Chapter 14 - The Baby
Ethan turned toward Claire.
For one terrible second, she saw doubt in his eyes.
Victoria laughed through the phone. “There it is. That look. Men in this family are so easy.”
Claire’s hand tightened around the phone. “What are you talking about?”
“You know exactly what I’m talking about.”
“No. I don’t.”
Victoria’s voice became sweet. “Ask your wife when she had the first ultrasound.”
Ethan frowned. “At eight weeks.”
“Wrong.”
Claire felt the trap close.
Her first ultrasound had been at six weeks—two weeks before she told Ethan she was pregnant. She had gone alone because she had experienced cramping and feared she was losing the baby.
She had never told him because the scan had been normal and she didn’t want to frighten him.
Victoria knew because she had seen Claire leaving the clinic.
“That’s your secret?” Claire asked.
“No. The secret is the lab work you ordered the same day.”
Claire froze.
Ethan looked at her.
Claire had ordered a prenatal genetic screen because her mother had carried a rare inherited condition. That was all.
Victoria continued. “You tested paternity.”
“That is a lie.”
“Is it?”
Ethan’s expression hardened, but not at Claire. “Victoria, this is pathetic.”
Claire looked at him.
He stepped closer and took the phone from her.
“You spent three years weaponizing secrets. You’re not doing it again.”
For the first time that night, Claire wanted to cry from relief.
Victoria’s tone changed. “Then listen carefully. The drive has copies. I have originals somewhere else. If the police keep coming, everything goes public.”
Ortiz mouthed, Keep her talking.
Ethan said, “Everything is already going public.”
“No. Not everything.”
“What are you protecting now?”
A pause.
Then Victoria said, “Mother’s second will.”
Charles, pale from blood loss, whispered, “There was no second will.”
Victoria laughed. “That’s what you thought.”
She ended the call.
Thomas sat forward. “Margaret changed the trust?”
Charles shook his head.
Lily, quiet until then, tugged Claire’s sleeve.
“Grandma had two music boxes.”
Everyone turned.
“What?” Claire asked.
“One white house. One little red piano.”
Charles’s eyes widened.
“The piano,” he whispered.
Ethan stared at him. “Where is it?”
May you like
Charles swallowed.
“I gave it to Victoria after your mother died.”
