A successful real estate agent’s hidden life as a voyeur and blackmailer unravels when a determined journalist uncovers his buried secrets and brings him to justice.

Copyright © Priya Florence Shah

Edward

The man stood before the mirror, adjusting his crisp, tailored suit. His reflection exuded confidence — charismatic, successful, and in control. To everyone else, Edward Parker was a respected real estate agent, a pillar of his suburban community. But behind the pristine exterior, he was something far darker.

Edward stepped out of his house, the cold morning air biting his skin. A fog rolled in over the neatly mowed lawns, and the scent of wet earth filled his nostrils. He took a deep breath, his polished shoes crunching on the gravel driveway. Today would be another ordinary day, another chance to blend into the facade he’d perfected.

But Edward had a secret. One he hid beneath layers of charm and success. His heartbeat quickened as he approached his car. He always felt the rush, a familiar pulse of adrenaline when he thought about what lay buried — literally!

“Good morning, Mr. Parker!” a neighbor waved as she walked her dog. Edward flashed her a smile, nodding politely.

“Morning, Linda! Lovely day, isn’t it?”

But his mind was elsewhere. The USB drives. The drives were buried deep in the woods and some scattered beneath his backyard. Each drive contained videos, recordings he had secretly captured — moments of vulnerability, of people in their private worlds, unaware that Edward had been watching. And worse, recording.

He never considered himself a monster. He simply saw opportunities — moments that could be leveraged.

Today, however, something felt different.

He unlocked his car and slid into the leather seat, but before he could start the engine, his phone buzzed. A text. He glanced down.

You’re not as clever as you think. Meet me in the woods. Now.

His stomach dropped. He could feel the blood draining from his face. His hands trembled slightly as he read the message again. Who knew? How could anyone know?

He forced himself to breathe. Slow. Steady. He scanned the street, searching for any sign of a threat. Everything looked normal—too normal. No one had ever come close to suspecting him. Not his wife, not his friends, not his clients. But now, someone knew.

Edward drove in silence, his fingers tapping against the steering wheel. As he neared the woods, the tall trees seemed to loom over him, their bare branches like twisted arms reaching toward the sky. The air was dense with the scent of pine and decay. Birds chirped above, their calls sharp against the stillness.

He parked his car and stepped out, his shoes sinking into the damp earth. The woods were eerily quiet, save for the rustle of leaves underfoot. His breath formed small clouds in the cold air as he approached the designated meeting spot — a large oak tree deep within the forest, where he had buried one of his earliest “collections.”

“Who’s there?” he called out, his voice sharper than he intended. Silence.

Then, a figure emerged from the trees. Tall, with a hood pulled low over their face.

“You’re late, Edward.” The voice was calm, chillingly so. It was a woman’s voice, steady and unafraid. She stepped closer, revealing her face — dark eyes full of something more than anger. It was disgust.

“You don’t know who you’re dealing with,” Edward sneered, masking his panic with aggression.

“Don’t I?” She raised her hand, holding a familiar USB drive. One of his drives. The cold metal glinted in the pale light that filtered through the trees.

Edward’s pulse quickened. “Where did you get that?”

Her lips curled into a tight smile. “I know everything, Edward. The files you hide… the lives you ruin. You thought burying them would make them disappear?”

He took a step closer, his voice low and dangerous. “What do you want?”

“Justice,” she replied. “For every one you’ve hurt. You thought you had the power, but now… now you answer to me.”

Edward’s breath caught in his throat. His mind raced. He had always been in control, always the one pulling the strings. Now, he was the one being played.

“You have no idea what you’re getting into,” he hissed, trying to regain his composure.

The woman laughed softly, a bitter, hollow sound. “I’m not afraid of you. The police are on their way. Your perfect little life? It’s over.”

For a moment, the world seemed to tilt. The cold wind cut through his suit, and the weight of his hidden crimes pressed down on him. He had always thought he was untouchable, that his meticulous planning would keep him safe. But now, standing there in the woods, the smell of damp earth filling his nose, he realized his empire of lies was crumbling.

“You’ll regret this,” he whispered, his voice trembling.

“Maybe. But I’m not the one who’s been living in fear, am I?”

As sirens wailed faintly in the distance, growing louder by the second, Edward felt something he hadn’t felt in years—powerlessness. He glanced at the USB drive in her hand, the one piece of evidence that could shatter everything.

“Who are you?” he finally asked, his voice low, defeated.

“Ava Green,” she said, her eyes hardening. “You remember Sarah? My sister?”

It hit him like a punch to the gut. Sarah. His mind reeled back to the night he had filmed her, how easy it had been to send the email, to get her under his control. But now, it all made sense.

Ava took a step closer. “You’ve ruined more lives than you know, Edward. Do you think this is about you and my sister? I’ve found others. Victims you never thought would speak up. I’ve been tracking you for months, and you’re not as clever as you think.”

Edward swallowed hard, panic rising. “What do you want? Money? I’ll give you anything—”

“I don’t want your money,” Ava interrupted, her voice sharp. “I want you to face what you’ve done. I’ve got everything I need—those drives, emails, recordings. I’ve already given it all to the police. They’re on their way, Edward.”

The weight of her words sank in. His heart pounded in his chest, a frantic rhythm as the walls closed in around him.

“You followed me,” he muttered, realization dawning. “The woods… you—”

“Watched. Just like you did,” she said coldly. “I found your little treasure buried here. It’s over.”

As the sirens grew closer, Ava stepped back, her figure melting into the shadows. “See you in court, Edward.”

And with that, she was gone.

He stood frozen, the sound of the sirens louder now, unmistakable. Edward had always been the one watching, the one pulling the strings. But now, the tables had turned. His secrets were out in the open, and there was no place left to hide.

He looked down at his hands, trembling as he clutched the air where the USB drive had been, feeling for the first time the cold grip of defeat. The world he had built was crashing down around him, and the only thing left was the sound of approaching police cars, ready to take it all away.

Ava

Her name was Ava Green, and she had been watching Edward for months. A tech-savvy journalist with a passion for exposing the corrupt, Ava had crossed paths with Edward through an unexpected connection: her younger sister, Sarah.

Sarah had been one of Edward’s victims.

It started innocently enough. Sarah had worked as a part-time real estate agent at Edward’s firm, admiring his charisma and success. He had taken her under his wing, mentoring her and even inviting her to exclusive parties.

But one night, after a few drinks at a company gathering, Sarah confided to Ava that she felt uneasy. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but Edward had an unsettling way of always being around, always knowing more than he should about her personal life.

Ava’s journalistic instincts kicked in. She started looking into Edward’s background and found nothing unusual — he was clean, almost too clean. But that’s when Sarah dropped a bombshell.

“I got this weird email last night,” Sarah told Ava, her voice shaking over the phone. “It had a video attached… of me. In my apartment. Alone.”

Sarah had been recorded without her knowledge. The email contained a threat: keep quiet, or the video would go public. The message was anonymous, but Ava knew exactly who was behind it.

This wasn’t just a one-off attack on Sarah’s privacy. As Ava dug deeper, she uncovered more victims. She traced back stories of people Edward had crossed paths with, some former employees, others clients.

One thing was clear — Edward was far from the golden boy everyone thought he was. He was a predator, someone who meticulously planned his voyeuristic schemes, recording people in their most vulnerable moments, and using the footage to blackmail them.

Ava’s investigation began with the small details. She hacked into email chains, traced IP addresses, and used her contacts in cybersecurity to uncover encrypted messages Edward had used to contact his victims.

Her sister’s email had been sent from a temporary account linked to an anonymous VPN, but Ava was able to connect the dots. She found one slip-up — Edward had forgotten to erase some metadata from one of his emails, linking him to a physical address.

Armed with this evidence, Ava surveilled Edward. She followed his meticulous routine, learning his habits, where he went, and, most importantly, where he hid things. One night, she followed him into the woods, carefully staying out of sight as he buried a small metal box.

The next morning, after Edward left for work, Ava returned to the woods and dug it up. Inside were USB drives — dozens of them — each meticulously labeled with dates and locations. It was a treasure trove of his illegal recordings.

But Ava didn’t go to the police right away. She needed to be sure that Edward couldn’t wiggle his way out of it. She watched every drive, horrified by what she saw but knowing it was necessary to build a solid case.

There were recordings from hidden cameras in hotel rooms, bathrooms, changing rooms — each video more invasive than the last. Each video told the same story: Edward recorded people without their consent and later used the footage to control them.

Once she had everything she needed, Ava began contacting Edward’s victims, including Sarah. Together, they planned how to bring him down.

Ava confronted Edward in the woods because she knew he couldn’t resist meeting someone who claimed to have “information” about him. She knew he would come alone, thinking he could threaten or manipulate her like his other victims. What he didn’t know was that she had already handed the evidence over to the authorities.

The text she sent was bait. And Edward had taken it.

The meeting was a psychological play, meant to give Edward one final chance to face what he had done before his life unraveled. Ava wanted him to see that his power over others was crumbling, that no matter how much he buried his sins, they would always come back to haunt him.

And now, with the police on their way, Ava had orchestrated his downfall with precision.

As the sirens grew louder, Ava lingered for a moment longer in the woods, watching Edward’s face as realization finally dawned. He wasn’t the predator anymore; he was prey, ensnared by his arrogance and greed.