Chapter 1
My mother-in-law picked up a heavy ceramic vase and hurled it at my head on the day we moved into our new house.
I ducked just in time, shoved her out of the room, and locked the door—then I heard it. A faint electronic buzzing coming from inside the shattered vase.
The moving trucks were still outside, boxes everywhere.
My husband Mark was downstairs directing the movers.
I was in the master bedroom, unpacking some of our things.
My mother-in-law Evelyn walked in uninvited, carrying a large, expensive-looking vase.
"Housewarming gift," she said, but her eyes were cold.
"Thank you, Evelyn," I said politely, reaching for it. "I'll find a place for it."
She pulled it away from me.
"No," she said, stepping closer. "I'll put it where it belongs."
She walked toward the nightstand beside my bed.
But she didn't set it down gently.
She turned around.
And she threw it.
Right at my face.
I reacted on instinct.
I ducked.
The vase sailed over my head.
It shattered against the wall behind me with a deafening crash.
Shards of ceramic flew everywhere.
Water and flower petals scattered across the carpet.
I stared at her in shock.
She stood there breathing heavily, a look of pure hatred on her face.
"Stay out of my son's life," she hissed. "You'll never be good enough for him. You'll never be part of this family."
Something inside me snapped.
I stood up.
I walked toward her.
She backed away, suddenly looking uncertain.
I didn't yell. I didn't hit her.
I just grabbed her arm firmly, marched her to the door, and pushed her out into the hallway.
I locked the door behind her.
I leaned against it, my heart pounding.
I could hear her screaming and pounding on the other side.
But I ignored her.
I needed to breathe.
I looked at the mess on the floor.
The broken vase. The ruined flowers. The water soaking into our new carpet.
I sighed and knelt down to start cleaning it up.
That was when I heard it.
A faint sound.
Electronic.
Buzzing.
Coming from the wreckage.
I frowned, moving closer.
I carefully moved aside some of the larger ceramic shards.
And there it was.
Taped to the inside of the vase.
Small. Black.
A listening device.
A bug.
My blood ran cold.
She hadn't just brought a housewarming gift.
She had brought a way to spy on me.
On us.
In our own bedroom.
I picked it up carefully.
It was still transmitting.
Still buzzing.
Which meant...
She was listening right now.
I looked at the locked door.
I thought about all the things she might have heard already.
All the private conversations between me and my husband.
All the things we'd said about her.
And then I thought of something worse.
How many other vases had she given us over the years?
How many other rooms were bugged?
I stood up, the bug still in my hand.
I walked to the door.
I unlocked it.
Evelyn was standing there, her hand raised to pound again.
She looked at me, then at the device in my hand.
Her face went white.
"What is that?" she asked, trying to sound innocent.
I didn't answer.
I just held it up so she could see it clearly.
And then I smiled.
Because I had an idea.
"Mark!" I called out, loud enough for him to hear from downstairs. "Can you come up here please? Your mother has something she wants to show you."
Evelyn's eyes went wide with terror.
She tried to grab the bug from my hand.
I stepped back.
Footsteps on the stairs.
Mark was coming.
Evelyn panicked.
She reached into her purse and pulled out something.
A small remote control.
She pressed a button.
And from somewhere else in the house...
We heard it.
A series of beeps.
Coming from multiple rooms.
One after another.
Like a chain reaction.
I stared at her.
She hadn't just bugged one vase.
May you like
She had bugged the entire house.
---
