Chapter 2: The Note Beneath My Door
I read the note eleven times before I finally stood up.
Check the security cameras before she deletes them.
The handwriting wasn't my mother's. I knew that immediately. But the little heart in the corner was identical to the one Isabelle used to draw beside her name on birthday cards.
Someone knew about the box beneath my bed.
Someone knew how much I missed her.
And someone had just warned me that Nicole was about to destroy evidence.
I crossed the room and pressed my ear against the door.
Downstairs, Nicole's voice floated through the stairwell.
“She needs consequences, Richard. You can't keep treating her like she's still nine years old.””
My father answered, too quietly for me to hear.
Then Nicole spoke again.
“If you don't handle this now, people will find out. Imagine what your business partners would say.””
I stepped away from the door.
There it was.
Not concern for me.
Not concern for a possible baby.
Concern about what other people might think.
I pulled my phone from my schoolbag and opened the security application Dad had installed after someone stole a package from our front porch the previous winter.
The cameras covered the driveway, front entrance, kitchen, back patio, and downstairs hallway.
They did not cover the bedrooms.
Nicole had insisted that cameras inside private spaces would make the house feel like a prison.
I had agreed with her at the time.
Now I wondered whether privacy had ever been her real concern.
The application asked for a password.
I entered Dad's usual combination.
Access denied.
I tried again.
Access denied.
My stomach tightened.
Then I remembered the old tablet he kept in his office. It was usually connected to the security system, and he rarely remembered to log out.
I slipped into the hallway.
The house was quiet except for the dishwasher and the ticking clock in the living room.
I reached the top of the stairs just as Nicole emerged from the kitchen.
She held a glass of sparkling water in one hand and her phone in the other.
Our eyes met.
“What are you doing out of your room?””
“Getting water.””
“The kitchen is downstairs.””
“I know where the kitchen is.””
Her eyes narrowed.
“Don't get clever with me.””
I looked at her phone.
The screen displayed a security application.
She noticed where I was looking and turned it facedown against her palm.
“Your father has made a decision,” she said.
“You're grounded until we understand what happened.””
“What happened is that you accused me of something I didn't do.””
Nicole set her glass on the hallway table.
“You're going to learn that screaming doesn't change facts.””
“Then let's look at the cameras.””
Something flickered across her face.
It was gone so quickly that I might have missed it if I hadn't been watching.
“What cameras?””
“The security cameras. If I supposedly took that test upstairs, there should be footage of me going in and out of the bathroom.””
Nicole gave a dismissive laugh.
“Those cameras don't record every little thing.””
“They record the hallway.””
“Your father controls the system.””
“Then let's ask him.””
She stepped between me and the stairs.
“Your father is exhausted. He has a company to run, and I will not let you turn this house into a courtroom.””
“Why are you afraid of the footage?””
Her hand tightened around her phone.
“Excuse me?””
“If the cameras prove I'm lying, I'll accept the consequences. But if they prove I never touched that test, you'll have to admit you accused me for no reason.””
Nicole stared at me for several seconds.
Then she smiled.
It was the cold, polished smile she wore when she wanted someone to believe a threat was a favor.
“You really think this is about a little plastic stick?””
I felt my heartbeat stumble.
“What does that mean?””
“It means you've spent years believing the world owes you something because your mother died.””
My hands curled into fists.
“Don't talk about her.””
“Or what? You'll run to your father again?””
She leaned closer.
“Let me give you some advice, Maya. Your father is the only reason you still have the comfortable life you enjoy. If he decides you're too much trouble, that life can disappear very quickly.””
I swallowed.
“Did you put the test in my bathroom?””
Her smile faded.
For a second, the hallway seemed to shrink around us.
Then she slapped me.
The sound cracked through the quiet house.
My cheek burned.
I stared at her, unable to believe what had happened.
Nicole immediately stepped back.
“You see what you make me do?””
I touched my cheek.
“You hit me.””
“Lower your voice.””
“You hit me!””
She grabbed my wrist before I could move away.
“Listen carefully. You will not accuse me of anything in this house. Do you understand?””
I tried to pull free.
“Let go.””
“Answer me.””
“LET GO!””
My father appeared at the top of the stairs.
“What is going on?””
Nicole released me so suddenly that I stumbled.
She pressed a hand against her cheek as though she were the one who had been struck.
“Maya just came at me.””
I stared at her.
“What?””
“She was screaming in my face. I tried to calm her down, and she grabbed me.””
“That's a lie!”” I said.
Dad's gaze moved between us.
Nicole's eyes filled with tears.
“I can't do this anymore, Richard. I have tried so hard with her.””
I lifted my trembling hand to my cheek.
“Dad, she slapped me.””
He looked at the red mark on my face.
For one moment, I thought he might finally understand.
Then he sighed.
“Maya, go downstairs and apologize.””
I felt something inside me go completely still.
“She hit me, and you want me to apologize?””
“Don't make this worse.””
“How could it possibly get worse?””
Nicole began crying softly.
My father turned toward me.
“Enough. Go to your room.””
I looked at him for a long time.
Then I nodded.
“Okay.””
The word surprised him. I could see it in his expression.
He had expected another argument.
He hadn't understood that something had changed.
I was finished begging him to see what was right in front of him.
I walked past him and went downstairs.
The office door stood slightly open.
Inside, Dad's old tablet glowed on the desk.
I slipped through the doorway and closed it behind me.
The tablet was still logged into the security application.
I tapped the kitchen camera.
The recording showed Nicole entering the kitchen at 3:12 p.m.
She was carrying a small white shopping bag.
She glanced toward the staircase, then toward the windows.
After checking that the room was empty, she reached inside the bag.
My breath caught.
She took out a pregnancy test.
Then she walked toward the counter where I usually left my schoolbag.
The camera angle didn't show what happened next because Nicole stepped behind the island.
But thirty seconds later, she emerged without the test.
She looked directly toward the camera.
And smiled.
I replayed the footage.
Then I downloaded it to the tablet.
My hands shook so badly that I nearly dropped the device.
She had planted it.
She had deliberately placed a pregnancy test beside my belongings, then waited for me to come home so she could accuse me.
I had proof.
Real proof.
I was reaching for my phone when the office door opened.
My father stood in the doorway.
His eyes moved from my face to the tablet.
“What are you doing in here?””
I turned the screen toward him.
“Dad, you need to watch this.””
He stepped inside.
I pressed play.
For forty-five seconds, neither of us spoke.
Nicole entered the kitchen.
The shopping bag.
The test.
The movement behind the island.
The smile at the camera.
When the recording ended, my father stared at the screen.
I watched his expression change.
First confusion.
Then disbelief.
Then something that looked painfully close to shame.
“She planted it,” I whispered.
He didn't answer.
“Dad, she made it up. Everything she said was a lie.””
He rubbed both hands over his face.
“Where did you get this?””
“Your tablet.””
He looked at the recording again.
“Did you save it?””
“Yes.””
“Delete it.””
I thought I had misunderstood.
“What?””
“Delete the recording, Maya.””
My mouth fell open.
“Why?””
“Because this is a private family matter.””
“She accused me of being pregnant!””
“I know.””
“She slapped me!””
“I know!””
“Then why are you asking me to delete the only proof I have?””
He looked toward the closed office door.
His voice dropped.
“Because you don't understand what this could do to our family.””
I stared at him.
“Our family?””
He swallowed.
“Nicole has been under a lot of stress.””
A bitter laugh escaped me.
“So that makes it okay?””
“No.””
“Then make her apologize.””
He didn't answer.
“Make her admit what she did.””
“Maya—”
“Make her tell everyone she lied!””
His jaw tightened.
“You're not going to turn this into a public spectacle.””
I backed away from him.
The man standing in front of me looked like my father.
But he was protecting the woman who had tried to destroy me.
And suddenly, I understood something that hurt more than the slap.
Nicole wasn't the only person I needed to fear.
My father knew the truth now.
He had seen the footage with his own eyes.
And he was still asking me to stay quiet.
I left the office without deleting the recording.
Upstairs, I locked my bedroom door and transferred the footage to my phone.
Then I emailed a copy to an account Nicole didn't know existed.
I sat on my bed, staring at the progress bar until it reached one hundred percent.
For the first time that afternoon, I felt a little safer.
Then my phone buzzed.
An unknown number had sent me a message.
*You found the first recording. Good. Now check the camera from the night your mother died.*
My fingers went cold.
My mother had died eight years earlier.
The security system had been installed only last year.
I stared at the message, then typed a reply.
*Who is this?*
The response arrived almost immediately.
*Someone who knows Nicole didn't enter your father's life by accident.*
May you like
A second message appeared.
*And someone who knows what really happened to Isabelle Bennett.*
