Chapter 10 - The Evidence Rachel Hid
Mason reached for the smartwatch.
Rachel pulled it against her chest.
“No.”
“Give it to me.”
“That recording proves what you did.”
“It proves I visited my son.”
“It proves Mom lied to the police.”
Diane stepped between them.
“Stop fighting.”
Rachel looked at her mother.
“Hunter is locked in a shed with a head injury, and you’re telling us to stop fighting?”
“Lower your voice.”
“Why? Are you afraid the neighbors will hear?”
Mason moved closer.
Rachel backed toward the sink.
“You accepted my help,” he said. “You knew why I came.”
“I thought you wanted visitation.”
“I want my son.”
“You wanted him to lie about Abigail.”
Mason’s eyes narrowed.
Rachel suddenly understood the truth.
The recordings were not only about custody.
Mason wanted to accuse Abigail of abandonment so he could petition for emergency custody while she was away.
Once Hunter was under his control, he could force Abigail into negotiations.
He had never forgiven her for winning sole custody.
Hunter was not a child to him.
He was leverage.
Rachel slipped the smartwatch into the waistband beneath her shirt.
“I threw it into the sink,” she lied.
Mason searched the kitchen.
He found only an old broken device Rachel had switched from a drawer.
He smashed it beneath his shoe.
Richards watched the back of the house from his car.
At 3:40 p.m., he saw Mason step onto the porch.
Richards immediately requested backup.
Mason noticed the unmarked car.
He ran inside.
Diane panicked.
“The police know.”
Mason grabbed his keys.
“What about Hunter?” Rachel demanded.
“We move him.”
“He may not survive being moved.”
Mason looked toward the garage.
For the first time, fear crossed his face.
Not fear for Hunter.
Fear that the boy might wake and speak.
Mason told Diane to drive her car to the alley.
He planned to place Hunter inside the trunk beneath blankets and take him to a motel outside the county.
Rachel ran upstairs and locked herself in the bathroom.
She connected the smartwatch to her phone.
The files began uploading.
One percent.
Three percent.
Five percent.
From downstairs came Mason’s shout.
“Rachel!”
May you like
The bathroom door shook beneath his fist.
👉 Rachel had finally chosen to save Hunter—but she had only seconds to send the evidence before Mason forced the door open.
