Chapter 3 - My Husband's LieDaniel sat across from me in the hospital cafeteria.
Neither of us touched our coffee.
I watched him carefully.
“You knew about the cameras.”
He rubbed his forehead.
“Rachel…”
“Don't.”
He sighed.
“I didn't know they were going to use them like this.”
The room seemed to tilt.
“Use them?”
He looked away.
“Who installed them?”
Silence.
“Daniel.”
“I did.”
The words hit harder than the original accusation.
“You installed cameras in my parents' kitchen?”
“They asked me to.”
“Who?”
He hesitated.
“My dad.”
I laughed once.
It wasn't funny.
“My father installed hidden cameras in my mother's kitchen?”
Daniel shook his head.
“No. Your father asked me to.”
“Why?”
“To keep an eye on Vanessa.”
That made no sense.
Vanessa was their daughter.
Why would my father secretly record her?
Daniel leaned forward.
“She'd been acting strange.”
“How?”
“She was asking questions.”
“What questions?”
He looked at the table.
“About you.”
My heartbeat quickened.
“What about me?”
Daniel didn't answer.
I stood.
“Tell me.”
He swallowed.
“She wanted to know how much money you had.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
“Your inheritance.”
I felt my face go numb.
“My inheritance?”
After my grandmother died, I inherited a small house and some investment accounts.
Nothing extraordinary.
But my father had always said Grandma's estate should remain private.
“Why would Vanessa care?”
Daniel looked at me.
“Because your mother told her there was more.”
More.
The word echoed in my mind.
“More what?”
“Money.”
I shook my head.
“That doesn't explain Emma.”
Daniel's expression hardened.
“No.”
“It doesn't.”
He finally looked me in the eyes.
“And that's the part I'm afraid of.”
I waited.
Daniel reached into his jacket.
He pulled out a folded sheet of paper.
“I found this three weeks ago.”
It was a handwritten note.
No signature.
Only five words.
Rachel cannot remember everything.
My stomach twisted.
“What does that mean?”
“I don't know.”
“You're lying.”
His eyes widened.
“You think I'm lying?”
“You just admitted you installed hidden cameras.”
“For your safety.”
“No. For theirs.”
Daniel stood.
“Rachel, listen to me. Your family has been hiding something from you.”
“What?”
“I don't know.”
“You said they were afraid I'd remember.”
“I said I don't know.”
“Then why stay with them?”
He went silent.
And that silence was worse than anything.
I realized something.
He hadn't been protecting my parents.
He had been protecting me from my parents.
Before I could ask another question, a nurse rushed into the cafeteria.
“Rachel?”
I turned.
“There's been an issue upstairs.”
My heart stopped.
I ran.
Emma's room door was open.
The nurse was standing beside the bed.
“What happened?”
“Someone entered the room.”
My stomach dropped.
“Who?”
She shook her head.
“We don't know.”
I looked at Emma.
She was crying.
Her little hand clutched something tightly.
I knelt beside her.
“What happened?”
She whispered.
“The lady.”
“What lady?”
Emma pointed at the door.
“The one from the kitchen.”
A chill ran through me.
I turned toward the hallway.
Nobody was there.
Then I saw the object in Emma's hand.
A tiny silver key.
I recognized it immediately.
It belonged to my mother's house.
And attached to it was a strip of paper.
Three numbers had been written across it.
318
Daniel came up behind me.
“What is that?”
I looked at him.
“I don't know.”
But somewhere deep inside me, I knew.
May you like
The number wasn't random.
And someone had just risked entering a pediatric hospital room to make sure I received it.
