When Martha’s mother-in-law insisted on babysitting her daughter every Wednesday, she thought it was a harmless favor. But when Bev started acting strangely, Martha, desperate for answers, set up a hidden camera. What she discovered rocked her world. The lies, manipulation, and betrayal ran far deeper than she ever imagined.
I wish I could say I overreacted, that I let paranoia take over, that my suspicions were just a product of stress and exhaustion. But I wasn’t crazy. I wasn’t imagining things.
And I would give anything, anything , to have been wrong.
A distraught woman | Source: Midjourney
My name is Martha, and I have a four-year-old daughter, Beverly. My husband, Jason, and I both work full-time, which means Bev spends most weekdays at daycare.
I feel pretty guilty, and it wasn’t my choice, but it worked out. She was happy, we were happy, and life moved on.
“Bev’s going to be okay, darling,” Jason had said one morning as we were making her lunch.
Packed lunch boxes | Source: Midjourney
“I know, and she’s thriving. She’s making friends and having fun. But… I don’t want her to think we’re ignoring her or pushing her away, you know?”
But then a month ago, my mother-in-law, Cheryl, made us an offer that seemed too generous to be true.
“Why don’t I take Beverly on Wednesdays?” she suggested over dinner, as she carved her chicken. “It’ll give her a break from daycare and give us a chance to have some grandma-granddaughter bonding time. It’ll be nice!”
A plate of food on a table | Source: Midjourney
I hesitated at first.
“We can do it here so she feels comfortable too,” Cheryl continued. “I mean, I can also take Bev to the park or out for ice cream. But we’ll be home most of the time. Okay?”
Cheryl and I were never very close. There was always a subtle disapproval in the way she spoke to me, a silent hint of something left unsaid.
But it seemed… innocent. It seemed like a kind gesture. Like a grandmother who really wanted to spend time with her granddaughter. Plus, it would save us a little money on daycare.
A woman sitting at a table | Source: Midjourney
And to be honest, part of me was thrilled. It meant my child could be with his family.
So I accepted.
At first, everything seemed fine.
But over time, Beverly began to change.
At first, it was just small things.
A child sitting on a staircase | Source: Midjourney
“Today I only want to eat with Dad, Grandma, and her friend,” she said one evening, pushing away the dinner I had prepared.
My daughter gave me a secret smile as she took a sip of her juice.
“Who’s Grandma’s friend, dear?” I frowned.
At first, I thought she was talking about a new friend from daycare. But as her mentions became more frequent and she began to distance herself from me, I realized it was something else.
A little girl holding a juice box | Source: Midjourney
And then one night, as I was tucking her in, she whispered something that made my stomach clench.
“Mom,” she asked, clinging to her stuffed unicorn, “why don’t you like our friend?”
I felt a tingling of unease.
“Who told you that?” I asked.
Bev hesitated, biting her lower lip.
Then, in a voice too rehearsed for a four-year-old, she opened her mouth.
A little girl tucked into bed | Source: Midjourney
“Our friend is part of the family, Mom. You just don’t see her yet.”
My hands clenched the sheets. Something was happening, and I couldn’t figure it out. It was an enigma, something that still eluded my sight… for now.
So I decided to ask Cheryl the next time I saw her. One Saturday morning, she came over to have breakfast with us. Jason and Bev were in the kitchen, making the last of the pancakes.
A stack of pancakes and syrup | Source: Midjourney
“Has Beverly made any new boyfriends lately? At daycare, the park, or somewhere else? She can’t stop talking about someone.”
Cheryl barely looked up from her coffee.
“Oh, you know how children are, Martha. They’re always making up imaginary friends. That’s probably it.”
Cheryl’s voice was soft. Too soft.
I smiled, but my instincts told me she was lying.
A woman holding a cup of coffee | Source: Midjourney
Call it intuition, call it maternal instinct, but something was wrong.
That night, I made a decision I never thought I would make.
I installed a hidden camera in the living room. I already had one when Beverly was a baby and we had a night nanny. At the time, Jason worked nights and wanted to keep an eye on the nanny while he was at work and I was asleep.
(Luckily, when Bev got older, we were able to uninstall the camera.)
A camera on a table | Source: Midjourney
I felt bad doing it, but I had to know what was going on.
The following Wednesday, I went to work as usual, leaving snacks in the fridge for Cheryl and Bev. I tried to concentrate and only managed to get through one meeting with my mind intact.
By lunchtime, my hands were shaking with anxiety as I checked the pictures on my phone.
A woman holding her phone | Source: Midjourney
At first, everything seemed perfectly normal. Bev was on the floor playing with her dolls, a bowl of cut fruit beside her. Cheryl was lounging on the sofa with a cup of tea, leafing through a book.
Then Cheryl looked at her watch.
“Bev, darling, are you ready? Our friend will be here any minute!”
My stomach dropped. The friend was about to be revealed.
“Yes, Grandma! I love her! Do you think she’ll play with my hair again?”
A little girl playing with her toys | Source: Midjourney
She.
Cheryl beamed at my daughter.
“If you ask her, I’m sure she’ll do it, my little love. And you remember, don’t you? What we don’t tell Mommy?”
My daughter’s voice was incredibly sweet.
“Yes. Not a word to Mom.”
I almost dropped my phone on the office tiles.
A smiling elderly woman | Source: Midjourney
Then I heard it, the subtle sound of the doorbell.
Cheryl stood up, smoothing her clothes as she walked to the door.
My hands clenched as she opened the door. I didn’t know what or who I was going to see. But my stomach hurt. At least my trash can was right next to me if I needed it.
And then I saw her.
A smiling woman standing in a doorway | Source: Midjourney
The friend.
Alexa, Jason’s ex-wife, walked into my house. The woman Jason had left years ago. The woman I was told had moved to another state, claiming she needed a fresh start with people she didn’t know.
And Beverly, my daughter , rushed into his arms.
I don’t remember grabbing my keys, or how I got into the car. All I remember is that, in one moment, I went from watching my world crumble on a small screen to speeding home.
A woman driving | Source: Midjourney
I opened the door so hard that it hit the wall.
They were all there. Cheryl, Jason’s ex-wife, and my daughter, sitting together on the couch, like some twisted little family reunion.
Alexa turned to me, surprised.
“Oh. Hello, Martha,” she said. “I didn’t expect you to be home so early.”
A woman sitting on a sofa | Source: Midjourney
She said it casually, as if she belonged here and not mine. As if I were the intruder in their little play session.
“What’s she doing here?” I asked, my voice sounding sharper than I intended.
Beverly looked up, confused.
“Mom, why are you ruining the meeting?” she asked innocently.
A little girl with wide eyes | Source: Midjourney
Union? Reunion? I don’t understand.
Cheryl let out a sigh.
“You’ve always been a little slow on the uptake, Martha,” she said gently.
The conversation that followed blew everything apart.
“What meeting? Or a reunion? What is my child talking about?”
An elderly woman sitting on a sofa | Source: Midjourney
Alexa moved awkwardly.
“Listen, I…” she began.
“Shut up,” I said, and to my surprise, she did.
Cheryl smiled.
“I think it’s time you accepted reality, Martha. You’re not supposed to be here. You were never meant to be here. I think the only good thing that ever came from you was Bev.”
I felt my body go cold.
A shocked woman | Source: Midjourney
Cheryl leaned forward.
“Alexa is the one who was supposed to be with Jason,” she said, gesturing toward the ex. “Not you, Martha. God, you were a mistake. And if… or when, Jason finds out, Beverly should already know where her real family is. Alexa won’t leave her in daycare. She’ll switch to working from home, so she can be with your daughter.”
Alexa didn’t want to meet my gaze. She fiddled with the frills of the pillow she placed on her lap.
“You manipulated my child, Cheryl!” I yelled. “You made her believe I didn’t matter… that she didn’t matter?! That we were both replaceable to each other!”
A woman holding a cushion. | Source: Midjourney
Cheryl raised an eyebrow. “Well, aren’t you?”
Something inside me snapped. And if my child wasn’t sitting in the room, who knows what I would have done.
I turned to Alexa, who still hadn’t spoken.
“And you? You agreed to this? Why? You left Jason! So what do you want exactly?”
She swallowed.
“I just… Cheryl convinced me that Beverly should know me. That maybe if Jason and I…”
A woman with her hand on her head | Source: Midjourney
I took another step.
“If you and Jason what? Got back together?” I spat.
She didn’t answer.
I turned back to Cheryl. “I’m done with you,” I said, my voice steady now, deathly calm. “You’ll never see Beverly again.”
A frustrated woman | Source: Midjourney
Cheryl smiled and tucked her hair behind her ear.
“My son will never allow it.”
I gave him a cold smile.
“Oh, we’ll see.”
I took Beverly in my arms. She didn’t struggle. But she was troubled. And that’s what broke me the most.
Sitting in the car, holding my daughter close, I made a promise.
A smiling elderly woman | Source: Midjourney
No one, absolutely no one, would take my daughter from me.
Not Cheryl. Not Alexa.
What if Jason isn’t on my side when he finds out? Then not even him.
I took Bev out for ice cream and explained the situation to her.
“Mom, what happened? Did I do something wrong?”
The exterior of an ice cream parlor | Source: Midjourney
“Oh, no, honey,” I said, watching her pick at her ice cream. “Grandma did the wrong thing. She lied to you and me. And she was very mean. We won’t see her again.”
“And Aunt Alexa?” she asked.
“We won’t see her anymore either. She hurt Dad a long time ago. And… she’s not a good person. And what do I say about people who aren’t nice?”
“We stay away from them!” she replied, smiling because she remembered.
A smiling little girl | Source: Midjourney
Later, when we got home, neither Cheryl nor Alexa were there. But Jason was.
“Hi, baby,” he said to Bev, who jumped into his arms.
“Jason, we need to talk.”
We sent Bev off to play with her toys while I told her everything, showing the pictures as further proof.
He remained pale and silent for a long time.
“She’ll never see Beverly again. Never . I don’t care.”
A frustrated man | Source: Midjourney
Cheryl tried to call. She tried to defend herself, but I blocked her number.
Some people don’t deserve a second chance.
And some people don’t deserve to be called family.
A woman looking out the window | Source: Midjourney
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This work is inspired by real events and people, but has been fictionalized for creative purposes. Names, characters, and details have been changed to protect privacy and enhance the story. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, or to actual events is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
The author and publisher make no claims regarding the accuracy of events or character portrayals and are not responsible for any misinterpretations. This story is provided “as is,” and the opinions expressed are those of the characters and do not reflect the views of the author or publisher.
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