Chapter 1: The Fake Diagnosis
Chapter 1: The Fake Diagnosis
The kitchen remained silent.
No one moved.
No one spoke.
Alejandro stood over the dining table, flipping through the stack of documents one page at a time. With every sheet he read, more color drained from his face.
I'd seen my husband angry.
I'd seen him exhausted after deployment.
I'd seen him heartbroken.
But never like this.
This wasn't anger.
It was calculation.
The expression of a soldier identifying an enemy.
"What is it?" I asked quietly.
He didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he lifted one document and looked directly at me.
"Did you ever meet with Dr. Peterson?"
I frowned.
"No."
He grabbed another page.
"Did you ever report suicidal thoughts?"
My entire body went cold.
"What?"
"Answer me."
"No! Of course not!"
His jaw clenched.
The paper in his hands was a psychiatric evaluation.
According to the report, I suffered from severe depression.
Paranoia.
Emotional instability.
It claimed I posed a danger to my unborn child.
Every word was a lie.
Yet everything looked authentic.
Official letterhead.
Medical stamps.
Doctor's signature.
Filed paperwork.
My stomach twisted.
"Who wrote that?"
Alejandro slowly laid it on the table.
"No licensed psychiatrist."
"What do you mean?"
He pointed at the signature.
"The medical license number doesn't exist."
Across the kitchen, Margaret's breathing suddenly became heavier.
The emergency dispatcher was still connected through Alejandro's phone.
Every word.
Every reaction.
Everything was being recorded.
Alejandro reached for another folder.
Inside were dozens of photographs.
The second I saw them, I felt sick.
Pictures of me leaving grocery stores.
Walking into doctor's offices.
Sitting alone in parks.
Looking through store windows.
Some had obviously been taken from hundreds of feet away.
Someone had been watching me.
For months.
Without my knowledge.
Without my consent.
My hands began to shake.
"Oh my God..."
Alejandro looked at me.
"You weren't imagining it."
Every uneasy feeling.
Every time I thought someone was following me.
Every strange coincidence.
They'd all been real.
And judging by Margaret's silence...
She knew exactly who had been taking those pictures.
Then—
A loud knock echoed through the house.
May you like
Police had arrived.
End of Chapter 1
