Chapter 2

"Don't call yet," I stopped him. "If you call 911 now, by the time the ambulance arrives, everyone in the building will think you ignored a dying neighbor at your doorstep."

"Then what do we do? Just let her lie out there?" Ethan whispered.

I smirked, looking at the hidden pinhole camera we had installed right above our peephole.

"Since she loves acting so much, let's give her a bigger stage."

04

The crying and screaming outside grew louder, and Leo's voice was getting hoarse.

The commotion finally drew out the other residents on our floor.

Mrs. Gable, the busybody from across the hall, was the first to open her door. Seeing the scene, she gasped and rushed over to hug Leo.

"Oh my god! What a tragedy! Chloe, Chloe, wake up!"

Mrs. Gable patted Chloe's face, then turned to slam her hand against our door, screaming, "Are the people inside dead?! Can't you hear the child crying?! Get out here and help!"

With Mrs. Gable's screaming, neighbors from upstairs and downstairs started poking their heads out.

Soon, a crowd gathered in front of our door.

Most of them were nosy seniors, but a few of the male neighbors rushed over too.

Looking at our tightly shut door, the crowd grew furious.

"What is wrong with the new family? They are so heartless!"

"Exactly! It's one thing for her to be sharp-tongued normally, but this is a life-or-death situation, and they won't even open the door!"

"Ethan! Be a man and get out here! Hiding inside makes you a coward!"

Someone in the crowd yelled, and immediately after, our door was kicked hard twice.

Under the crowd's shouting, Chloe finally "woke up."

She leaned weakly against Mrs. Gable, panting heavily, tears streaming down her face.

"Don't... don't blame Ethan. It's just my own poor health."

She spoke with a barely audible voice, but her eyes were fixed on our door. "I just heard that Ethan's mother is a doctor, so I figured Ethan might know first aid. That's why I had Leo knock. Maybe they aren't home."

This was textbook manipulation.

She managed to explain why she only knocked on our door, gave us an excuse to save face, and painted herself as a sweet, understanding victim.

As expected, the crowd's anger boiled over.

"Not home? Bullshit! I was just walking downstairs. Their apartment has the brightest lights in the whole building!"

"Break the door down! I want to see how they can look us in the eye!"

Several agitated men began looking around for tools, looking ready to smash their way in.

Ethan stood beside me, his face grim.

He clenched his fists and said coldly, "This is getting out of hand. If they break the door, we'll look guilty. Let me go out and set them straight."

"If you go out, you fall right into her trap," I held him back, my eyes cold.

Chloe wanted us to open the door.

The moment we stepped out, no matter what we said, the angry mob would see it as a heartless excuse.

The banging on our door grew louder, and the metal frame groaned under the pressure.

Leo's crying and the neighbors' cursing woven together like a suffocating net, tightening around our space.

"Let's call the police," Ethan said, his phone in hand.

"No need," I sneered as I looked at the footage on my phone, watching Chloe's pale but secretly smug face.

I opened my Snapchat, found the chat with the property manager, Manager Carter, and sent him the video captured by our pinhole camera, along with several documents I had spent all of yesterday digging up.

"Let them smash it," I pulled Ethan to sit back down on the couch, calmly pouring two glasses of water.

"Just three more minutes. The real climax of this show is about to begin."