My daughter jumped, terrified, and tried to hide everything behind her back. Her eyes were full of tears.
“Mommy,” she whispered, “Daddy told me I had to take it out in secret. He said not to let the bad woman see.”
A knot twisted in my stomach.
I tucked Sophie back into bed and promised her I would keep Daddy’s “treasure” safe. Then I waited beside her until her breathing slowed and she finally fell asleep.
With shaking hands, I unfolded the crumpled paper.
I recognized Alexander’s handwriting instantly, even though the letters were crooked, like he had written them while terrified.
There was only one sentence.
Save me. Don’t trust her.
My hands went numb.
I tore through the plastic wrapping as fast as I could. Inside was a small black USB drive and a copy of a driver’s license.
The photo was Camila.
Alexander’s beautiful millionaire wife.
But the name on the license was not Camila Whitmore.
It said Lucy Hernandez, from a poor rural town in West Virginia.
I ran to my laptop, locked my bedroom door, and plugged in the USB drive.
There were only videos.
I opened the first one.
And covered my mouth so I wouldn’t scream.
Alexander appeared on the screen.
But he didn’t look like the man from the magazine covers.
He was skeletal, with purple shadows under his eyes and a blank, frightened stare. He looked like he was sitting in a dark basement, somewhere underground.
“Elena,” he said, his voice rough and broken, “if you’re watching this, it means I don’t have much time.”
I stopped breathing.
“I got myself into something terrible,” he continued. “The woman I married… she’s a monster. She has me locked away. Every day she makes me take pills that wipe my memory. She’s stealing everything.”
His eyes darted toward something off camera.
“Don’t go to the police,” he whispered. “She owns people there. Her real target is—”
The video cut off.
A sound of footsteps had come from behind him just before the screen went black.
I sat frozen, cold sweat running down my back.
The man who had destroyed my life was trapped.
And someone wanted him gone.
Then, at exactly 3:07 a.m., someone began pounding on my apartment door so hard the walls shook.
BANG. BANG. BANG.
Sophie woke up crying in the next room.
I grabbed the USB drive, shoved it into my robe pocket, and crept toward the door.
My whole body was shaking when I looked through the peephole.
And when I saw who was standing on the other side, I realized this wasn’t just about Alexander anymore.
They had come for the doll.
Part 2 is in the comments
If you don’t see it, tap “View all comments” — because who showed up at my door at 3 a.m. proved Camila had been watching us the entire time.
