Chapter 2
Then, a face appeared at the window.
Even with the glare on the glass, I recognized him instantly.
It was really Malcolm.
He wasn't smiling, just gazing into the room, his face unreadable.
His eyes were fixed on Jackie, sleeping peacefully on the bed.
Why was he here? Wasn't he supposed to be in Ucreland?
My mind was spinning.
Did he come back early to surprise us?
But this was the sixth floor. How did he even get up here? Did he use some kind of wire or harness?
It seemed impossible.
I couldn't look away.
He stood outside the window for about ten minutes, then disappeared.
I pulled up the feed from the security camera at the front gate of the complex.
I scrolled back the footage by twenty minutes.
A black sedan I'd never seen before rolled up to the entrance.
It parked in a blind spot, out of sight of the cameras.
A few minutes later, Malcolm got out of the car.
He was rocking casual clothes, but not the ones I'd sent him, though.
He lit up a cigarette, chilling against the wall as he smoked.
He looked totally at ease, like he knew this place inside out.
When he finished his cigarette, he stubbed it out and walked into the complex.
My sense of dread grew colder and heavier inside me.
This wasn't a surprise.
This was a scam so twisted, I couldn't even begin to make sense of it.
My hands shook as I pulled up the footage from a week ago.
Same time, same figure, same face pressed against the window.
I checked the footage from a month ago, then went back a year.
He was there every single time.
My blood ran cold.
Where the hell had he been all this time?
A crazy thought popped into my head.
Malcolm never went to Ucreland at all.
I opened up a folder labeled with a daytime date.
It was during last year's holiday.
I remembered taking Jackie to the park that day. We were totally beat by the time we got home.
I pulled up the camera feed pointed at our parking spot.
At three in the afternoon, a black sedan rolled up and parked in our spot.
The car door swung open. Malcolm stepped out from behind the wheel.
He was rocking a spotless white shirt, looking radiant.
He came around to the passenger side and opened the door.
A woman stepped out, carrying a girl in her arms who looked about two or three years old.
Malcolm took the girl from her, gave her a quick kiss, like it was the most natural thing in the world.
The woman smiled and took the car keys from him.
The three of them stood there, looking like a family, right in front of my parking spot, just downstairs from my place.
They looked so happy and beautiful together that it hurt my eyes.
It was like someone had socked me right in the face. Everything went dark for a moment. My stomach churned.
The woman wasn't a stranger; I'd seen her before. It was Gail Sweeney. She went to university with us.
She was my best friend. Or at least, she used to be.
My legs buckled and I slumped into my chair.
The computer screen lit up my pale, lifeless face.
Two whole years.
Over seven hundred days and nights spent worrying and waiting for him.
I pinched every penny, always sending him the best stuff I could manage.
I kept this family afloat all on my own, being both mom and dad for Jackie.
And in the end, it was all one big, cruel joke.
Malcolm was living in the same city, with my best friend in his arms, raising their child.
Every night, he'd check in on me and Jackie like some kind of ghost.
Is he guarding us?
No. It was surveillance.
He was toying with me.
I felt like a clueless idiot, trapped in a cage with no way out.
He and Gail had me running in circles, playing me however they pleased.
I was chilled to the bone, shivering so hard my teeth wouldn't stop chattering.
I spent the whole night holed up in the study, not moving an inch.
Morning came and I barely even registered it.
Those security cam clips kept looping in my head, over and over.
There was Malcolm planting a kiss on that girl's cheek, and Gail linking her arm through his.
They looked like the perfect happy family.
What about me? And what about Jackie? What were we to him, really?
Were we just pets he kept stashed away, out of sight, while he lived his real life?
There was no pain in my chest. It was hollow, like nothing was there at all.
It was like someone had ripped out a chunk of my soul and left me feeling completely empty inside.
I didn't cry. I couldn't.
All the pain and longing I'd bottled up for two years had curdled into nothing but sickening disgust.
I got up, grabbed a cold glass of water, and chugged it down.
The icy liquid slid down my throat, helping clear my head a bit.
There was no way in hell I'd let this slide.
I went back to my computer and pulled out an external hard drive.
I started copying all the surveillance videos, starting with very first day two years ago, right up to today, especially the ones with Malcolm in them, and the ones where he and Gail appeared together.
I needed all the proof.
I was in the middle of it when my phone rang.
The name "hubby" flashing on the screen was so ironic.
It was a video call from Malcolm.
I stared at the word "hubby" on my screen for a solid ten seconds.
Then, I swiped to answer.
Malcolm's familiar face appeared on the screen.
The background was nothing but yellow dirt and a few ramshackle shacks.
He looked thinner, more worn out, his skin tanned from the sun.
What a convincing act.
"Linda, are you up yet?" he asked, his voice as gentle as ever.