Chapter 4 - The Secret of the Locked DoorMy father dropped into the desk chair, burying his face in his hands.
âVictoria knew you were playing in the pool house,â he wept softly. âShe padlocked the heavy iron latch from the outside and set fire to the dry cedar siding behind the shed.â
I stood frozen in place, my hands trembling violently.
My stepmotherâthe woman who had lived under our roof for twelve years, who had bought Chloe designer clothes while forcing me to wear hand-me-downs, who had watched me suffer through twenty-two skin graft surgeriesâhad tried to burn me alive when I was six years old!
âWhy didn't you go to the police, Dad?!â I yelled, twelve years of buried anger bursting from my lungs. âWhy did you let her stay in this house?!â
âBecause she framed me, Maya!â my father sobbed, looking up with bloodshot eyes. âShe bought off the local fire investigator. She told me that if I went to the police, she would produce forged records showing I set the fire for insurance money! She threatened to take both of you away from me forever!â
So my father had made a bargain with the devil. He allowed Victoria and Chloe to live in luxury, keeping his head down, silently paying for my medical treatments while Victoria slowly turned Chloe into a copy of herself.
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At that moment, my phone chimed again.
UNKNOWN NUMBER: Check the top floor safe in Victoriaâs office. The original fire chief's confession recording is inside.
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