Chapter 22 Chapter 22
~TWENTY-TWO~
I pressed myself against the bathroom wall, holding Maya and Nathan so tight they started to whimper. My mind raced through options. The bathroom had a small window, but we were on the second floor. I couldn't jump with two babies.
"Please," I called out through the door. "Whatever you think we did, we can talk about it. Just don't hurt my children."
"I would never hurt children," the voice said, sounding almost offended. "I'm not a monster. I just want what should have been mine."
The lock clicked. She'd picked it.
The door swung open.
Standing there was a woman I'd never seen before. She was in her late thirties, pretty, with dark hair and green eyes. She wore ordinary clothes—jeans and a sweater—and looked completely normal.
Which somehow made her more terrifying.
"Who are you?" I asked again.
"My name is Elena," she said calmly. "Elena Winters. Marcus's daughter."
My heart sank. Marcus Winters had a daughter?
"I didn't know Marcus had children," I said carefully.
"Most people didn't," Elena said. "My father kept me secret. He was ashamed of me because my mother wasn't his wife. I was the daughter from an affair, the mistake he tried to hide."
"I'm sorry," I said. "But that's not our fault—"
"Everything is your fault!" Elena's calm facade cracked. "My father wouldn't have needed to fake his death if Declan's father hadn't exposed him. He wouldn't have spent five years in hiding, unable to see me, unable to be a real father. And he wouldn't be in prison now if you two hadn't ruined his plans!"
"Your father tried to kill people," I said quietly. "He tried to blow up a building."
"Because you left him no choice!" Elena shouted, then caught herself and lowered her voice. "You destroyed his life. So I'm going to destroy yours."
"By what? Taking photos? Sending letters?" I asked, trying to keep her talking while I looked for any chance to escape.
"Those were just the beginning," Elena said. "I wanted you to feel watched, hunted, scared. The way my father felt for five years. The way I've felt my whole life, knowing I was his shameful secret."
Nathan started crying. Maya joined in.
"They're hungry and scared," I said. "Please, let me take them downstairs. Let me feed them. Then we can talk about this."
Elena looked at the crying babies, and for a moment, something softened in her expression.
"Fine," she said. "But if you try anything, if you run or scream, I promise you'll regret it."
She stepped back, and I walked past her carefully, the twins still in my arms. My legs shook as I went down the stairs.
In the kitchen, I put the twins in their high chairs and gave them snacks to keep them quiet. My mind raced. How long until Declan came home? An hour? Two hours?
"How did you get in?" I asked Elena, who was watching from the doorway.
"I've been studying your security system for weeks," she said. "I know every camera angle, every blind spot. I know your schedules, your routines, everything. It wasn't hard to slip in through the basement window during your morning walk."
"You've been in our house before?"
"Many times," Elena said with a small smile. "How do you think I got those baby photos of you? They were in a box in your attic. And I'm the one who drained your phone battery this morning. And your husband's too, in case you're wondering why he hasn't called to check on you."
She'd thought of everything.
"What do you want?" I asked. "Money? We can give you money."
"I don't want money," Elena said. "I want justice. I want you to suffer like my father suffered. Like I suffered, growing up without a dad because he had to hide who he was."
"That was his choice," I pointed out gently. "He chose to embezzle. He chose to fake his death. He chose to come back for revenge instead of just moving on with his life."
"He chose to fight for what was rightfully his!" Elena snapped. "Norex should have been half his. He built that company with Declan's father. But the moment things got difficult, he was cast aside like garbage."
"He was stealing," I said. "You have to understand that what he did was wrong."
"What Declan's father did was wrong!" Elena argued. "Turning on his partner, destroying their friendship, ruining his life over money. Money! As if that's more important than loyalty."
I could see there was no reasoning with her. She'd built up this narrative in her mind where her father was the victim and we were the villains.
"What's your plan?" I asked quietly. "You said you wanted to destroy our lives. How?"
Elena walked over to the kitchen table and sat down. She pulled out her phone and showed me a video.
It was footage from inside our house. Our bedroom. Private moments between Declan and me. The camera must have been hidden somewhere we never thought to look.
"I've been recording everything for months," Elena said. "Every fight, every intimate moment, every private conversation. I have hours of footage."
My face burned with humiliation and anger.
"That's illegal," I said.
"So is what your family did to mine," Elena countered. "And here's what's going to happen. You're going to convince Declan to drop all charges against my father. You're going to testify in court that Marcus was framed, that he never actually planned to blow up that building."
"No one would believe that," I said. "There's too much evidence."
"You'd be surprised what people believe when a sympathetic pregnant woman tells them a story," Elena said. Then she smiled cruelly. "Oh wait, you're not pregnant anymore. But you could be."
"What are you talking about?"
"I have samples of your DNA from this house. Hair from your brush, skin cells from your sheets. With the right lab work, someone could create evidence that you're pregnant again. And if a pregnant woman suddenly changes her testimony, people pay attention. They think she's protecting her family."
"This is insane," I said. "Even if I did what you're asking, it wouldn't work. Declan would never go along with it."
"Then you'll lose everything," Elena said simply. She pulled out another phone—this one showing live footage of the security cameras outside our house. "I have people watching. If I don't check in every thirty minutes, they'll assume something went wrong. And they have orders to release all the private footage I've collected to every news outlet in the country."
I felt sick. Our private moments, broadcasted for the world to see.
"You're bluffing," I said, though I didn't believe it.
"Am I?" Elena asked. She played another video—this one showing Declan and me arguing about something personal, something we'd never want anyone else to hear.
Tears filled my eyes. "Please don't do this. I'm begging you."
"Then do what I'm asking," Elena said. "Save my father, or lose everything."
Before I could answer, I heard a car in the driveway.
Declan was home early.
Elena heard it too. She stood up quickly, pulling a small knife from her pocket.
"Don't say anything," she warned. "I'll hide in the basement. When he comes in, act normal. I'll be listening. One wrong word, and that footage goes public. Understand?"
I nodded, terrified.
Elena disappeared into the basement just as Declan's key turned in the front door.
He walked in, smiling. "Hey, I finished my meeting early so I thought I'd surprise you—" He stopped, seeing my face. "What's wrong? You look terrible."
"I'm just tired," I lied, my voice shaking. "The twins were fussy today."
He studied me carefully. "Are you sure that's all?"
No, I wanted to scream. There's a woman in our basement threatening to destroy our lives. Call the police. Call someone. Help us.
But I thought about that footage going public. About our private moments being shared everywhere. About how it would affect the twins as they grew up, having their parents' intimate life available for anyone to see.
"I'm sure," I said. "Just a long day."
Declan looked like he didn't believe me, but he didn't push. "Okay. Well, I'm home now. Why don't you go rest and I'll watch the twins?"
"Actually, could you run to the store?" I asked, an idea forming. "We're out of diapers."
"I can go later—"
"Please?" I said. "I'd really appreciate it. The twins will need them for bedtime."
He looked confused but agreed. "Okay. I'll be back in twenty minutes."
The moment he left, Elena emerged from the basement.
"Smart," she said. "Buying us time to finish our conversation. So what's your answer? Will you help free my father?"
"If I do this, you'll destroy the footage?" I asked. "All of it?"
"Every single file," Elena promised. "You'll never have to worry about it again."
I looked at Maya and Nathan, happily eating their snacks, completely unaware of the danger surrounding them.
I thought about everything we'd been through. All the threats, all the attacks, all the times we'd barely survived.
And I made a decision.
"I'll do it," I said. "I'll testify that Marcus was framed. I'll do whatever you want. Just promise me you'll leave my family alone after this."
Elena smiled. "I promise. Help free my father, and you'll never see me again."
She left through the basement window the same way she'd come in.
As soon as she was gone, I grabbed my phone—which mysteriously had battery again—and called Detective Morrison.
"She was here," I said when he answered. "Marcus Winters' daughter. She wants me to lie in court to free her father. She's been filming us, Detective. She has cameras hidden in our house."
"Don't touch anything," Detective Morrison said immediately. "I'm sending a team now. Did she say where she was going?"
"No, but she mentioned having people watching the house. She said if she doesn't check in every thirty minutes, they'll release private footage of my family."
"We'll find her," Detective Morrison promised. "And Anita? You did the right thing calling me."
"I hope so," I said.
But I had a sinking feeling this was far from over.
When Declan came home with diapers, the house was filled with police officers and FBI agents searching for hidden cameras.
"What the hell happened?" he demanded.
I told him everything.
His face went from shocked to angry to protective.
"She was in our house," he said. "With you and the twins. She could have hurt you."
"But she didn't," I said. "She just wanted to scare us. And it worked."
They found four cameras. One in our bedroom, one in the nursery, one in the kitchen, and one in the living room.
"How long have these been here?" I asked the tech examining them.
"Based on the dust and positioning, at least two months," he said.
Two months. Elena had been watching us for two months.
"We're going to find her," Detective Morrison assured us. "She made a mistake coming here in person. We have her on your security footage now. We know what she looks like."
But days passed with no sign of Elena Winters.
She'd vanished as completely as her father had five years ago.
"Maybe she left town," Declan suggested hopefully.
"Maybe," I said, but I didn't believe it.
Someone who went to that much trouble doesn't just give up and le
ave.
A week later, I got a text from an unknown number.
You lied to me, Anita. You promised to help my father, but instead you called the police. Now you'll pay for that betrayal. Watch your back. - Elena