Chapter 1 - The Hidden Eyes
I sat in my car parked two blocks away and stared at my phone screen.
The live feed from the hidden camera in the living room was crystal clear.
My mother, Mercedes, was pacing back and forth with a sinister smile on her face.
Lucía was no longer in the room.
The paramedics had taken her to the bedroom to check her vitals and calm her down.
I watched as my mother pulled a burner phone from her pocket and dialed a number.
Her voice echoed through my earpiece, entirely completely devoid of the sweet tone she used with me.
"Mateo left, and the paramedics are dealing with the crying brat right now," she said.
I gripped the steering wheel tightly as I listened to her vicious words.
"Yes, the plan is still moving forward perfectly," my mother continued.
She walked over to the front window and peeked out through the blinds.
"The house will be ours by tomorrow morning, and she will be out on the street," she promised the person on the other end.
My heart pounded against my chest.
I had known she was manipulative, but this level of calculated cruelty was staggering.
I needed to know exactly who she was conspiring with.
I quickly opened a secondary app that allowed me to trace the outgoing calls from the house’s Wi-Fi network.
Being a legal director meant I had access to top-tier security software for my home office.
The software quickly identified the receiving number.
It was a number I had called thousands of times in my life.
The front door of my house suddenly opened on the camera feed.
A man stepped into the living room, brushing the rain off his expensive coat.
My mother rushed over and hugged him tightly.
"You got the forged signature approved?" she asked him eagerly.
May you like
The man turned toward the hidden camera, revealing his face perfectly.
It was my older brother, Julian, who had supposedly been living in Europe for the past five years.
