Hayden stood alone inside the dark house, staring at the bloodstained floor.
The bleach had removed most of the visible evidence.
But not all of it.
He crouched beside the dining table and slowly ran his flashlight across the oak boards.
Tiny dark stains remained trapped inside the cracks.
Someone had cleaned this room in a hurry.
Not a professional crime scene cleaner.
Someone who was desperate.
Hayden studied the room again.
The dining chairs had been moved.
The rug was gone.
One chair had a deep crack across its wooden arm.
And beside it, partially hidden beneath the table, he noticed something.
A small silver button.
Hayden picked it up.
He recognized it immediately.
It came from the jacket worn by one of Sabrina’s brothers.
Spencer.
Hayden placed it inside an evidence bag.
Then his phone rang.
It was Detective Marcus Reed.
“Captain Stanton?”
“I’m here.”
“You need to get out of that house.”
“Why?”
“Because this investigation is becoming complicated.”
Hayden looked toward the hallway.
“Complicated how?”
Reed lowered his voice.
“Abraham Rosales has already hired a private attorney.”
Hayden’s expression hardened.
“For what?”
“To argue that Sabrina’s injuries may have been connected to an altercation involving you.”
Hayden almost laughed.
“Me?”
“They’re claiming you and Sabrina had marital problems.”
“My wife was pregnant.”
“I know.”
“Then you know how ridiculous that sounds.”
“I do.”
Reed paused.
“But there’s something else.”
“What?”
“We recovered part of Sabrina’s phone.”
Hayden immediately became alert.
“Where?”
“Behind the kitchen cabinets.”
“What was on it?”
“We’re still extracting the data.”
Hayden looked at the bloodstains.
“Anything unusual?”
“Yes.”
Reed hesitated.
“There was a deleted message.”
“From who?”
“We don’t know yet.”
“Can you recover it?”
“We’re trying.”
Hayden looked at the clock.
“I’m coming to the station.”
“No.”
Reed’s voice became firm.
“Go to the hospital.”
“Why?”
“Sabrina woke up.”
Hayden froze.
His wife was conscious.
“When?”
“Twenty minutes ago.”
“Is she stable?”
“Barely.”
“What did she say?”
Reed took a breath.
“She asked for you.”
Hayden grabbed his jacket.
“I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
He hung up.
Then stopped.
Something didn’t feel right.
If Sabrina had been attacked by seven members of her own family, why had they left her alive?
Why hadn’t they destroyed the security camera?
Why had they spent so much time cleaning the house but failed to remove the camera hidden in the bookshelf?
And most importantly—
What had they been looking for?
Hayden turned back toward the living room.
He walked directly to the bookshelf.
His fingers searched behind the framed photographs.
Nothing.
Then he noticed a tiny blinking light.
His heart skipped.
A backup camera.
Sabrina had installed a second one.
Hayden connected it to his phone.
The footage loaded.
7:41 p.m.
Sabrina was walking through the kitchen.
She looked nervous.
She kept checking her phone.
Then the doorbell rang.
She froze.
Slowly, she walked toward the front door.
The camera angle showed the person standing outside.
Hayden leaned closer.
His blood ran cold.
It was Spencer.
Sabrina opened the door.
“Why are you here?”
Spencer stepped inside.
“We need to talk.”
“I told you I don’t want anything to do with Dad’s business.”
“You don’t get to decide that anymore.”
Sabrina stepped backward.
“What does that mean?”
Spencer looked toward the hallway.
Then three more men entered.
Hayden’s jaw tightened.
One after another, all seven Rosales brothers entered the house.
Sabrina looked terrified.
“Where is Dad?”
Spencer smiled.
“He’s waiting for the files.”
“What files?”
“The ones you stole.”
“I didn’t steal anything.”
Spencer grabbed her wrist.
“You know exactly what we’re talking about.”
Sabrina struggled.
“Let me go!”
Hayden’s fists clenched.
He watched helplessly as the footage continued.
One of the brothers closed the curtains.
Another locked the front door.
Then Spencer placed a folder on the dining table.
“Tell us where the originals are.”
Sabrina shook her head.
“I don’t have them.”
“You have copies.”
“I don’t.”
Spencer slapped the table.
“Your husband is coming home.”
Sabrina’s face changed.
Spencer smiled.
“Exactly.”
He leaned closer.
“And when he gets here, he’ll find his pregnant wife badly injured.”
Hayden’s eyes widened.
This wasn’t simply an assault.
They had planned it.
They had planned to make it look like a crime committed by someone else.
Then Sabrina whispered something Hayden could barely hear.
“You’re going to kill me.”
Spencer’s smile disappeared.
“No.”
He pointed toward her stomach.
“Your baby is the reason you’re still alive.”
Hayden’s blood ran cold.
The recording continued.
Spencer pulled out a photograph.
He placed it on the table.
Sabrina looked at it.
Her face went completely white.
Hayden couldn’t see the photograph clearly.
Then Sabrina whispered:
“You don’t understand what you’ve done.”
Spencer replied:
“We understand perfectly.”
He leaned closer.
“Your husband works for the same people we’re stealing from.”
Hayden stopped breathing.
His military mission suddenly came back to him.
The classified investigation in North Dakota.
The missing defense equipment.
The suspicious contractor payments.
The names that had never made sense.
Rosales Construction.
The company had appeared in his investigation three months earlier.
Hayden had assumed it was coincidence.
It wasn’t.
The Rosales family had been moving stolen military equipment through civilian construction shipments.
And Sabrina had discovered it.
The video suddenly shook.
Someone had noticed the camera.
The screen went black.
Hayden cursed under his breath.
Then the recording resumed.
Sabrina was lying on the floor.
The brothers were gone.
Hayden watched himself standing there in the empty house.
His breathing became heavy.
Then he noticed something else.
The timestamp.
The brothers had left at 8:16 p.m.
The ambulance arrived at 8:29 p.m.
Thirteen minutes.
Someone had stayed behind.
Hayden rewound the footage.
Eight minutes before the brothers left, a second figure appeared at the front door.
A woman.
She entered carrying a black medical bag.
Hayden paused the recording.
He couldn’t see her face.
But he recognized the coat.
It belonged to someone from Saint Peter Health Center.
Someone who had access to Sabrina’s medical information.
Hayden immediately called Detective Reed.
“I found another person.”
“Who?”
“A woman.”
“Can you identify her?”
“Not yet.”
“Send me the footage.”
Hayden transferred the file.
Seconds later, Reed called back.
“Captain…”
“What?”
“I know that woman.”
“Who is she?”
Silence.
Then Reed said:
“She isn’t hospital staff.”
Hayden’s expression hardened.
“Then who is she?”
“She works for Abraham Rosales.”
Hayden looked toward the front door.
“What’s her name?”
Reed answered quietly.
“Dr. Elena Vasquez.”
Hayden frowned.
“Why would a doctor working for Sabrina’s father be at my house?”
Reed didn’t answer.
Instead, he said:
“Because she wasn’t there to treat Sabrina.”
Hayden’s stomach tightened.
“What was she doing?”
“She was carrying a syringe.”
The line went silent.
Hayden stared at the phone.
Then Reed added:
“We just found something else in Sabrina’s medical records.”
“What?”
“The doctors found a substance in her bloodstream.”
Hayden’s voice dropped.
“What substance?”
“Something that shouldn’t have been there.”
Hayden closed his eyes.
“Is it dangerous?”
“Potentially fatal.”
“Was it administered at the house?”
“We don’t know.”
Hayden’s mind raced.
The beating.
The pregnancy.
The missing files.
The Rosales brothers.
The mysterious doctor.
And now a drug in Sabrina’s bloodstream.
Someone hadn’t simply wanted to hurt his wife.
Someone wanted to make sure she couldn’t tell anyone what she knew.
Hayden grabbed his keys.
“I’m going to the hospital.”
“Captain, wait.”
“What?”
“There is one more thing.”
“What?”
Reed lowered his voice.
“Sabrina woke up for exactly forty-three seconds.”
Hayden froze.
“What did she say?”
“She asked whether you had found the recording.”
Hayden’s heart stopped.
Then Reed continued:
“She said something else.”
“What?”
“She said…”
A pause.
“‘Hayden, don’t trust the man standing beside you.’”
Hayden slowly looked around the empty house.
He was completely alone.
At least…
he thought he was.
Then, from somewhere upstairs—
a floorboard creaked.
Hayden stopped moving.
His hand slowly reached toward his sidearm.
Another creak.
Someone was inside the house.
And whoever it was…
had been listening to every word of his conversation.
To be continued…
