Chapter 4 - THE CAMERA IN THE GUEST ROOM James came downstairs while I was still on the phone.
I showed him the photograph.
He zoomed in.
"That's not a baby monitor."
Dad heard him.
"I didn't think so either."
"Where is it now?" James asked.
"Gone."
"Who put it there?"
Dad hesitated.
"Lauren said she was filming a parenting video."
I closed my eyes.
Of course.
I searched Lauren's public social-media accounts.
For twenty minutes, we found nothing.
Then I saw a saved highlight.
REAL LIFE.
One thumbnail showed a dark hallway.
Another showed a closed bedroom door.
The third was a video.
A baby was crying.
Text appeared over the image:
SOMETIMES LOVE MEANS NOT REWARDING MANIPULATION.
My blood ran cold.
"That's Emma."
James stared at me.
"Are you sure?"
"A mother knows her baby's cry."
He saved the screen recording.
"Don't contact Lauren."
"I want to destroy her."
"I know."
His voice softened.
"But we do this right."
Then my phone rang.
It was my cousin Megan.
"I was waiting for you to call."
"You recorded Christmas?"
"Not intentionally. I was filming Grandma's ornament. My phone kept recording."
My heart raced.
"Do you have it?"
"Yes."
The video arrived seconds later.
I opened it.
There was Lauren.
There was Emma.
There was the slap.
There was James standing.
But the recording continued after we left.
The camera had captured the conversation behind us.
My mother spoke first.
"Lauren, what is wrong with you?"
Lauren answered.
"Emma is fine."
Then Mom said something that made my entire body go still.
"I told you not to do that in front of James."
I replayed it.
Again.
May you like
And again.
Those eight words had changed everything.
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