When Martha’s mother-in-law insists on babysitting her daughter every Wednesday, she thinks it’s a harmless favor, until Bev starts acting strangely. Desperate for answers, Martha sets up a hidden camera… and what she discovers shatters her world. The lies, manipulation, and betrayal run deeper than she ever imagined.
I wish I could say I was exaggerating. That I’d let paranoia take over, that my suspicions were nothing more than a byproduct 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 disgruntled 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.
Look, I already feel pretty guilty, and it wasn’t my choice, but it worked out. She was happy, we were happy, and life went on.
“Bev’s going to be okay, honey,” Jason said one morning as we were preparing her lunch.
Lunchboxes | Source: Midjourney
“I know, and she’s thriving. She’s making friends and having fun. But… I don’t want her to think that 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 with me on Wednesdays?” she suggested during dinner, while cutting her chicken. “It would give her a break from daycare and allow us to have some bonding time between grandmother and granddaughter. She’ll be fine.”
A plate of food on a table | Source: Midjourney
I hesitated.
“We can do it here so she feels comfortable too,” Cheryl continued. “I mean, I can also take Bev to the park or for ice cream. But we’ll be home most of the time. Okay?”
Cheryl and I had never been particularly close. There was always a subtle disapproval in the way she spoke to me, a silent undercurrent of something unspoken.
But this seemed… innocent. It seemed like a kind gesture. Like a grandmother who just wanted to spend time with her granddaughter. Besides, it would save us some money on daycare.
A woman sitting at a table | Source: Midjourney
And to be honest, part of me was thrilled. It meant my daughter could be with the family.
So I accepted.
At first, everything seemed to be going well.
But then, Beverly began to change before my eyes.
At first they were small things.
A child sitting on a staircase | Source: Midjourney
“Today I just want to eat with Dad, Grandma, and her friend,” she said one night, pushing aside the dinner I had prepared.
My daughter gave me a reserved smile as she took a sip of her juice.
“Who’s Grandma’s friend, honey?” I frowned.
I assumed she was referring to a new friend from daycare. Until she started saying it more often. Until she started distancing herself from me.
A girl with juice in her hand | Source: Midjourney
And then, one night, as I was tucking her in, she whispered something that made my stomach clench.
“Mom,” she asked, clutching her stuffed unicorn, “why don’t you like our friend?”
I felt a pang of unease.
“Who told you that?” I asked.
Bev hesitated, biting her lower lip.
Then, in a voice that was too rehearsed for a four-year-old girl, she opened her mouth.
A little girl tucked into her bed | Source: Midjourney
“Our friend is part of the family, Mom. You just don’t see it yet.”
My hands gripped the sheets. Something was happening, and I couldn’t understand it. It was something I couldn’t see… yet.
So I decided to ask Cheryl the next time I saw her. She came over Saturday morning for breakfast with us. Jason and Bev were in the kitchen, making the last of the pancakes.
A stack of pancakes with syrup | Source: Midjourney
“Has Beverly made any new friends lately? At daycare, at the park, or something? She keeps 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 instinct told me I was lying.
A woman with a cup of coffee in her hand | Source: Midjourney
Call it intuition, call it a mother’s instinct, but something wasn’t right.
That night I made a decision I never thought I would make.
I installed a hidden camera in the living room. I had an original one from when Beverly was a baby and we had a night nanny. It was when Jason worked the night shift and I 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 repulsed by doing it, but I had to know what was happening.
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.
At lunchtime, my hands were trembling 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, with a bowl of cut fruit beside her. Cheryl was lying on the sofa with a cup of tea, leafing through a book.
Then Cheryl checked her watch.
“Bev, honey, are you ready? Our friend will be here any minute.”
My stomach dropped. My friend was about to rebel.
“Yes, Grandma! I love it! Do you think he’ll ever play with my hair again?”
A girl playing with her toys | Source: Midjourney
With her.
Cheryl smiled at my daughter.
“If you ask him, he’ll surely do it, sweetheart. And you remember, right? The things we don’t tell Mom?”
My daughter’s voice was impossibly sweet.
“Yes. Not a word to Mom.”
I almost dropped the phone on the office tiles.
A smiling older woman | Source: Midjourney
Then I heard it, the subtle ringing of the doorbell.
Cheryl stood up, smoothing down her clothes as she headed for the door.
My hands clenched when she opened it. I didn’t know what I was going to see or who I was going to see. But my stomach churned. At least there was a trash can nearby if needed.
And then, I saw her.
A smiling woman standing in a doorway | Source: Midjourney
To my 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 , ran straight into his arms.
I don’t remember grabbing the keys. I don’t remember getting in the car. All I know is that one minute I was watching my world crumble on the small screen, and the next, I was 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 sofa, like at some twisted family reunion.
Alexa turned towards me, startled.
“Hello, Martha,” he said. “I wasn’t expecting you home so soon.”
A woman sitting on a sofa | Source: Midjourney
She said it casually, as if she belonged here and I didn’t. As if I were the intruder at her little playdate.
“What the hell is she doing here?” I asked, my voice higher than I intended.
Beverly looked up, confused.
“Mom, why are you ruining the meeting?” she asked innocently.
A girl with wide-open eyes | Source: Midjourney
Meeting? I didn’t understand.
Cheryl let out a sigh, sitting down as if all of this was tedious to her.
“You were always a little slow on the uptake, Martha,” he said gently.
The conversation that followed ruined everything.
“What union? Or meeting? What is my daughter talking about?”
An elderly woman sitting on a sofa | Source: Midjourney
Alexa shifted uncomfortably.
“Look, I…”, he began.
“Shut up,” I snapped, and to my surprise, he did.
Cheryl smiled with satisfaction.
“I think it’s time you faced reality, Martha. You shouldn’t be here. In fact, you should never have been here. I think the only good thing that’s come out of you is Bev.”
I felt my body go cold.
A woman in shock | Source: Midjourney
Cheryl leaned forward.
“Alexa is the one who should be with Jason,” she said, pointing at her ex. “Not you, Martha. My God, you were a mistake. And if—or when—Jason realizes this, Beverly should already know where her real family is. Alexa won’t leave her in daycare. She’ll be working from home so she can be with your daughter.”
Alexa didn’t look me in the eye. She fiddled with the ruffles of the cushion on her lap.
“You manipulated my daughter, Cheryl!” I yelled. “You made her believe that I didn’t matter… that she didn’t matter! That we were both replaceable!”
A woman holding a cushion | Source: Midjourney
Cheryl raised an eyebrow. “Aren’t you?”
Something inside me exploded. And if my daughter hadn’t been sitting in the room, who knows what I would have done.
I turned to Alexa, who hadn’t spoken yet.
“And you? Did you go along with it? Why? You dumped Jason! What the hell do you want?”
She swallowed.
“I just… Cheryl convinced me that Beverly should meet me. That maybe if Jason and I…”
A woman with her hand on her head | Source: Midjourney
I took another step closer.
“So what if you and Jason got back together?” I snapped.
He didn’t answer.
I turned to Cheryl. “I’ve had enough of you,” I said, my voice firm 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, hard smile.
“Oh, we’ll see.”
I picked Beverly up. She didn’t resist. But she was confused. And that broke my heart more than anything else.
Sitting in the car, hugging my daughter, I made a promise.
A smiling older woman | Source: Midjourney
Nobody, absolutely nobody, was going to take my daughter away from me.
Neither Cheryl. Nor Alexa.
What if Jason wasn’t on my side when he found 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 shop | Source: Midjourney
“Oh no, honey,” I said, watching her nibble at her ice cream. “Gran did something bad. She lied to you and she lied to me. And she was very mean. We won’t see her again.”
“And Aunt Alexa?” he asked.
“We’re not going to see her either. She hurt Dad a long time ago. And… she’s not a good person. And what can I say about people who aren’t kind?”
“We moved away from them!” she said, smiling because she remembered.
A smiling girl | Source: Midjourney
Later, when we got home, neither Cheryl nor Alexa were there. But Jason was.
“Hi, honey,” 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. I showed her the pictures as further proof.
He remained pale and silent for a long time.
“I’ll never see Beverly again. Never . I don’t care who she is.”
A disgruntled man | Source: Midjourney
Cheryl tried to call. She tried to defend herself. I blocked her number.
Some people don’t deserve second chances.
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 narrative. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual events is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
The author and publisher do not guarantee 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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