Gregory didn’t move.
For several seconds, nobody in that room breathed.
My mother stared at him.
Gregory stared at the scan.
And I stood between them, suddenly realizing that my husband wasn’t seeing a strange object inside my mother’s body.
He was seeing something he already knew.
“Gregory,” I said slowly. “Why do you recognize that?”
He swallowed.
“I don’t.”
The doctor stepped closer to the screen.
“You do.”
Gregory’s face tightened.
The doctor pointed at the scan.
“This isn’t something that simply ended up inside an elderly woman’s abdomen. It’s enclosed in a surgical-grade casing. There’s no obvious pathway suggesting it was swallowed.”
My stomach dropped.
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying someone put it there.”
My mother closed her eyes.
“Mom?”
She wouldn’t answer.
I grabbed her hand.
“Mom, please. What is that?”
Her fingers trembled around mine.
Then she whispered,
“It was supposed to stay hidden until after I died.”
Gregory suddenly stepped forward.
“Rosa, enough.”
I turned toward him.
“Enough?”
His voice cracked.
“You don’t understand what you’re dealing with.”
“Then explain it!”
He looked at the doctor.
“Can we have a minute alone?”
“No.”
The answer came from my mother.
She opened her eyes.
“You don’t get to tell them anything anymore.”
Gregory froze.
My heart began pounding.
“Tell me what?”
Mom looked at me.
“When you were sixteen, I told you your father died because his heart failed.”
I nodded slowly.
“Yes.”
“That wasn’t the truth.”
My mouth went dry.
Gregory looked toward the door.
“Rosa, don’t.”
Mom ignored him.
“Your father didn’t die from heart failure.”
I stared at her.
“Then how did he die?”
She looked at Gregory.
“He was murdered.”
The room went completely silent.
I felt as though the floor had disappeared beneath me.
“No.”
Mom squeezed my hand.
“He discovered something about Gregory’s family.”
I turned toward my husband.
He looked terrified now.
Not angry.
Not confused.
Terrified.
“What did my father discover?”
Gregory shook his head.
“Camille, listen to me. Your mother is confused.”
The doctor interrupted.
“She isn’t confused.”
He tapped the scan.
“And whatever is inside her is very old.”
He enlarged the image.
“There appears to be a small electronic component inside the capsule.”
My breath caught.
“Electronic?”
“A storage device, perhaps. Something designed to survive for decades.”
Mom nodded faintly.
“Your father put it there.”
I stared at her.
“Inside you?”
“He knew they were watching him.”
My voice barely came out.
“Who?”
Mom looked at Gregory.
“The people who wanted what he had found.”
Gregory suddenly lunged toward the computer.
The doctor blocked him.
“Don’t touch that.”
Gregory backed away.
His hands were shaking.
Then his phone rang.
He looked at the screen.
His expression changed instantly.
“Who is it?” I asked.
He didn’t answer.
The phone rang again.
Mom whispered,
“It’s them.”
Gregory slowly rejected the call.
Then another call came.
And another.
Finally, Gregory switched off his phone.
I stared at him.
“You knew.”
He looked at me.
“I knew there was something your mother was hiding.”
“How long?”
He said nothing.
“How long, Gregory?”
“Three years.”
I felt sick.
“Three years?”
He lowered his voice.
“Camille, I was trying to protect you.”
I laughed bitterly.
“You were trying to protect me?”
“You don’t understand what your father left behind.”
Mom suddenly gasped.
The doctor rushed toward her.
“Rosa?”
She clutched her abdomen.
Her eyes widened.
“It’s moving.”
“What?”
She pointed toward the scan.
The doctor stared at the screen.
The capsule had shifted slightly.
His face drained of color.
“That’s impossible.”
“What is it?” I demanded.
He zoomed in again.
“There is a mechanism attached to it.”
“A mechanism?”
He nodded.
“It may have been designed to open under certain conditions.”
My mother whispered,
“Not conditions.”
Everyone looked at her.
She swallowed.
“A person.”
I felt a chill run down my spine.
“What person?”
Mom looked directly at Gregory.
“You.”
Gregory stepped backward.
“No.”
Mom continued.
“Your father told me the capsule would only unlock when his daughter’s husband tried to take control of her money.”
My blood ran cold.
I remembered Gregory’s words from the night before.
You’re not spending a single cent without running it by me first.
The doctor stared at him.
“Is that why you came here so quickly?”
Gregory said nothing.
Then the hospital door opened.
A police officer walked in.
He looked directly at me.
“Camille?”
“Yes?”
“We need you to come with us.”
“Why?”
The officer glanced at Gregory.
Then at my mother.
“We’ve just received information concerning your father’s death.”
My knees nearly buckled.
“What information?”
The officer pulled out a photograph.
It showed my father standing outside a warehouse.
Beside him was a much younger Gregory.
I stared at the photograph.
Then at my husband.
“That’s impossible.”
Gregory’s eyes filled with tears.
“I can explain.”
But before he could say another word, my mother’s heart monitor began screaming.
The doctor rushed to her bedside.
Mom grabbed my wrist with surprising strength.
“Camille…”
“Yes, Mom?”
Her eyes locked onto mine.
“Don’t let Gregory take you home.”
I looked at my husband.
He was already backing toward the door.
Then my mother’s final words made my blood run cold.
“Because your father wasn’t the only person Gregory’s family buried.”
Gregory ran.
And this time—
the police ran after him.