Chapter 3: The Camera She Forgot
Gloria refused to leave.
She cried.
She begged.
Then she screamed.
“You owe me everything!”
I looked at the woman who had once held my hand at my parents’ funeral.
And for the first time, I saw the truth.
She had not raised me out of love alone.
She had raised me like an investment.
The police arrived twenty minutes later.
Gloria instantly changed.
Her voice softened. Her hands shook. Her eyes filled with fake tears.
“I’m an old woman. He’s confused. His wife is manipulating him.”
Lily lowered her head.
I almost spoke, but then I remembered something.
The camera.
Three months earlier, I had installed a small security camera near the laundry room after tools disappeared from the garage.
I opened the app.
Gloria saw the screen in my hand.
Her face turned white.
The officer watched the footage.
Gloria dragging Lily into the laundry room.
Gloria forcing her hands into the cold water.
Gloria whispering threats.
Gloria gripping her hair.
No one spoke after that.
Not even Gloria.
The officer looked at her.
“Ma’am, you need to come with us.”
Gloria turned to me, desperate now.
“Daniel, stop this.”
I looked at Lily.
May you like
Then at the woman who had broken her piece by piece.
“No,” I said. “You stop.”
