I secretly installed 26 cameras just to catch our nanny being lazy… but at exactly 3:00 a.m., what appeared on the screen froze my blood—and in that moment, I realized there was a terrifying secret hidden inside my own home… a secret I had never imagined could exist.

A cold and unexpected fear slowly crawled through me.

“Everything okay up there?” my wife Claire called from downstairs. Her voice sounded cheerful, blending with the soft jazz music playing in the kitchen.

“Almost ready!” I answered.

But even I could hear my own voice.

It sounded hollow.

I walked toward Lily’s room. My shoes felt like they were made of lead as I moved across the carpeted hallway.

I knocked twice.

—“Lily-bug? It’s Dad.”

No answer.