Chapter 4 The Trap

They went out every Thursday-Damian and Mom. Their ritual. He'd hold the door, she'd giggle like a teenager, and they'd disappear into the night like a couple from a romance movie.

But tonight, I wasn't watching from the window.

Tonight, I was going in.

I waited five minutes after they left before slipping down the hall. The bobby pin trembled in my hand as I knelt at the locked office door. My breath slowed. Click.

The door opened.

It wasn't an office.

It was a shrine.

Every wall was covered in photographs. Polaroids. Women smiling, laughing-posed like memories frozen in time. Their eyes all shared the same light... until I looked closer. Some were scratched out. Others had a single red X scrawled across their faces.

In the center: a wedding cake diagram. Five tiers. Each labeled with a name. Amara. Lydia. Kendra. Rosa.

The top tier had just one entry:

"Evelyn – 2025."

My mother.

A sudden chill hit me from behind.

I turned-and saw it.

A freezer chest, padlocked and humming softly. Something dark leaked from its edge, staining the carpet like a wound.

As I backed away, my foot hit something.

A phone.

My phone.

The screen was cracked-and still recording.

But I didn't drop it.

Someone else had.