Chapter 4

This unexpected normalcy made me wonder if I'd already blown my cover. I knew I had to be extra careful from then on. I couldn't afford to slip up.

That night, I told Henry that my company was sending me to the neighboring city for three days.

He complained loudly in protest. "Another business trip? Why does your company only pick on you all the time?"

The next day, before I left with my luggage, I glanced worriedly at Sophie. She wasn't eating anything these days, surviving only on nutritional supplements.

Sophie was lying on the floor, keeping an eye on me out of the corner of her eye, as if she'd grown used to me leaving.

I went to stay at the house of a colleague who was actually going on a business trip.

I told her I wanted to crash at her place for a couple of days, and she readily agreed, saying it would be perfect because she needed someone to feed her cat anyway.

The hidden cameras only supported playback on a computer. I was too scared to use anyone else's computer in case the footage got leaked, so every day I could only check the live feed from the smart door viewer on my phone.

Henry's comings and goings were completely unremarkable over those two days.

That evening, after getting off work, I went back to my colleague's place, propped my phone up to watch the door viewer feed, and started removing my makeup.

Tomorrow would be the third day, and I planned to head back home as soon as Henry left in the morning.

At 11:58 p.m., my phone pinged. It was an alert from the door viewer that someone was outside.

I assumed it was just a passerby, so I glanced at the screen casually, only to find that it was actually Henry. I couldn't help but wonder why he went out so late at night.

He was standing outside the door with his back to the viewer. I froze mid-action and watched his every move intently.

He was acting very strange, standing completely still for three or four minutes, as if he were suspended by a rope. The motion-sensor light in the hallway had already gone out.

His whole body looked eerie under the door viewer's night vision. He slowly turned around, his figure pale white, his eyes glowing with a reflective white light.

His two white eyeballs stared straight at the door viewer, giving me the uncanny feeling that he was looking right at me through the screen. I was instantly overcome with horror, rooted to the spot on my end of the screen.

He took step after step forward. The second his head pressed against the door viewer, the time on the screen jumped exactly to 00:00.

I screamed and slammed my phone away from me. It wasn't until a minute later that he stepped back, turned around, and walked away resolutely.

This time, I waited for half an hour, but he still didn't come back. An ominous feeling settled in the pit of my stomach. I threw on my clothes and rushed home immediately. I didn't relax until I walked in and saw Sophie lying there.

She was on the floor, looking listless as ever.

I rushed into the guest bedroom, turned on the computer, and pulled up the footage from that night. I fast-forwarded to 10:42 p.m. Henry emerged from the bedroom holding something in his hand and walked over to Sophie.

First, he made Sophie lie on her back, then he stroked her belly for two or three minutes.

After that, he lifted her back up onto her feet. Sophie was completely cooperative throughout the whole process. With her rear facing him, he actually pried open her private parts.

I was so shocked that I clapped a hand over my mouth, my heartbeat thudding so loudly it felt like it would burst my eardrums.

"What are you looking at, Kate?" My whole body went rigid. Henry's low voice echoed right behind my ear.