“Shut up, Ashley,” Linda snapped, her voice cold and venomous. “Emily isn’t going to die. She’s just weak. A few more days, and she’ll beg Ethan to leave her. She’ll sign the custody waiver just to get away from this house. Greg already has the paperwork drawn up. Once Ethan is single and broke, he’ll have to move back into my house. He’ll have to give me the baby. I’m not letting that pathetic girl ruin my son’s life.”
“But what about the money?” Ashley whimpered. “The twelve thousand from their account?”
“That’s our moving fee,” Linda whispered, a terrifying smile spreading across her face. “Greg and I are taking Noah. Ethan will think Emily ran off with the money and abandoned the child because she couldn’t handle it. The police will look for her, not us.”
“But Mom… Greg said if Emily doesn’t stop breathing soon, we have to—”
The video suddenly cut to black.
The Choice
My phone vibrated again. Another text from the unknown number appeared on the screen beneath the horrific video.
“I have the rest of the tape, Ethan. I have the part where they decide how to make sure Emily never speaks again. If you want the ending, and if you want to know where Greg is right now with your son’s real medical records, don’t tell the cop at the door. Walk out the back window. Come to the old warehouse on 5th Street. Alone. If I see a blue light, I delete everything, and your wife dies in that hospital bed tonight.”
I looked at the nursery window. It was unlocked.
Outside, the rain was pouring down, turning the backyard into a sea of mud. Down the hall, I could hear the police officer pacing, his heavy boots thudding against the hardwood floor.
If I called out to him, I could show him the video. The police would launch a manhunt. But how long would it take? What did the text mean by “make sure Emily never speaks again”? What had they given her? What had they done to my son?
My hands tightened around the hidden camera until the plastic cracked against my palm.
I looked at the window, then back toward the hallway.
I had to make a choice. And I had to make it in the next three seconds.
