Chapter 2: The Journal Anna Left Behind
Chapter 2: The Journal Anna Left Behind
Marissa Whitmore did not panic.
At least not outwardly.
She had spent most of her life learning how to control her face.
Control her voice.
Control every room she entered.
The ability had served her well.
Especially when lies became necessary.
Especially when people started asking questions.
And now questions were everywhere.
The missing cast.
The burns on Caleb's arm.
The hidden electrical device.
The look Ruth gave her when she entered the mansion.
Marissa recognized danger when she saw it.
And for the first time since marrying Grant Whitmore...
She felt genuinely threatened.
"Where is the cast?"
Her voice remained calm.
Measured.
Elegant.
Ruth stared at her.
Then smiled.
It wasn't a pleasant smile.
"The doctor removed it."
A pause.
"Immediately."
Marissa's stomach tightened.
"What doctor?"
"One who wasn't recommended by you."
The silence between them sharpened.
Caleb stood quietly beside Ruth.
Watching.
Waiting.
For once, he wasn't afraid.
Because finally someone believed him.
Marissa turned toward the boy.
Her eyes softened.
A perfect performance.
"Oh sweetheart."
She knelt beside him.
"I'm glad you're feeling better."
Caleb stepped backward.
The movement was small.
But everyone saw it.
Including Grant.
Because at that exact moment the front doors opened.
The billionaire entered carrying his briefcase.
He stopped instantly.
Something felt wrong.
The tension in the room was obvious.
His eyes moved from Marissa to Ruth.
Then to Caleb.
Then to the missing cast.
"What happened?"
Nobody answered immediately.
Finally Ruth spoke.
"The cast was hiding something."
Grant frowned.
"What do you mean?"
Ruth handed him the evidence bag.
Inside sat the black device.
Grant stared.
Confused.
Then concerned.
Then horrified.
"What is this?"
Ruth told him everything.
The specialist.
The burns.
The electrical pulses.
The hidden compartment inside the cast.
Every word hit harder than the last.
Grant slowly turned toward his son.
The child he had restrained.
The child he had doubted.
The child who begged for help.
And Caleb had been telling the truth.
The entire time.
Grant felt physically sick.
"Buddy..."
Caleb didn't answer.
The distance between them suddenly felt enormous.
Marissa stepped forward immediately.
"This proves nothing."
Everyone looked at her.
She pointed toward the evidence bag.
"Anyone could have planted that."
Ruth laughed.
A harsh laugh.
"Inside a sealed medical cast?"
Marissa's confidence slipped slightly.
Only slightly.
But Grant noticed.
For days he had ignored tiny warning signs.
Tiny inconsistencies.
Tiny moments that never quite made sense.
Now all of them returned at once.
Like puzzle pieces.
And suddenly the picture looked very different.
That night, after Caleb finally fell asleep, Grant entered Anna's old bedroom.
The room had remained untouched since her death.
Nobody used it.
Nobody entered.
Except occasionally Ruth.
Dust covered the furniture.
Moonlight spilled across the floor.
The sight still hurt.
Anna's perfume lingered faintly in the air.
Three years gone.
And yet sometimes it felt like yesterday.
Grant sat on the edge of the bed.
Overwhelmed by guilt.
Then he noticed something unusual.
The bedside table drawer wasn't fully closed.
A tiny gap.
Barely noticeable.
He pulled it open.
Inside sat an old leather journal.
Anna's handwriting covered the first page.
Grant froze.
His heart started racing.
Because he had never seen this before.
Slowly he opened it.
The earliest entries seemed ordinary.
Stories about Caleb.
Family memories.
Pregnancy notes.
Then the tone changed.
A date caught his attention.
Eighteen months before Anna's death.
Grant began reading.
And the color drained from his face.
March 12
Marissa visited again today.
She acts friendly when Grant is around.
Different when we're alone.
I don't trust her.
Grant frowned.
He kept reading.
April 7
I found Marissa inside my office.
She said she was looking for the restroom.
She was standing beside the financial files.
She lied.
The entries continued.
Week after week.
Month after month.
Growing darker.
Growing more alarming.
Then Grant reached an entry written only six weeks before Anna died.
His hands began shaking.
September 3
If anything happens to me, someone needs to investigate Marissa.
I think she's trying to isolate me from Grant.
I think she's watching everything I do.
Grant stopped breathing.
No.
No.
Impossible.
He turned the page.
And discovered the final entry.
The last thing Anna ever wrote.
The words hit him like a bullet.
September 28
I overheard Marissa talking on the phone.
She said, "Once she's gone, everything becomes easier."
Maybe I'm paranoid.
Maybe I'm frightened.
But if something happens to me... please protect Caleb.
The journal slipped from Grant's hands.
For several seconds he couldn't move.
Couldn't think.
Couldn't breathe.
Because Anna hadn't died in an accident.
Officially, complications from medication had triggered a fatal reaction.
Doctors called it tragic.
Rare.
Unavoidable.
But suddenly Grant wasn't sure anymore.
The room felt smaller.
Colder.
And downstairs, hidden inside her private office, Marissa sat before a laptop.
Watching security camera footage.
Watching Grant enter Anna's room.
Watching him discover the journal.
Her face remained expressionless.
Then her phone rang.
She answered immediately.
"Yes?"
A male voice spoke from the other end.
Urgent.
Nervous.
"They reopened Anna Whitmore's medical records."
Marissa froze.
For the first time that night, fear appeared.
Real fear.
The caller continued.
"And there's something else."
"What?"
A long pause.
Then:
"The federal investigator found the payments."
Marissa's blood ran cold.
"What payments?"
"The ones made to Dr. Raymond Keller."
Silence.
Absolute silence.
Because Dr. Keller was the physician who placed Caleb's cast.
The physician who signed Anna's final medical report.
And twelve hours earlier...
He had been found dead inside his apartment.
An apparent suicide.
But investigators didn't believe it.
And now they were following the money.
Straight toward Marissa Whitmore.
What nobody knew yet was that Dr. Keller had left behind a hidden flash drive.
A flash drive containing recordings.
Medical files.
Bank transfers.
And one video capable of proving that Anna Whitmore never died by accident.
She was murdered.
May you like
And Caleb had been next.
To be continued in Chapter 3...
