Chapter 2: The Light in the Kitchen
Part 2 ⬇️
I parked down the road and walked the last stretch in the dark.
The estate was quiet.
Most of the lights were off.
Then I saw it — a single light on in the back of the house.
The kitchen.
I moved closer.
Through the window, I saw Emily standing at the counter.
Victoria stood behind her, arms crossed, voice low and sharp.
"You think anyone is going to believe you?
You have nothing."
Emily's hands were shaking.
"She saw me today.
She noticed."
"Claire?" Victoria laughed quietly.
"She's a corporate secretary who wants our name on her résumé.
She noticed nothing."
I pressed my back against the wall and kept recording.
Then Richard walked in.
He dropped a thick envelope onto the counter.
"Sign it tonight," he said.
"Or the arrangement changes."
Emily stared at the envelope.
Her voice broke.
"You can't keep doing this."
"We've been doing this for four years," Victoria said.
"You've survived."
I had seen enough financial coercion to recognize it instantly.
That envelope wasn't a gift.
It was a trap.
I was still recording when the back door opened — and someone stepped out into the dark directly toward me.
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What Claire found inside that envelope exposed something the Mercer family had buried for years.
Click the link below to read the full story — the truth is worse than anyone expected.
