Chapter 2 - Caleb Pressed Play With Our Daughter Still in His Arms
Caleb didn’t trust me.
Not then.
Not after everything Meredith had spent months whispering into his ear.
But he did trust what he could see.
He looked from the USB in my hand to the camera above the door, then down at Meredith’s face. She opened her mouth, probably to invent another lie, but this time he cut her off.
“What’s on it?”
I was still half-buried in collapsed wood and clothing when I answered.
“The truth.”
He hesitated, holding Elara tight. Our daughter was crying against his chest now, smaller and weaker than before, and the sight of the burn on her hand had finally registered. His eyes kept going back to it.
For the first time, uncertainty crossed his face.
I pushed myself upright against the wall, one arm wrapped protectively over my stomach where he’d kicked me.
“It’s the camera feed,” I said. “Not just this room. Watch it.”
Meredith stepped forward immediately. “Caleb, don’t. She edited something. She’s been unstable all week—”
“Be quiet,” he snapped.
That single line hit Meredith almost as hard as any slap.
The smoke from the smoldering cloth was getting worse, so Caleb stamped it out with his shoe, then shifted Elara carefully in his arms and crossed to the counter where the house system screen was mounted beneath the laundry cabinets. My hands were shaking too hard to stand, so I just watched as he plugged the USB into the port.
The first file opened automatically.
It was the ironing-room footage from less than two minutes earlier.
No cuts.
No edits.
No missing frames.
It showed Meredith leaning over the bassinet with the hot iron. It showed the iron touching Elara’s hand. It showed me rushing in and kicking Meredith’s arm to stop her. It showed Meredith slapping me. Then it showed Caleb entering—and kicking me before asking a single real question.
By the time that clip ended, the room felt different.
Caleb’s back was still to me, but his shoulders had locked up.
Meredith tried once more.
“She provoked—”
He turned so fast she stopped.
“What did I just watch?”
May you like
Meredith stared at him, and for the first time since I had met her, she had no immediate answer.
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