”

He looked at the screen.

Then slowly turned toward me.

“Someone with an access code.”

My expression hardened.

“Whose code?”

He didn’t answer.

“Whose code?”

Prescott whispered:

“Yours.”

Silence.

Everyone stared at me.

Someone had used my own security access.

My own identity.

My own authority.

Someone wanted to make it look like I was responsible.

Then the lights suddenly flickered.

The mansion went dark.

A second later, the emergency generator activated.

And every screen in the room turned on.

One by one.

Security cameras.

Hallways.

Bedrooms.

The entire house.

Then a video appeared.

A person sitting in a dark room.

Face hidden.

Voice disguised.

“You always believed money could protect you, Lawson.”

I stepped closer.

“Show yourself.”

The person laughed.

“You had everything.”

A pause.

“Power.”

“Respect.”

“A beautiful wife.”

“Healthy children.”

The voice became colder.

“And you still couldn’t protect them.”

My hands clenched.

“Where are you?”

The person leaned closer to the camera.

“I’m closer than you think.”

Then the video changed.

A photo appeared.

A photo of Genevieve.

But not the one I knew.

This was taken the day she died.

She wasn’t alone.

Standing beside her was someone.

Someone I recognized.

Someone I trusted.

Someone who had been helping me search for the killer.

My breathing stopped.

Because the person standing beside my wife in the final photograph…

was the last person I ever expected.

The screen went black.

And beneath it, one final message appeared:

YOU WERE NEVER LOOKING FOR A STRANGER.

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TO BE CONTINUED...