Chapter 5 - The Shattered Lens
I instinctively ducked and covered my head as shards of plastic and glass rained down onto the porch.
Mr. Henderson let out a terrified yelp and slammed his front door shut, locking the deadbolt loudly.
I slowly stood up and looked out into the darkness of the suburban street.
My brother Travis walked out from behind the large oak tree in the front yard, casually tossing a second brick into the bushes.
"I told you to drop this, Rebecca," Travis said, stepping into the dim glow of the streetlamp.
"You are destroying evidence in a felony assault investigation, Travis," I yelled, my blood boiling with absolute fury.
Travis chuckled and kicked a piece of the broken security camera off the sidewalk.
"I am just cleaning up the neighborhood," he mocked, looking completely unbothered by the law.
"You really think smashing that camera deletes the cloud backup?" I asked, relying heavily on my legal bluffing skills.
Travis's confident smile faltered for a fraction of a second, revealing the panicked amateur underneath the expensive suit.
"I already have a court order being drafted to seize the digital servers," I lied smoothly.
Travis took a threatening step toward me, his hands balling into tight fists.
"Dad is a pillar of this community, and you are trying to ruin his legacy over a simple disciplinary action," Travis growled.
"He cracked her skull open, you absolute psychopath!" I screamed, no longer caring who heard me.
"She is a defiant child who needed to learn respect, just like you always did," he shot back coldly.
I realized in that exact moment that my brother was entirely too far gone to ever be saved.
He had fully absorbed my father's toxic worldview and was proud of the monster he had become.
"I am going to make sure you share a prison cell with him, Travis," I promised with quiet, lethal certainty.
I got back into my car and locked the doors, my hands shaking violently against the steering wheel.
I pulled away from the curb and immediately dialed the personal cell phone of the one person who could help me.
Marcus Thorne was a private investigator I used constantly during my years as a defense attorney.
He answered on the second ring, his voice gruff and alert despite the late hour.
"Marcus, I need you to hack a residential cloud server and pull the video cache before the company deletes it," I ordered.
"That is highly illegal without a warrant, Rebecca," Marcus replied cautiously.
"I will pay you triple your usual rate, and I will take full legal responsibility if we are caught," I offered desperately.
Marcus sighed heavily into the receiver, clearly hearing the absolute panic in my voice.
"Give me the IP address and the account holder's name," Marcus finally agreed.
I rattled off Mr. Henderson's information and gave him the exact timestamp of the assault.
"I will call you if I find anything, but do not get your hopes up if the system is encrypted," Marcus warned.
I hung up the phone and drove back to the hospital, praying that the digital ghosts of that video still existed.
When I arrived at the intensive care unit, James was standing outside Lily's room with a massive smile on his face.
"She woke up, Rebecca," James cried, tears of pure joy streaming down his face.
"The surgeon said the swelling went down dramatically and her vitals are completely stable," he added frantically.
I pushed past the state-mandated supervisor and rushed into the hospital room.
Lily was lying in the massive bed, her small head wrapped thickly in white bandages.
She opened her tired, heavy eyes and looked directly at me.
"Mommy, my head hurts," my sweet, innocent daughter whispered weakly.
I leaned over the bed rails and kissed her little hand, completely overwhelmed by relief.
"I know, baby, but you are safe now, and nobody is ever going to hurt you again," I promised her.
James stepped up to the other side of the bed and smiled warmly at our daughter.
"Daddy is right here too, sweetheart," James said softly.
Lily looked at James, her eyes suddenly widening in absolute, primal terror.
May you like
She pulled her hand away from me and curled into a tight, defensive ball.
"Make the angry man go away!" Lily screamed, pointing a trembling finger directly at her father.
