Chapter 3 - THE BOX
The object rolled across the white tablecloth.
It was small.
Black.
With a red indicator light.
At first, nobody understood what they were looking at.
Then Ethan did.
His scream had already silenced the room.
Now he was staring at the device as if it were alive.
“No,” he whispered.
Noah stood perfectly still.
Ethan looked at him.
“Where did you get that?”
Noah said nothing.
Lila rushed toward the table.
“What is it?”
Ethan grabbed her arm.
“Don’t touch it.”
The room grew even quieter.
I walked toward them.
“Noah.”
My son looked at me.
“Mom, I didn’t break it.”
I looked down at the device.
Then back at Ethan.
“What is it?”
Ethan did not answer.
That was the answer.
Lila looked from him to me.
“Ethan?”
He released her arm.
His face was pale.
“Camila…”
I stared at him.
“What is that?”
He swallowed.
“It’s nothing.”
Noah spoke quietly.
“Dad said it was important.”
Ethan turned toward him.
“You don’t understand.”
“No,” Noah said.
“I don’t.”
Several guests had begun recording with their phones.
Ethan noticed.
“Everyone put your phones away!”
That made the room even more suspicious.
His best man stared at him.
“Dude, what is happening?”
Ethan looked around.
Then at me.
“Where did you get this?”
I looked at Noah.
He said nothing.
I crouched beside him.
“Tell me.”
He looked at the device.
“I found it in the old house.”
My heart stopped.
“What?”
“The house we used to live in.”
Ethan stepped forward.
“Why were you there?”
Noah frowned.
“You left your office box in the closet.”
Ethan’s expression changed.
I remembered the old house.
After the divorce, Ethan had moved out quickly.
He had left boxes behind.
Some were mine.
Some were his.
A few had never been opened.
Noah had been cleaning his old room two weeks earlier.
I had thought nothing of it.
Apparently, he had found something.
Ethan looked furious.
“You went through my things?”
Noah shook his head.
“I found it under the floor.”
The room went silent.
I turned toward Ethan.
“Under the floor?”
Ethan said nothing.
Lila looked at him.
“What was under the floor?”
“Nothing.”
Noah shook his head.
“There was a metal box.”
Ethan’s eyes widened.
“What metal box?”
“The one this came from.”
I looked at my son.
“What else was inside?”
Noah hesitated.
Then he reached into his jacket.
He pulled out a small flash drive.
Ethan made a sound I had never heard from him before.
“No.”
I stared at the drive.
“What is that?”
Noah looked at me.
“It was in the box.”
Ethan stepped toward him.
I immediately moved between them.
“Don’t.”
His eyes were wild.
“Give me that.”
“No.”
“Camila, you don’t understand.”
“I understand that you are terrified.”
The guests were watching.
The wedding photographer had stopped taking pictures.
Lila stood beside the head table, confused.
“Ethan, what is going on?”
He turned toward her.
“Nothing.”
She laughed nervously.
“Your face says otherwise.”
I looked at the device again.
It was a recording device.
A miniature audio recorder.
The red light was blinking.
Noah had apparently pressed the button.
A voice suddenly came from the speaker.
Ethan’s voice.
“Once Camila signs, the house is mine.”
The room gasped.
I turned toward Ethan.
He looked like someone had punched him.
The recording continued.
A woman’s voice followed.
I recognized it immediately.
Lila.
“And what about your son?”
Ethan answered.
“He’ll get used to it.”
My blood went cold.
Noah stared at the device.
The recording continued.
“You said the divorce would be clean.”
Lila’s voice.
“It will be.”
Ethan laughed.
“Camila will sign anything if she thinks she’s protecting Noah.”
I felt the room shift.
People were no longer laughing.
They were listening.
Ethan lunged toward the device.
I grabbed his arm.
“Don’t.”
“Turn it off!”
“No.”
The recording continued.
“The insurance money will cover the rest.”
My body went cold.
Insurance money?
I looked at Ethan.
“What insurance money?”
He said nothing.
The recording stopped.
The room remained silent.
Lila turned toward him.
“What insurance money?”
Ethan stared at her.
She stepped backward.
“You said there was no money.”
He opened his mouth.
Nothing came out.
Then Noah looked at me.
“Mom?”
I forced myself to answer.
“Yes?”
He whispered:
“Is Dad the reason you almost died?”
The room went completely still.
And suddenly, the wedding was no longer about an affair.
May you like
It was about something far darker.
Something Ethan had believed was buried forever.
