Chapter 18 - The Hidden MonitorThe safe house no longer felt safe.
Sarah stood in Noah’s bedroom while a security technician removed the hidden monitor from inside a stuffed bear that Victoria had sent weeks before the kidnapping attempt.
Sarah remembered opening the gift.
She remembered thinking it was ugly but harmless.
Now she stared at the tiny camera lens and felt sick.
Victor stood behind her, fury radiating from him.
“She was watching him sleep.”
The technician placed the device in an evidence bag.
“It was connected to an encrypted feed.”
Sarah looked up.
“Can you trace it?”
“We’re working on it.”
Evelyn arrived minutes later with news that made everything worse.
“Victoria’s driver is missing too.”
Victor frowned.
“Arthur?”
“Yes. His car was found near Logan Airport, but there is no record of Victoria boarding a commercial flight.”
Sarah’s blood chilled.
“She’s not running away.”
Evelyn met her eyes.
“No. I don’t think she is.”
That night, Sarah refused to sleep.
She sat beside Noah’s crib with the lights low and one hand resting gently against his back.
Victor sat on the floor by the door.
Like a guard dog.
Like a husband trying to make up for eight months he did not choose to lose.
At 2:13 a.m., Noah’s birth time, Sarah’s phone lit up.
Unknown number.
A video message.
Victor took the phone first, but Sarah shook her head.
“I need to see.”
The video showed Victoria sitting in a dark car. Her hair was perfect. Her lipstick was red. Her eyes looked empty.
“Sarah,” she said softly, “you have been celebrated for surviving me.”
Sarah’s pulse pounded.
Victoria continued.
“But surviving is not winning.”
Victor called Evelyn immediately, but Sarah kept watching.
“You took my home,” Victoria said. “You took my reputation. You took my son from me.”
Sarah whispered, “No. You did that.”
Victoria smiled faintly, as if she had heard.
“So now I will take the one truth you still think belongs to you.”
The video cut to black.
Then a text appeared.
Ask Victor what he signed the night Noah was born.
Sarah slowly turned.
Victor’s face had gone pale.
“What is she talking about?” Sarah asked.
He opened his mouth.
No words came.
And Sarah felt fear return.
May you like
Not because of Victoria.
Because of the silence of the man she loved.
