Chapter 5: The Truth Buried Beneath Twelve Years
Chapter 5: The Truth Buried Beneath Twelve Years
Trent disappeared for three days.
The police searched his apartment.
His office.
His bank accounts.
Nothing.
It was as if he had vanished into the same shadows where he had hidden his secrets for twelve years.
But Caleb knew him better now.
"He won't run forever," my brother said.
I looked at him.
"Why?"
"Because people like Trent don't believe they're guilty."
Caleb closed the investigation file.
"They believe everyone else is wrong."
He was right.
Trent had spent his entire life creating a version of reality where he was always the hero.
The protector.
The smartest person in the room.
And people like that never accept losing.
They fight.
They manipulate.
They try to rewrite the ending.
The ending came sooner than expected.
A week later, Detective Hayes called.
"We found him."
I froze.
"Where?"
"At the old Doyle family property."
The place Trent rarely mentioned.
The place he said had been abandoned years ago.
But when investigators entered the building, they discovered something horrifying.
A hidden room.
Inside were years of records.
Not only mine.
Other names.
Other women.
Other victims.
My hands shook as Detective Hayes showed me the files.
"He studied patterns," she explained.
"He looked for people who were isolated. People who trusted him."
I felt sick.
"How many?"
"We're still investigating."
The number wasn't the worst part.
The worst part was realizing I wasn't the beginning.
I was only the latest chapter.
Trent had done this before.
Maybe not with the same method.
Maybe not the same level.
But the same obsession.
Control.
The detective placed another document in front of me.
A handwritten journal.
Trent's journal.
"We found this hidden behind a wall."
I didn't want to read it.
Every instinct told me to look away.
But I opened it.
The first page was dated twelve years earlier.
The day after our wedding.
My fingers went cold.
The first sentence destroyed me.
"Maren is perfect. She trusts too easily."
I turned the page.
"The key is making her believe she needs me."
Another page.
"A person who doubts themselves becomes easier to guide."
Another.
"Love is just another form of influence."
I closed the journal.
I couldn't breathe.
For twelve years, I had believed I was loved.
But Trent had never been building a marriage.
He had been conducting an experiment.
Then Caleb noticed something.
A final entry.
The newest one.
Written just days before my CT scan.
He picked it up carefully.
"What does it say?"
My brother looked at me.
His expression changed.
"Maren..."
"What?"
He handed me the page.
Only one sentence.
"If she survives, I need another plan."
The room went silent.
Because suddenly we understood.
May you like
The poisoning wasn't his final move.
It was only the beginning.
