Ben dropped his toy car and looked up at me with those big, serious eyes of his. “Kate,” he said, “there’s something you need to see.”

I tried to smile. “What’s up, Ben?”

He glanced around as if someone might be listening. “It’s in the basement. You gotta come now.”

My stomach twisted. Robert had been clear: “Stay out of the basement.” He said it with a look that dared me to defy him.

I knelt down. “Ben, you know your dad said we can’t go down there. It’s off-limits.”

Ben’s face darkened. “Dad’s not here. Just come. Please.”

His urgency shook me. “Alright, but we have to be quick.”

We tiptoed to the basement door. My heart pounded as I turned the knob. It was dark and cold down there, and I could smell something musty.

Ben flipped on the light. “Hurry.”

I followed him, and what I saw made my blood run cold. The walls were plastered with photos of Linda. Hundreds of them. Linda at the grocery store, Linda reading a book, Linda asleep.

“What the…?” I whispered.

Ben tugged my sleeve. “I told you it was important.”

I grabbed my phone and dialed Linda. She picked up on the third ring. “Linda, you need to come home. Now.”

Her voice wavered. “What’s wrong, Kate?”

“Just come. It’s about Robert.”

Linda arrived twenty minutes later, her face pale and drawn. She stepped into the basement and gasped, one hand flying to her mouth.

“Oh my God…” she whispered, tears filling her eyes. “He’s been… watching me?”

I nodded. “We need to get out of here. This isn’t safe.”

Linda’s hands shook as she looked around. “How could he do this? How could I not see?”

I put a hand on her shoulder. “We’ll figure it out. But first, we need to leave.”

She nodded, still in shock. “Yes, we need to go. Ben, pack a bag. We’re leaving.”

Ben didn’t argue. He ran upstairs, and I helped Linda gather a few essentials. My mind raced, trying to make sense of what we had seen.

As we left the house, I couldn’t shake the feeling that Robert’s obsession ran deeper than we knew. But for now, getting Linda and Ben to the safety of her family was all that mattered.

Linda called me the next day, her voice quivering with determination. “Kate, I need your help. We have to document this.”

“Of course,” I replied. “What’s the plan?”

“We need proof of his behavior. I want to confront him, but we need to be smart about it.”

The next few days were a blur of covert operations. Linda followed Robert, documenting his every move. She was methodical, capturing every interaction and movement without his knowledge.

Linda sighed. “I don’t know. But we need to find out.”

“Be careful,” I warned. “We don’t know how far he’ll go.”

Linda nodded. “I know. But I can’t live like this anymore.”

That night, we hatched a plan to replace the photos in the basement with new ones, photos of Robert, taken without his knowledge. It was risky, but it felt like the only way to make him understand the gravity of his actions.

We worked in silence, the tension palpable. As we plastered the walls with the new photos, I couldn’t help but feel a growing sense of unease. What if this pushed him over the edge?