Chapter 3 - Moonbeam

I told Sophie to stay in the office and called our security chief, Owen.

"Lock the property down. Nobody leaves."

"Mr. Mercer, Mrs. Mercer just asked me to open the east gate."

"Don't."

Silence.

"Understood."

I crossed the terrace at a run.

The pool house looked empty through the glass doors. Inside, a towel lay on the floor. A coffee cup sat beside the sink.

Warm.

"Claire?"

Nothing.

I searched the bedroom, bathroom, storage closet. No one.

Then I saw the old toy chest shoved away from the wall.

Behind it was a loose vent cover.

Inside the vent sat a plastic bag containing a child's drawing, a cheap prepaid phone, and a folded note.

My hands shook before I even opened it.

Ethan,

If you find this, I'm sorry. I wanted to come home a hundred times. I was told Sophie would disappear if I tried. Vanessa knows I've been coming back. She knows I have proof. Do not confront her alone.

Claire.

I read it twice.

Then a shadow moved across the patio.

I spun around.

Vanessa stood outside.

"Find what you were looking for?" she asked.

I slid the note into my pocket.

"You tell me."

She opened the door and stepped inside.

"Ethan, I know this looks strange."

"My dead wife left a note in my pool house. Strange doesn't cover it."

Her eyes flicked toward the vent.

That was enough.

"You knew," I said.

"I knew Claire was unstable."

"She's alive."

"Apparently."

"You told my daughter her mother was alive. Then you threatened her."

"Sophie misunderstood."

"And the bruises?"

Vanessa's jaw tightened.

"I have never hurt that child."

The prepaid phone vibrated inside the plastic bag.

Both of us looked at it.

I pulled it out.

One new message.

UNKNOWN NUMBER: HE'S COMING. GET SOPHIE OUT NOW.

Vanessa read it over my shoulder.

For the first time that day, she looked genuinely afraid.

"Ethan," she whispered, "you need to listen to me."

May you like

She Tried to Kill a Disabled Woman at a Billionaire’s Pool Party—But One...

She had already lost her leg. Now, they were trying to take her life.At a luxury mansion filled with millionaires, a terrified you...

THEY DECLARED HER DEAD—THEN ORDERED HER CREMATED WHILE SHE WAS STILL ALI...

They were about to burn her alive.Her death certificate had already been signed. Her body was scheduled for immediate cremation. A...

She Pushed a Pregnant Woman in a Wheelchair Into the Pool—Then Her Husba...

She was pregnant. She was in a wheelchair. And the woman standing behind her was smiling.Seconds later, one brutal shove sent her...

I turned the prepaid phone over in my hand. There were scratches along the back and a strip of faded blue tape over the battery cover. Claire used to mark important things with blue painter's tape because she could never find anything in a drawer. Six years vanished in that tiny habit. I knew the phone was hers before I ever opened it.

A black SUV turned through the east gate.