Part 2: The Things Hidden in the Cocoa
I didn't sleep that night.
After Celeste fell asleep beside me, I quietly slipped out of bed and drove across town. The plastic bag containing the black fragments sat on the passenger seat.
At 2:13 a.m., I parked outside a twenty-four-hour veterinary laboratory owned by an old college friend.
Dr. Ethan Ross owed me nothing.
But when he saw my face, he unlocked the door immediately.
"Daniel, what happened?"
"My son."
That was all I said.
Two hours later, Ethan emerged from the testing room looking sick.
"What is it?" I asked.
He placed a microscope image on the table.
The black fragments weren't insects.
They were pieces of beetle larvae.
My stomach dropped.
"What?"
Ethan swallowed.
"Not enough to kill someone. But enough to cause severe stomach pain if consumed repeatedly."
The room seemed to tilt.
"Repeatedly?"
He nodded.
"Someone put these into food more than once."
I stared at the image.
Noah's screams echoed inside my head.
It's biting me.
God.
He hadn't been imagining anything.
Something really had been inside him.
When I returned home just before dawn, Mara was sitting at the kitchen table.
She looked terrified.
"Mr. Vale..."
"What happened?"
She slid her phone toward me.
A video was playing.
Kitchen security footage.
My pulse stopped.
The footage showed Celeste entering the kitchen after midnight.
She looked directly into the camera.
Then she smiled.
Not the smile she showed guests.
Not the smile she showed Noah.
This smile was cold.
Calculated.
She opened a cabinet.
Pulled out Noah's favorite chocolate powder.
Opened a small container.
And mixed something black into it.
I watched the clip three times.
Each viewing hurt more than the last.
"How did you get this?" I asked.
Mara's hands trembled.
"I saw her doing something strange last week. So I activated an old camera that wasn't connected to the house system."
Smart girl.
Smarter than anyone had given her credit for.
Then she whispered the words that changed everything.
"There's more."
She opened another file.
This time the footage came from Noah's bedroom.
Celeste entered while he slept.
She crouched beside his bed.
And spoke softly.
"You need Daddy to think you're sick."
Noah shifted in his sleep.
Celeste stroked his hair.
"If Daddy leaves me, we'll lose everything."
My hands tightened around the phone.
The next sentence made my blood run cold.
"So tomorrow you'll tell everyone something is biting you again."
I couldn't breathe.
This wasn't neglect.
This wasn't cruelty.
This was planning.
Manipulation.
Abuse.
And my son had become the weapon she used against me.
The front door suddenly opened.
Celeste had returned from her morning walk.
Her eyes landed on Mara.
Then on me.
Then on the phone.
For one terrifying second, the mask slipped.
I saw pure panic.
But it vanished quickly.
"What are you two watching?" she asked sweetly.
I smiled back.
The same calm smile I used in business negotiations.
"The truth."
And for the first time since meeting her...
Celeste looked afraid.