Chapter 9
The microSD card changed everything.
It held a video from Elena’s car dashboard.
Not the crash.
The day before.
Bethany standing in our driveway, shouting.
“You think Mark chose you? He chose your baby. Without Rosie, you’re nothing.”
Elena’s voice shook.
“You need help.”
Bethany stepped closer.
“No. You need to leave.”
Then my father entered the frame.
He grabbed Bethany’s arm.
Not to stop her.
To pull her back before neighbors saw.
“Inside,” he snapped.
Bethany said, “She has copies.”
Dad looked at Elena.
His face was not angry.
It was cold.
“Then give them to me.”
The next file showed my father in my kitchen, opening Elena’s laptop while she slept upstairs.
The third showed Victor beside Elena’s car.
Crouched near the front tire.
Tools in hand.
Timestamped four hours before the crash.
I covered my mouth.
Detective Reed paused the video.
“That’s enough for warrants.”
They arrested Victor first.
He denied everything until they showed him the footage.
Then he asked for a deal.
Coward.
He gave Bethany.
Then Dad.
He claimed Bethany wanted Elena gone because she believed Rosie would inherit money that should stay in “the blood family.”
I almost laughed.
Rosie was my blood.
But Bethany hated that Elena made her real.
Then Victor said something worse.
“Charles ordered the cleanup.”
My father.
Charles Carter.
The man who taught me to ride a bike.
The man who held me when Elena died.
The man who helped bury the truth.
Reed looked at me.
“I’m sorry.”
I thought about Rosie’s bruise.
Elena’s fear.
May you like
The glass Dad threw.
“Don’t be,” I said. “Arrest him.”
