Chapter 2: What the Hat Was Hiding
That night, I waited.
Margaret and Paige went to bed early.
Too quickly.
Like they wanted to get away from me.
I sat in the dark living room and listened to the house settle around me.
Then I heard it.
A small sound.
From the hallway.
Gwen was moving toward the kitchen.
Slowly.
Carefully.
Like someone who had learned not to make noise.
I followed her.
She was standing at the counter with a glass of water, her back to me.
Her beanie was still on.
At midnight.
"Gwen."
She spun around and nearly dropped the glass.
"David — you scared me."
"Why are you still wearing that hat?"
She didn't answer.
"Gwen.
Take it off."
"I'm cold."
"It's seventy degrees in this house."
Her eyes filled with tears.
She shook her head.
I stepped forward and gently reached up.
She grabbed my wrist.
Hard.
"Please don't."
But I had already seen it.
The edge of something beneath the fabric.
A bruise.
Dark and wide.
Just above her ear.
My whole body went cold.
"Who did this to you?"
She looked away.
"Gwen.
Look at me.
Who h*t you?"
Her voice came out barely above a whisper.
"It doesn't matter now.
You're home.
Just leave it alone."
"Leave it alone?" I could barely speak.
"I sent a hundred thousand dollars home to keep you safe."
She finally looked at me.
And what I saw in her eyes was worse than the bruise.
It was shame.
"David," she whispered.
"The money never came to me."
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What David found out next — about the money, the bruise, and the locked room — will break your heart.
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