She Was the Treasure All Along novel Chapter 196

The boy didn’t understand what he’d just triggered. “I saw the site open on Dad’s computer and clicked because I was curious. Mom and Dad are still at work, but it hurts really bad down there.”

He couldn’t read every word yet, but he recognized the big ones—‘doctor’, ‘help’, ‘treatment.’ He’d seen the stream’s “consultation” tag and wandered in.

Loyce reacted instantly. She used a sticker effect to blur his face, then said gently, “Kids deserve privacy. We’re going to talk one-on-one.”

The comments flooded in immediately.

[Don’t end the stream! We won’t screenshot!]

[What’s wrong with him?!]

[This is weird. Why is he home alone? No parents? Please don’t let it be what I think it is…]

Loyce didn’t indulge them. She shut off the public camera feed and switched to a private connection. On the main page, a notice appeared: Host temporarily away.

Even with the screen dark, the viewer count kept climbing, until it smashed past ten thousand.

Loyce added the boy’s account and opened a private video window. “Are your parents both at work? Is anyone else home with you?”

He shook his head. “I felt sick today, so Dad told my school I’d be out. I’m alone.”

“What’s your name, sweetheart?”

“Do you know your home address?”

He shook his head again. He didn’t know the street name.

“Okay,” Loyce said. “Wait right there.”

She grabbed the work laptop off to the side. The movement let Keaton see her face clearly for the first time. He gasped. “You’re really pretty.”

Loyce smiled at him, keeping him calm while her hands flew across the keyboard. She broke into the father’s account through a hacking tool, traced the signal, and locked onto the home location.

Then she called the police. After giving them the address, she added, “The injuries look recent. There may still be biological evidence. You need to get him to a hospital within two hours for forensic testing, and he needs a psychologist involved from the start.”