Chapter 8
Adam saw it.
“Sophia?”
“I hid it in Noah’s blanket.”
Beatrice whispered.
“You stupid girl.”
Adam looked at the bassinet.
Then at his mother.
“That’s why you put him in the wall.”
Beatrice said nothing.
“You weren’t hiding Noah.”
Adam’s voice dropped.
“You were searching for something.”
Beatrice’s silence was confession enough.
Sophia moved toward the bassinet.
She reached under the thin mattress.
Nothing.
Her face changed.
“It’s gone.”
Beatrice looked away.
Adam stepped toward her.
“Where is it?”
“I don’t know.”
“You searched a newborn’s bedding.”
“He had something dangerous.”
“He’s three days old.”
“The card.”
Adam’s jaw tightened.
“Where is it?”
Beatrice didn’t answer.
Then Sophia looked toward the dog bowl.
Her eyes widened.
“No.”
She rushed from the laundry room.
Adam followed.
Beatrice remained frozen for one second.
Then ran after them.
Sophia reached the kitchen.
The stainless dog bowl still sat where she had been kneeling.
Cold scraps filled the bottom.
She shoved them aside with her fingers.
Beatrice screamed.
“Don’t!”
Sophia stopped.
Adam did too.
There.
Beneath the leftovers.
A tiny black memory card.
Half-covered in gravy.
Sophia stared at Beatrice.
“You put it there.”
Beatrice’s face collapsed.
Sophia started laughing through tears.
“That’s why you forced me to eat it.”
Adam slowly turned toward his mother.
The truth was uglier than he had understood.
Beatrice hadn't been punishing Sophia for wasting food.
She had been trying to make her destroy the card.
Or swallow it.
Or make it disappear.
Adam took a clean napkin and picked it up.
Beatrice backed away.
“Adam, don’t open that.”
He looked at her.
“Why?”
“Because some things cannot be undone.”
He walked toward his laptop.
Sophia followed.
Beatrice did not.
Adam inserted the card.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then a folder appeared.
There were eleven files.
Photographs.
Bank records.
Scanned identification documents.
And three videos.
The first was labeled:
IF SOMETHING HAPPENS TO ME.
Adam clicked.
Emma appeared on screen.
She looked exhausted.
Her hair was tied back carelessly.
Hospital walls stood behind her.
“If Sophia is watching this, I’m sorry.”
Sophia covered her mouth.
Emma continued.
“I was wrong about Richard. He isn’t Noah’s father.”
Adam glanced at Sophia.
The video continued.
“Richard found me because he thought I knew something about the Langford family.”
Beatrice appeared in the doorway behind them.
May you like
She said nothing.
Emma explained that Richard had spent years hiding after discovering illegal financial activity tied to Langford Holdings.
