Chapter 2 - The Camera
The ambulance doors slammed shut.
Maya climbed in beside me.
Ryan didn't.
That told me more than anything else could have.
The paramedic strapped monitors around my stomach while another started an IV.
“Come on,” Maya whispered.
The speaker crackled.
Then a sound filled the ambulance.
Fast.
Steady.
A heartbeat.
My daughter's heartbeat.
I sobbed so hard my chest hurt.
Maya covered her mouth.
“There she is.”
The paramedic smiled.
“Strong heartbeat.”
“Is she okay?”
“We need the hospital to evaluate you. You're having contractions.”
My relief vanished.
“Contractions?”
“They may stop. Try to stay calm.”
Easy words from someone whose husband wasn't standing in a driveway with his mistress while she went to the hospital.
My phone buzzed.
Ryan.
Where are they taking you?
I stared at it.
Then another message arrived.
We need to get our stories straight before police make this bigger.
I showed Maya.
Her face hardened.
“Screenshot that.”
“I already did.”
“Good.”
The police arrived at the estate before we reached the hospital.
I knew because Maya's husband, David, called.
He was an attorney.
Not criminal law, but close enough to understand when someone was trying to build a narrative before evidence arrived.
“Emily,” David said through Maya's phone, “listen carefully. Don't argue with Ryan. Don't warn him about the camera.”
“I saw it.”
“I know. Maya told me.”
“What if he deletes it?”
“I've already told the responding officer there may be security footage.”
I closed my eyes.
“Thank you.”
“You don't thank family for doing what family does.”
Those words nearly broke me.
Because three hours earlier, I still believed Ryan was family.
At the hospital, nurses rushed me into obstetric triage.
Everything became bright lights and medical questions.
Pain scale.
Bleeding.
Contractions.
Previous pregnancy history.
Then the question I had been dreading.
“Do you feel safe at home?”
I looked at the nurse.
“No.”
She didn't hesitate.
“Okay.”
Just okay.
No disbelief.
No lecture.
No questions about Ryan's reputation.
For the first time that day, someone simply believed me.
The doctor ordered an ultrasound.
My daughter was alive.
Her heart was beating.
Her placenta showed no obvious major separation.
But the contractions were continuing.
“You're staying overnight,” Dr. Patel said.
“Could I go into labor?”
“It's possible. Right now we're trying to prevent that.”
I turned my head and cried quietly.
Then Maya's phone buzzed.
David.
She answered.
“Yes?”
His voice came through tense.
“The officer found the camera.”
I sat up.
“And?”
A pause.
“The security system isn't recording.”
My stomach dropped.
“What?”
“Ryan told police it stopped working last month.”
“That isn't true.”
“How do you know?”
“Because he showed me footage two weeks ago when a delivery driver damaged the gate.”
Maya's eyes narrowed.
“You're sure?”
“Yes.”
David went silent.
Then said, “That's useful.”
Another call came through.
Unknown number.
Maya answered.
“Hello?”
A man's voice said, “Is this Maya Bennett?”
“Yes.”
“My name is Thomas Hale. I'm the estate's security technician.”
Maya put him on speaker.
“What can we do for you?”
He lowered his voice.
“I heard there was an incident at the house.”
My heart started pounding.
“Yes.”
Thomas hesitated.
May you like
Then said the sentence that changed everything.
“Mr. Cole called me twenty minutes ago and asked me how to permanently erase today's porch footage.”
