Chapter 2: The Name on the Screen
Daniel didn't move.
He didn't ask which man.
He didn't ask what Noah meant.
He already knew.
Maya watched his face carefully.
Six years working in this house had taught her one thing — Daniel only went silent when something frightened him.
"Daniel." Her voice was low.
"Who is he?"
Daniel looked at the frozen frame on the screen.
Then he looked at Lauren.
Lauren's hands were shaking.
"That camera malfunctions all the time," she said quickly.
"Everyone knows that."
"47 seconds don't just disappear," Maya said.
"You're a maid." Lauren's voice turned sharp.
"You don't get to question anything in this house."
Noah tugged Maya's sleeve.
His voice was barely above a whisper.
"He was talking to Daddy.
Outside my window.
The night Mommy didn't wake up."
The room went completely still.
Daniel took one slow step toward the screen.
Then his phone rang.
He looked at the screen.
His face went white.
He rejected the call.
It rang again immediately.
Maya saw the name on the screen before Daniel turned it over.
It was the same name printed on the employment record Lauren had filed the week before Noah's mother p@ssed away.
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What Maya found next — and what Noah remembered about that night — is darker than anyone in that house was prepared to face.
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