Chapter 4 - The Hidden Tablet
I unfolded the crumpled paper with shaking, desperate hands.
The messy handwriting clearly belonged to Mason, written hastily with a red crayon.
The note told me to look inside the ventilation grate behind the washing machine in the laundry room.
Mason had secretly recorded his mother's abuse on his old tablet and hidden it from her.
I aggressively banged on the steel bars until a deputy finally walked over to my cell.
I demanded my one allowed phone call and dialed the number of my closest friend, David, who was a criminal defense attorney.
David arrived at the police station two hours later and managed to secure a temporary bail release.
He warned me that I was under a strict restraining order and could not legally go within five hundred feet of my house.
I told David I did not care about the law because my daughter’s life was in imminent danger.
We drove my car directly to my neighborhood and parked three blocks away in the shadows.
I crept through the neighbor's backyard and approached my own house from the dark alleyway.
The house was completely silent, and all the lights were turned off.
I used the spare key hidden under a specific garden rock to quietly unlock the back patio door.
I tiptoed into the laundry room, grabbed a screwdriver, and removed the heavy metal ventilation grate.
My fingers brushed against a small, cold electronic device wrapped tightly in a plastic bag.
I pulled out Mason’s old tablet and powered it on, praying the battery was not dead.
The screen glowed brightly, and I opened the photo gallery to find dozens of terrifying videos.
The footage showed Vanessa locking Lily in the basement and intentionally starving her while laughing.
I finally had the undeniable proof I needed to destroy Vanessa and take my children back.
But as I turned to leave the laundry room, the heavy metal door slammed shut behind me.
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The deadbolt clicked loudly from the outside, trapping me completely in the windowless room.
A voice echoed through the air vent, but it was not Vanessa speaking to me.
