Chapter 16 - THE SILENT WITNESS
I sat up fast.
My hands trembled. I scrolled through every file. Every recording. Everything was there—except the one that mattered most. The one where Hale threatened us. The one where Vanessa confessed. The one where everything was said.
Gone.
I pulled the watch from my wrist and ran to my father’s room.
He read the fear on my face instantly. “Mia? What is it?”
“The recording,” I said. “The one from the hidden room. Someone deleted it.”
His face hardened. “Are you certain?”
“I listened to it yesterday. And now… it is gone.”
Julian and Claire were called immediately. They stood in the hallway in their nightclothes, listening in silence.
“Who has access to your watch?” Julian asked.
“No one but me.”
“Then whoever deleted it… must have been alone with it,” Julian said. “While you slept. While you bathed. While you set it down.”
My father’s jaw tightened. “Someone in this house.”
“Which means Hale has an accomplice,” Claire said quietly. “Right here. Living with us.”
My father paced the floor. “The police have the copy Sarah made. They still have the evidence. But this… this proves someone is working for him. Someone close.”
“Whoever it is… they are watching everything we do,” Julian said. “Every word. Every move.”
That night, my father moved me into his room. We slept on cots side by side. The door locked. Guarded.
But I kept the watch on my wrist. And I set it to record continuously. Even while charging. Even while sleeping.
May you like
If someone came for it again… I would catch them.
---
