Chapter 2 - A MARRIAGE UNDER SIEGE
Nathan carried Vanessa into the library and ordered everyone out except the family doctor.
Claire remained in the ballroom, surrounded by people who avoided her eyes.
Three months earlier, she and Nathan had been discussing a nursery of their own. They had been married for seven years. Their relationship was not perfect, but it had survived long workdays, Nathan’s demanding family, and two painful miscarriages that neither of them knew how to grieve.
Then Vanessa returned.
She was Nathan’s former girlfriend, the daughter of a once-powerful real estate developer. She claimed she and Nathan had spent one drunken night together after a charity auction. Nathan admitted the night but insisted he remembered almost nothing.
Two weeks later, Vanessa announced she was pregnant.
“I made a mistake,” Nathan had told Claire. “But the child is innocent.”
Claire had wanted DNA testing.
Vanessa refused, saying prenatal testing was dangerous. Nathan accepted that answer because guilt was easier than doubt.
Now Claire watched Ethan slip the silver pin into his pocket.
“What did you find?” she asked quietly.
“Not here.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Is it about Vanessa?”
Before he could answer, the library door opened.
Doctor Paul Mercer stepped out with Nathan behind him.
“She needs rest,” Mercer announced. “Stress could harm the baby.”
Nathan pointed at Claire. “You should leave.”
“This is my home.”
“Not tonight.”
The insult landed harder than a slap.
Claire picked up her purse, but Ethan touched her elbow.
“Take the east driveway,” he murmured. “Do not use your regular car.”
She studied his face. “Why?”
“Because someone disabled the brake sensor on it twenty minutes ago.”
Claire went still.
Ethan looked toward the security balcony above the ballroom.
The camera covering the garage hallway had been turned toward the wall.
Someone inside the mansion was no longer satisfied with destroying Claire’s marriage.
May you like
They were preparing to remove her completely.
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