Someone was lying next to Emily.
For a moment, I couldn’t breathe as I stared at the camera screen. Then I realized it was my mother-in-law, quietly lying beside my daughter under the blanket.
Immediately, I remembered our argument a few months earlier. She had insisted that Emily shouldn’t sleep alone, calling me a bad mother and saying children need constant presence at night. I had firmly disagreed and insisted Emily sleep in her own room. She was deeply offended.
Now I understood the truth.
After everyone went to sleep, she would go into Emily’s room and lie beside her until morning, believing she was protecting her. Instead, she was the reason my daughter felt uncomfortable and afraid.
The next morning, I confronted her. I didn’t remove the camera—and I made it clear she would no longer interfere in my daughter’s upbringing.