Chapter 12 - Nine Months of Watching Us
The hidden-camera footage changed the case.
It also changed me.
I sat with detectives in a secure room while they cataloged clips taken from inside my own home: the kitchen, hallway, office, garage, and bedroom.
Nine months of our life had been stolen.
Arguments. Private conversations. Alora changing clothes. Me discussing business deals. Doctors calling about the pregnancy.
Everything.
Alora refused to watch most of it.
"I don't want those moments living in my head twice," she said.
Ortiz traced the devices to a contractor hired during a smart-home upgrade.
The contractor admitted Grant had paid him cash to install "backup security sensors." He claimed he never knew cameras were being used illegally.
Nobody believed him.
The recovered footage also exposed something Corrine had not expected.
Context.
One clip showed my mother entering the kitchen before Alora's recorded outburst.
Corrine whispered, "Thane will get tired of you once the baby ruins your body. Women like you always have an expiration date."
Alora told her to leave.
Corrine stepped closer.
"If you make me your enemy, I'll take the one thing you can't replace."
Then came the clip my mother had sent us: Alora crying, shouting, "Leave me alone!"
Mara leaned back.
"They edited out the threat."
Another recording caught Sloan planting a bottle of prescription sedatives in Alora's bathroom cabinet.
A third showed Evan photographing papers on my desk.
The conspiracy stopped being a theory.
It was on camera.
That afternoon, Sloan's attorney contacted the prosecutor.
She wanted a deal.
"She'll testify against Corrine and Grant," Mara said.
"For what in return?"
"Reduced charges."
Alora's expression hardened. "She hit a safe with a hammer while her mother dragged me by my hair."
"I know," Mara said. "A deal doesn't mean no consequences. It means useful testimony."
Sloan agreed to meet.
When she entered the interview room, she looked smaller than I remembered.
She wouldn't look at Alora.
"Mom lied to me," she whispered.
I felt nothing.
Then Sloan placed a flash drive on the table.
"This is everything Grant told us to delete."
Ortiz picked it up.
May you like
Sloan finally looked at me.
"Thane, you need to know something before they open that drive. Mom wasn't planning to stop at taking the baby."
