Chapter 6
I did not plug in the drive at home.
I drove to Laura’s apartment after Rosie fell asleep at my neighbor’s house under trusted care.
Laura opened the door before I knocked twice.
“You found something.”
I held up the USB.
Her face went white.
“What is it?”
“I don’t know.”
She let me in.
We connected it to an old laptop not linked to any of my accounts.
Elena’s face appeared in the first video.
Alive.
Tired.
Beautiful.
My lungs stopped working.
“Mark,” she said on the screen, “if you’re watching this, something happened and your family controlled the story.”
Laura started crying.
I could not.
Not yet.
Elena continued.
“Bethany has been threatening me. Your father too. They say Rosie is not really theirs because my family has no money. They say I trapped you.”
I gripped the table.
“She told me she wished I would disappear before Rosie remembered me.”
Laura whispered, “Oh my God.”
The next file was audio.
Bethany’s voice.
“If Mark knew what Elena signed, he’d leave her.”
My father answered.
“Then make sure he never knows she refused.”
What did that mean?
The third file showed documents.
A life insurance policy I had never seen.
A custody petition prepared before Elena died.
A statement claiming Elena was unstable.
Signed by my father.
Witnessed by Bethany.
My stomach turned.
The final video was dated three days before Elena’s crash.
She was crying.
“Mark, your sister cut my brake line once. She said next time it won’t be a warning.”
I stood so fast the chair fell.
Laura grabbed my arm.
“Mark.”
I could barely speak.
“Elena’s crash.”
May you like
Laura nodded slowly, horrified.
“It may not have been an accident.”
