Chapter 25
I put my hands on their shoulders. Let’s go, I said to them. We walked out of the restaurant, surrounded by guards. The crowd parted for us this time, not with hostility, but with a heavy, uncomfortable silence. They didn’t know who to believe yet. But they knew one thing. The party was over. The vacation was dead, and the real storm was just beginning.
The security officer held my phone like it was a live grenade. The screen was cracked slightly at the corner, a scar from when I dropped it in the garage, rushing to get to Mia, but the display was bright and clear. I had set the brightness to maximum. I wanted every pixel of their cruelty to be visible.
I unlocked the device with my thumb. My hands were steady now. The adrenaline of the physical confrontation had faded, replaced by the cold precision of the objective. I navigated to the cloud storage app connected to the home security system. I selected the clip dated 2 days ago at 9:30 in the evening.
Volume up, I said to the officer. He pressed the side button. The video began to play. The timestamp in the corner counted the seconds of their betrayal. The angle was wide, covering the entire kitchen and living room area. In the video, the house was brightly lit. Suitcases were lined up by the door. Monica walked into the frame.
She was wearing a white travel outfit, looking fresh and excited. She was holding a heavy coil of chain and a padlock. Austin followed her. He looked nervous, pacing back and forth. Are you sure about this Monday? Austin’s voice on the recording was tiny but unmistakable. What if there is a fire? What if she needs to get out? She will be fine.
Austin, stop being such a baby. Monica’s voice cut through the speaker, sharp and dismissive. She is not going to starve. There is a loaf of bread on the counter. That is more than she deserves after what she did to my white rug. Besides, if we leave the fridge open, she will eat everything. You know how she is.
She is a bottomless pit. We are not paying to restock the whole house when we get back. On the small screen, Monica began to thread the bicycle chain through the handles of the stainless steel refrigerator. The metal clanked against the expensive appliance. She wrapped it tight once, twice, three times.