Chapter 4 - The Hidden Laptop
The voice in the darkness whispered my name.
"Emily..."
Every person in the room froze.
The power was still out.
The only light came from the small emergency lamp near the police officer’s equipment bag.
I couldn’t see who was standing near the entrance.
But I knew one thing.
They knew me.
The lead officer immediately moved in front of me.
"Nobody move."
His flashlight turned toward the doorway.
A figure stepped forward.
Slowly.
Carefully.
Then the emergency lights flickered back on.
And I saw her.
My assistant.
Sarah Mitchell.
The person who had worked beside me for four years.
The person who knew my schedule.
My security codes.
My office layout.
The person I trusted more than anyone outside my family.
She stood there holding a small black device in her hand.
Everyone stared.
Daniel looked shocked.
Victoria looked uncomfortable.
But Sarah looked at me.
Not afraid.
Not guilty.
Sad.
"Emily," she said quietly.
I couldn’t speak.
Because my mind was trying to understand what I was seeing.
The officer pointed toward the device in her hand.
"Put that down."
Sarah slowly placed it on the table.
"I’m not here to hurt her."
I looked at her.
"Then why were you inside my office?"
Her eyes dropped.
And that answer hurt more than any lie.
Because she didn’t deny it.
The officer walked toward the table.
"What is that?"
Sarah looked at me.
"Evidence."
Victoria immediately stepped forward.
"She’s lying."
Everyone turned toward her.
Victoria’s expression changed.
She recovered quickly.
But I saw it.
Fear.
Real fear.
The officer noticed too.
"Mrs. Carter, you seem very interested in controlling this conversation."
Victoria said nothing.
I looked at Sarah.
"Explain."
She took a deep breath.
"I was the one who placed the camera in your office."
The room went silent.
Daniel looked at her.
"You?"
Sarah nodded.
"But not for them."
She pointed toward Daniel and Victoria.
"For you."
I felt confused.
"You were spying on me to protect me?"
Sarah looked away.
"I was trying to find proof."
"Proof of what?"
She reached into her bag and pulled out a small folder.
"I found suspicious activity eighteen months ago."
She placed it on the table.
"I noticed someone was accessing your personal files."
I opened the folder.
Inside were printed reports.
Dates.
Login records.
Unknown devices.
The same information I had just discovered.
Sarah continued.
"I thought it was a cyberattack at first."
She looked at Daniel.
"Then I noticed every time something strange happened, his account was connected."
Daniel immediately reacted.
"That’s impossible."
Sarah looked at him.
"No. It’s just something you didn’t expect anyone to notice."
For the first time, Daniel looked small.
Not powerful.
Not threatening.
Just exposed.
I flipped through the pages.
"You knew about this for eighteen months?"
Sarah nodded.
"I tried to tell you."
I looked up.
"When?"
"Several times."
My face tightened.
Then I remembered.
The warnings.
The strange comments.
The conversations Sarah tried to start.
Every time, I had been too busy.
Too focused.
Too trusting.
"I thought you were stressed from work," she whispered.
That sentence hurt.
Because she was right.
I had spent years protecting people from threats outside my home.
I never imagined the danger was sitting at my dinner table.
The officer picked up one of the documents.
"This shows someone attempted to access military-related information."
Sarah nodded.
"Yes."
The officer looked at me.
"Colonel, did your husband ever have access to your devices?"
I didn’t answer immediately.
Because the truth was embarrassing.
"Yes."
Everyone looked at me.
"He knew my passwords."
Daniel lowered his eyes.
The officer asked:
"Why?"
I looked at Daniel.
"Because I trusted him."
Nobody spoke.
Those words seemed heavier than everything else.
Daniel finally broke.
"I didn’t do everything."
I turned toward him.
"What does that mean?"
He looked at Victoria.
She immediately shook her head.
"Don’t."
Daniel ignored her.
"I thought it was only about money."
My expression changed.
"Only?"
He stood up.
"I didn’t know what they were planning."
The officer stepped closer.
"Who is they?"
Daniel looked terrified.
And then he said something I never expected.
"My mother wasn't the person who started this."
Victoria’s face went pale.
"Daniel."
He continued.
"There was someone else."
The room became silent.
I looked at Sarah.
She looked just as confused.
"Who?"
Daniel stared at the floor.
"I don’t know."
That answer made no sense.
"You helped them."
"I helped because I thought I was fixing our financial problems."
He looked at me.
"I was stupid."
I almost believed him.
Almost.
Then Sarah opened another file.
"Emily."
I looked at her.
"There’s something you need to see."
She connected the hidden laptop from the photo.
The screen turned on.
No password.
No protection.
Like someone wanted me to find it.
The first thing on the screen was a folder.
"PROJECT CARTER."
My heart stopped.
It had my name.
Not my military title.
Not my job.
My name.
Sarah clicked it.
Inside were hundreds of files.
Photos.
Documents.
Private recordings.
The first video opened automatically.
It showed me.
Walking into my house.
Eating dinner.
Sleeping on the couch.
Leaving for work.
Someone had been watching me.
Not for days.
Not for weeks.
For years.
I felt sick.
The officer immediately started recording the screen.
"Who had access to this?"
Sarah shook her head.
"I don’t know."
Then another file appeared.
A document.
At the top was a sentence.
"Phase Two begins when Emily loses public credibility."
I stopped breathing.
Because the date on the document was today.
The day Daniel attacked me.
The day he called the police.
The day he expected me to fall.
This was planned.
Everything.
I looked at Daniel.
"You knew about this."
He shook his head quickly.
"No."
But his eyes betrayed him.
Because there was something else.
Something he wasn’t saying.
The officer noticed.
"Mr. Carter."
Daniel looked up.
"Tell us the truth."
Daniel stayed silent.
Then Sarah opened one final file.
A recording.
The timestamp was from yesterday.
Daniel’s voice appeared.
But this time...
He wasn’t talking to Victoria.
He wasn’t talking to Sarah.
He was talking to someone else.
Someone whose voice I recognized immediately.
A voice I had heard my entire life.
The recording played.
And the person on the other side of the call said:
"Tomorrow night, after Emily signs the papers, everything will finally belong to us."
I felt the room spinning.
Because the voice belonged to someone who should have been protecting me.
Someone who had raised me.
Someone who knew every secret I had.
The recording continued.
Then the person said one more sentence.
"She still doesn’t know her father left her something before he died."
The laptop screen suddenly went black.
A new message appeared.
One sentence.
"Emily, your father never died the way they told you."
I stared at the words.
And behind me, Sarah whispered:
"Your father left a final message."
The hidden laptop opened another folder.
May you like
The file name appeared.
"PLAY THIS BEFORE THEY FIND YOU."
