Chapter 1 - THE VIDEO THAT SHOULD NEVER HAVE EXISTEDDaniel Carter had believed the worst thing waiting for him at home was another argument with his wife.
He was wrong.
The moment he stepped through the front door, he heard his infant son screaming upstairs.
Not crying.
Screaming.
There was a difference.
Daniel had learned every sound Noah made during the first three months of his life.
The hungry cry.
The tired cry.
The lonely little whimper that disappeared the moment someone lifted him from his crib.
This was none of those.
This was fear.
Pure, desperate fear.
Daniel dropped his car keys onto the entry table.
“Emily?”
No answer.
“Noah?”
The baby's screams grew louder.
Daniel started toward the staircase.
Then his phone vibrated.
UNKNOWN NUMBER.
A video attachment appeared.
No message.
No explanation.
Daniel almost ignored it.
Then he noticed the thumbnail.
His son's nursery.
His hand stopped.
For one second, he simply stared.
The angle was strange.
High.
Almost from the ceiling.
Daniel had never installed a camera there.
He pressed PLAY.
The recording lasted only fifteen seconds.
But fifteen seconds was enough to destroy everything he thought he knew about his home.
Helen Ward stood beside Noah's crib.
The sixty-one-year-old nanny had one hand gripping the railing.
Her expression was nothing like the gentle woman who sang lullabies to Noah every afternoon.
Her jaw was tight.
Her eyes were cold.
Noah was crying.
Helen leaned toward him.
Her hand moved sharply.
Then Emily suddenly rushed into the frame.
“What are you doing?”
There was no audio after that.
Only movement.
Emily grabbed Noah.
Helen turned.
A violent struggle followed.
Emily stumbled backward.
Her head struck the edge of the bookshelf.
The video froze for half a second.
Daniel saw blood near Emily's eyebrow.
Then the recording ended.
Daniel stopped breathing.
Upstairs, Noah screamed again.
Daniel ran.
He took the staircase two steps at a time.
“Noah!”
He reached the nursery.
The door was half open.
Daniel shoved it wider.
Then stopped.
Emily was sitting on the floor.
Her dark hair hung wildly around her face.
A deep purple bruise covered the area beneath her left eye.
Her lower lip was bleeding.
She was clutching Noah against her chest so tightly that her entire body trembled.
“Emily…”
She looked up.
Daniel expected relief.
Instead, he saw terror.
Not fear of Helen.
Fear of him being there.
“What happened?”
Emily said nothing.
Daniel stepped closer.
“Who did this?”
Her eyes moved toward his phone.
Daniel turned the screen toward her.
The moment she saw the frozen image, every trace of color disappeared from her face.
“Where did you get that?”
“Someone sent it to me.”
Emily's breathing changed.
“No.”
Daniel frowned.
“What?”
“No, no…”
She pushed herself upright.
“That camera…”
Daniel looked around.
“What camera?”
Emily stared toward the ceiling.
At the smoke detector above Noah's crib.
Daniel slowly raised his eyes.
The detector had been there since they purchased the house.
At least he thought it had.
“We don't have a camera there,” Emily whispered.
Daniel dragged a chair beneath it.
He climbed up.
“Don't touch it!”
Emily screamed so loudly that Noah began crying again.
Daniel turned.
“Why?”
Emily's face twisted with panic.
“She told me not to.”
“Who?”
Emily pressed Noah against her chest.
“Helen.”
Daniel's expression changed.
“What did she say?”
Emily swallowed.
“She said if I ever touched the camera…”
Her voice became a whisper.
“…she would know.”
Daniel stared at his wife.
The realization was horrifying.
Someone had been watching them.
Not occasionally.
Not accidentally.
Inside their home.
Inside their son's nursery.
Daniel reached for the smoke detector anyway.
Then—
The front door opened downstairs.
Emily froze.
Footsteps entered the house.
Slow.
Measured.
Familiar.
Daniel climbed down from the chair.
The footsteps crossed the foyer.
Then Helen Ward's calm voice drifted upstairs.
“Emily?”
Emily grabbed Daniel's wrist.
Her fingers were ice cold.
“Don't say anything.”
Daniel stared at her.
“What?”
“She can't know.”
“Know what?”
“That you saw the video.”
Helen's footsteps began climbing the stairs.
Daniel's voice dropped.
“Why?”
Emily looked directly into his eyes.
“Because she thinks you're still in Chicago.”
The footsteps stopped outside the nursery.
A shadow appeared beneath the door.
Then Helen knocked.
Three soft taps.
“Emily?”
Daniel slowly turned toward the doorway.
Helen's voice came again.
May you like
Except this time, there was no warmth in it.
“I know you're not alone.”
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