Chapter 4
The gaming system had a camera.
Wide-angle.
High resolution.
Always active when Jason streamed with friends.
Rachel looked at the black lens above the monitor.
Jason stood quickly.
“It wasn’t recording.”
Too fast.
Rachel turned.
“I didn’t ask.”
His face changed.
Daniel stepped in.
“He streams games. That’s all.”
Alyssa closed her eyes.
Rachel noticed.
“Alyssa?”
Jason snapped:
“Don’t.”
The girl looked at him.
Then at Rachel.
“It was supposed to be private.”
“What?”
“A family stream.”
Daniel swore under his breath.
Rachel walked toward the console equipment case.
Her bodyguard reopened it.
Power light.
Storage module.
Jason moved.
“Don’t touch my stuff.”
Rachel looked at him.
“Your stuff?”
He froze.
Good.
The guard connected only the storage unit to a secure monitor.
Recent files appeared.
One automatically labeled:
FAMILY ROOM — TEST.
Another:
TONIGHT.
Rachel selected the test file.
Jason’s voice came first.
“Where should I stand?”
Daniel answered off-camera.
“Near Ethan’s table.”
Rachel’s breathing slowed.
Jason:
“What do I do?”
“Get him upset.”
“How?”
“Break something.”
Jason laughed.
“That little plane?”
Daniel:
“He loves it.”
Silence filled the room.
Alyssa covered her mouth.
Jason looked at his father.
Daniel stared at the screen.
The recording continued.
Jason asked:
“And then?”
Daniel answered:
“Rachel comes in. She sees Ethan crying. You push her until she loses control.”
Jason:
“She’ll hit me?”
Daniel:
“If you do it right.”
Rachel stopped the video.
Nobody moved.
Daniel finally said:
“It wasn’t supposed to happen now.”
Wrong sentence.
Not it wasn’t real.
Not I didn’t mean it.
Not I’m sorry.
Timing.
Rachel stared.
“You planned to use your son to provoke me.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“We needed the capos to see something.”
“What?”
“That you’re emotional.”
Rachel almost laughed.
Jason did.
“Everyone already knows she goes crazy over Ethan.”
Rachel looked at him.
“Does breaking a three-year-old’s belongings make you feel powerful?”
Jason smirked.
“He cried over wood.”
Then added:
“Pathetic.”
Daniel said nothing.
Rachel turned toward him.
“You taught him exactly what kind of man you are.”
Then the guard opened the file labeled TONIGHT.
The first line was Daniel’s.
“Make sure Ethan is already upstairs before the capos arrive.”
Rachel’s expression changed.
May you like
Because Daniel wasn’t planning to provoke her in front of Ethan.
He was planning to make Ethan disappear first.
