Chapter 4 - The Woman Who Knew Too Much
Ethan stared at the name on the screen.
Lauren.
For several seconds, he forgot how to breathe.
The phone was still in his hand.
The call had already ended.
But the voice remained.
That voice.
The fear in it.
The way she had said Emma’s name.
The way she had said their baby.
It didn't sound like the Lauren he knew.
It sounded like someone who was terrified.
"Who was it?"
Emma's voice pulled him back.
He looked up.
She was watching him carefully.
Not with jealousy.
Not with anger.
With fear.
And that was the part that scared him most.
Because Emma was not afraid of losing him anymore.
She was afraid of something else.
Something bigger.
"Ethan."
He slowly lowered the phone.
"It was Lauren."
Emma's expression changed.
Only slightly.
But he saw it.
She already knew.
"You knew."
It wasn't a question.
Emma looked away.
"I suspected."
"How?"
She didn't answer.
"Emma, how did you know?"
She placed both hands around her coffee cup.
Her fingers were shaking.
"Because she contacted me before you left."
Ethan froze.
"What?"
Emma looked at him.
"She called me."
The room became silent.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
Emma gave him a tired smile.
"Would you have believed me?"
That question hurt because he already knew the answer.
Three weeks ago, he would not have.
He would have defended Lauren.
He would have said Emma was being insecure.
He would have accused his wife of trying to destroy something.
The realization made him sick.
"What did she say?"
Emma looked down.
"She told me you were going to leave."
Ethan swallowed.
"She knew?"
"Yes."
"When?"
"A month before you admitted anything."
His heart dropped.
A month.
Lauren knew.
Maybe longer.
"And what else?"
Emma hesitated.
That hesitation told him there was more.
"Emma."
She reached into her bag and pulled out another envelope.
"I didn't want to show you this."
Ethan looked at it.
"Why?"
"Because I was hoping I was wrong."
She pushed it toward him.
He opened it slowly.
Inside was a printed message.
From Lauren.
But it wasn't sent to him.
It was sent to someone else.
Ethan read the first line.
I don't know how much longer I can keep pretending.
His eyes moved down.
I thought he would leave her after I told him about the pregnancy.
But he still went home.
He still slept beside her.
He still acted like he loved her.
Ethan stopped reading.
His face changed.
"What is this?"
Emma didn't answer.
He kept reading.
I thought having his attention was enough.
But now she knows.
And if she finds out what happened that night, everything will fall apart.
Ethan's hand tightened around the paper.
"What night?"
Emma looked at him.
"I was hoping you could tell me."
He looked back at the message.
The words blurred.
"What happened that night?"
Emma's expression hardened.
"The night I went to the hospital."
Ethan remembered.
Of course he remembered.
That was the night Emma had called him crying.
She said she had sharp pain.
She said she was scared.
He remembered looking at his phone.
Remembered seeing her name.
Remembered silencing the call.
Because Lauren was sitting across from him.
Because he told himself he would call Emma back.
He never did.
"Emma..."
Her eyes filled.
Not with tears.
With disappointment.
"You told me you were working."
"I was..."
He stopped.
Because it was a lie.
"You were with her."
He looked away.
"Yes."
The admission sounded small.
Pathetic.
Like it belonged to someone else.
Emma nodded slowly.
"That night changed everything."
"What happened?"
She looked at the window.
"When I got to the hospital, there was already someone there."
"Who?"
"I don't know."
Ethan frowned.
"What do you mean you don't know?"
"I mean she knew things she shouldn't have known."
"What things?"
Emma took a breath.
"She knew your name."
His stomach tightened.
"She knew my name?"
"Yes."
"How?"
"I don't know."
The answer was becoming a pattern.
A terrifying pattern.
Someone knew.
Someone had been watching.
Someone had information about their lives that even Ethan didn't understand.
"Did she say anything?"
Emma looked at him.
"She told me something before I gave birth."
"What?"
Emma's voice became quieter.
"She said, 'Your husband doesn't know what he is involved in.'"
Ethan stared at her.
"Who was she?"
"I never found out."
"Did you see her face?"
Emma nodded.
"Yes."
"Can you describe her?"
Emma looked uncomfortable.
"That's the problem."
"What?"
"I have seen her before."
The words made the air disappear.
"Where?"
Emma looked at him.
"At our wedding."
Ethan went completely still.
"What?"
"I saw her in one of our wedding photos."
He shook his head.
"No."
"Yes."
"Emma, that's impossible."
"Is it?"
She opened her phone.
Scrolled through several pictures.
Then stopped.
She turned the screen toward him.
Their wedding.
Six years ago.
Everyone was smiling.
Their families.
Their friends.
People they loved.
Ethan looked carefully.
Then Emma zoomed in.
Behind the guests.
Near the entrance.
A woman stood alone.
Watching.
His blood turned cold.
Because he recognized her.
Not from the wedding.
From somewhere else.
"That's..."
He couldn't finish.
Emma watched him.
"You know her."
"No."
But his voice betrayed him.
Because he did know her.
Not personally.
But he had seen her.
Years ago.
In an old photograph.
One he had forgotten.
"Who is she?"
Ethan stared at the screen.
"I don't know."
Emma's eyes narrowed.
"You just said you recognized her."
He closed his eyes.
Because the memory had already returned.
A photograph.
His father's old office.
A woman standing beside his father.
A woman his father called a family friend.
A woman who disappeared after his father died.
"No."
Emma leaned forward.
"Ethan."
He looked at her.
"Her name is Sarah."
Emma froze.
"You know her?"
"I knew of her."
"What does that mean?"
Ethan looked at the photograph again.
"It means she was connected to my family."
The silence that followed was heavy.
"Why would someone connected to your family be at our wedding?"
He didn't answer.
Because he had no idea.
His phone vibrated again.
Both of them looked down.
Another unknown number.
This time there was a video.
Ethan hesitated.
Emma whispered:
"Don't open it."
But he did.
The screen loaded.
A woman appeared.
Sarah.
Older than the photograph.
Her face pale.
Her eyes filled with fear.
"Ethan Carter."
His name coming from her mouth felt impossible.
She looked directly into the camera.
"I don't have much time."
Ethan moved closer.
The video continued.
"Your wife is not the person you should be afraid of."
Emma looked at him.
The woman on the screen took a shaky breath.
"The truth about your son is hidden because someone wanted you to believe a lie."
Ethan's heart stopped.
Then Sarah looked behind her.
Like someone had entered the room.
Her expression changed.
"No."
The video shook.
A shadow moved behind her.
She whispered one final sentence.
"He's here."
The screen went black.
For three seconds, nobody spoke.
Then Ethan's phone received another message.
A photo appeared.
May you like
A photo taken from inside Emma's hospital room.
And standing beside Emma's hospital bed was the one person Ethan thought had been gone for ten years.
