The danger in my house wasn’t the housekeeper.
It was the woman I was about to marry.
I stared at the screen, unable to move.
Hector stood behind me.
“Sir?”
“Keep recording.”
My voice barely sounded like mine.
On the monitor, Marisol was still standing between Chloe and my daughters.
Chloe pointed toward the stairs.
“I said upstairs.”
Valeria tightened her grip on Sofia’s hand.
Then Marisol did something that made my chest tighten.
She knelt beside the girls.
“Go to your room,” she whispered. “I’ll handle this.”
Sofia looked terrified.
“But my bunny…”
Marisol glanced toward the shelf.
“I’ll get it.”
Chloe scoffed.
“You’re becoming very brave for someone who works here.”
Marisol looked directly at her.
“No. I’m becoming brave because those girls need someone to protect them.”
I leaned closer to the monitor.
There was something about the way Marisol said it.
Not anger.
Not fear.
Certainty.
As if she had been waiting for this moment.
Then Chloe’s phone rang.
She looked at the screen.
Her entire expression changed.
“Who is it?” Marisol asked.
“None of your business.”
Chloe walked toward the hallway.
Marisol watched her go.
Then she pulled a small key from her pocket.
She opened the cabinet beneath the stairs.
My eyes widened.
“That cabinet is locked,” I whispered.
Hector nodded.
“We’ve never had access to it.”
Marisol reached inside.
She pulled out a thick brown envelope.
Then another.
Then another.
My stomach tightened.
“What the hell…”
She placed them on the kitchen counter.
And that’s when I noticed something written across the first envelope.
ALEXANDER — DO NOT LET CHLOE FIND THIS.
I stood so quickly my chair rolled backward.
“Hector, zoom in.”
The image sharpened.
Inside the envelope were photographs.
Dozens of them.
My late wife.
My daughters.
Marisol.
And Chloe.
But the photographs weren’t ordinary family pictures.
They had been taken secretly.
From outside our house.
From parked cars.
From hotel entrances.
From school gates.
From across the street.
Someone had been watching my family.
For months.
Maybe years.
Then Marisol pulled out a second document.
It was a bank statement.
My bank statement.
My private account.
The one only three people knew existed.
Me.
My accountant.
And Chloe.
I felt ice spread through my chest.
“Hector.”
“Yes, sir?”
“Call the bank.”
He reached for his phone.
I stopped him.
“No.”
I stared at the screen.
“Not yet.”
Because suddenly I wanted to know how far this went.
Marisol opened another envelope.
Inside was a copy of my will.
My signature.
My property details.
My children’s inheritance.
And one handwritten note:
After the wedding, Alexander’s assets will be transferred into the family trust.
I couldn’t breathe.
My wedding was three months away.
Chloe hadn’t just been mistreating my daughters.
She had been planning what would happen to everything after I married her.
Then something even worse appeared on the monitor.
Chloe returned to the living room.
She wasn’t alone.
A man followed her through the front door.
I didn’t recognize him.
He looked around the room like he owned the place.
Chloe whispered something to him.
Then he asked:
“Is the father gone?”
Chloe smiled.
“For four days.”
The man laughed.
“Perfect.”
My hands clenched.
Hector looked at me.
“Sir, should I call the police?”
I shook my head.
“Not yet.”
The man walked toward the staircase.
Then Valeria appeared.
She had been listening.
She looked directly at him.
And suddenly she screamed.
“That’s him!”
Chloe froze.
The man turned.
Valeria grabbed Sofia and ran.
“Daddy said never let him near us!”
My blood ran cold.
I looked at Hector.
“Who is that man?”
Hector zoomed in on his face.
Then his expression changed.
“Sir…”
“What?”
“I’ve seen him before.”
“Where?”
Hector swallowed.
“Outside the school.”
My heart stopped.
“How many times?”
He stared at the screen.
“Seven.”
I turned back toward the monitor.
The man was now standing at the bottom of the stairs.
Chloe whispered something into his ear.
He nodded.
Then he pulled something from his jacket.
A folder.
He opened it.
And the first photograph inside was of my daughters sleeping.
Taken from inside their bedroom.
I couldn’t think.
Someone had been inside my house.
Someone had been watching my children.
And Chloe had let him in.
I grabbed my phone.
“Call the police.”
Hector immediately reached for his phone.
But before he could dial, another sound came from the monitor.
A door slammed upstairs.
Then Sofia screamed.
“MARISOL!”
I ran out of the security room.
For the first time in my life, I wasn’t thinking about money.
I wasn’t thinking about Chloe.
I wasn’t even thinking about the wedding.
I was thinking about my daughters.
And as I sprinted toward the staircase, I heard Chloe shouting:
“Alexander will never find out!”
I stopped.
She couldn’t possibly know I was home.
Unless…
She had known all along.
I looked toward the security camera above the hallway.
Its tiny red light was blinking.
Hector came running behind me.
“Sir?”
I whispered:
“Someone knew about the cameras.”
Then the lights in the entire house went out.
And from upstairs came Marisol’s voice:
“Alexander!”
I ran toward the stairs.
But before I reached the first step, my phone vibrated.
A message appeared from an unknown number.
You should have stayed on that plane.
Then another message arrived.
A photograph.
It was taken less than one minute earlier.
It showed me standing in my own hallway.
Someone was watching me.