Chapter 10 - THE HIDDEN CAMERAS
The mansion contained thirty-two cameras.
I knew about twelve.
Adrian knew about all of them.
Some were visible security cameras.
Others were hidden inside smoke detectors, clocks, vents, and light fixtures.
He had recorded me for years.
The discovery nearly broke me.
Bedroom.
Kitchen.
Hallways.
Home office.
Private conversations.
Arguments.
Crying.
Everything.
Adrian’s lawyer called it security.
Daniel called it surveillance.
Then technicians found the archive.
Adrian had labeled clips.
CLAIRE CRYING.
CLAIRE ANGRY.
CLAIRE INTOXICATED.
CLAIRE CONFUSED.
No folder called ADRIAN HITS CLAIRE.
Those clips had been deleted.
Not permanently.
Digital forensics recovered fragments.
One showed Adrian grabbing my arm.
One showed him shoving me into a wall.
One showed Serena standing nearby afterward.
She watched it once.
Then left the room and vomited.
The clearest recording came from six months earlier.
Adrian held my wrist.
“You sign tomorrow.”
“No.”
“You’re going to lose control of everything anyway.”
“It isn’t yours.”
His hand tightened.
I cried out.
Then he whispered.
“It will be.”
I watched myself on-screen.
Small.
Terrified.
I hated that woman for half a second.
Then I understood.
She survived long enough for me to watch her now.
I stopped hating her.
Daniel Reed asked permission to use the footage.
“Yes.”
No hesitation.
Adrian’s public image began collapsing.
His board suspended him.
Banks restricted company credit.
Two business partners resigned.
Margaret remained in custody.
Malcolm prepared to testify.
Dr. Cross had turned witness.
Adrian still refused to surrender.
He called me from an unknown number.
“You think you won.”
“I’m not playing.”
“You’ve destroyed everything.”
“No.”
I looked at the old videos.
“I stopped helping you hide it.”
His breathing changed.
“You’ll regret humiliating me.”
That sentence once would have frozen me.
Now I recorded it.
“Anything else?”
Silence.
Then Adrian said something unexpected.
“Ask your mother where she was the night Malcolm disappeared.”
I looked toward Eleanor.
She had gone completely still.
“Mom?”
Adrian laughed softly.
“She didn’t tell you everything.”
The line disconnected.
My mother looked at the floor.
“What didn’t you tell me?”
May you like
She closed her eyes.
“I was there.”
