Chapter 4: The Security Camera No One Remembered
Chapter 4: The Security Camera No One Remembered
Everything inside me stopped.
"My... mother?"
Hannah nodded without looking at me.
"I begged her to let me hold Owen."
Fresh tears streamed down her face.
"She said I was too weak."
"She took him away."
"I tried to follow."
"She grabbed my arm and pushed me back onto the bed."
The image shattered every memory I had of the woman who raised me.
I wanted to deny it.
To tell myself Hannah was confused because of the infection.
But then I remembered something.
Our living room.
The security camera.
I'd installed it six months earlier after several packages had been stolen from the porch.
It covered the hallway leading to the nursery.
I pulled out my phone.
The recordings were automatically backed up to the cloud.
My fingers trembled as I opened the app.
The footage loaded.
Monday.
9:17 a.m.
The hallway appeared.
Seconds later...
Patricia walked into view carrying Owen.
Behind her came Hannah.
Barefoot.
Weak.
Holding onto the wall just to stay upright.
She reached for her baby.
Patricia suddenly shoved her backward.
Not hard enough to knock her down.
But hard enough that Hannah slammed against the hallway wall.
Then Patricia grabbed her wrist.
Exactly where the bruises were.
I watched in frozen silence.
The timestamp continued.
My mother leaned close enough for the microphone to catch every word.
"If Ethan finds out how useless you are..."
"...he'll realize he married the wrong woman."
My stomach turned.
The nurse beside me covered her mouth.
Dr. Grant quietly looked toward hospital security.
"We need to preserve that recording."
Then she turned to another nurse.
"Please contact hospital social services."
May you like
After one more look at the video, she added,
"And notify the police."
