Chapter 4 - The Woman Beside Him
I ran upstairs before fear could stop me.
Megan was behind me.
She had already called 911.
The nursery door was half open.
I pushed it wide.
Both babies were asleep.
No one was inside.
"Check the closet," Megan whispered.
I did.
Empty.
Windows locked.
Bathroom empty.
Then the monitor spoke again.
"Claire."
I looked down.
The voice was coming from the receiver.
Not the nursery.
A recorded transmission.
My phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
"Who is this?"
A man's voice replied:
"Your husband has been lying to the wrong people."
"Ethan?"
Silence.
Then:
"Ask William about Eleanor's compass."
The call ended.
I stared at the phone.
Compass.
The two silver compasses William had given the twins.
I went to the dresser.
Both wooden boxes were there.
I opened Noah's.
Compass.
Caleb's.
Compass.
Megan watched.
"What are we looking for?"
"I don't know."
I lifted one.
It felt heavier than it should.
I turned it over.
There was a tiny screw on the back.
Megan found a screwdriver.
We removed the plate.
Inside wasn't simply a mechanism.
There was a small memory card.
I stared.
"What is that?"
"I don't know."
But I remembered William's words.
Every boy should know how to find his way home.
The compass had never been only a gift.
We inserted the card into my laptop.
One folder appeared.
ELEANOR.
Inside were financial records.
Contracts.
Emails.
Audio files.
And a video.
I clicked it.
My mother-in-law appeared on the screen.
She was thinner than I remembered.
Sick.
But her eyes were clear.
"Claire," she said.
My breath stopped.
"If you're seeing this, then William decided the boys needed the truth."
Megan sat beside me.
Eleanor continued.
"The company your children will inherit was used by someone inside our family to move money through fraudulent defense contracts."
I felt sick.
"I don't know whether Ryan is involved."
My heart jumped.
"But Ethan believed someone close to Ryan was."
A document appeared on screen.
A name.
Marcus Vale.
Ryan's business partner.
I knew Marcus.
He had attended our wedding.
He had visited me in the hospital after the twins were born.
He had held Caleb.
I covered my mouth.
Eleanor continued.
"If anything happens to me, the original records must go to federal investigators."
The video ended.
My phone rang again.
William.
"Claire?"
"You're okay."
"Yes."
"Is Ryan?"
A pause.
"Yes."
"Did you find Ethan?"
"No."
I looked at the compass.
"William, why did you put a memory card inside the babies' gift?"
Silence.
Then:
"You found it."
"Someone told me."
"Ethan?"
"I don't know."
William exhaled.
"Listen carefully. Don't open anything else."
"Too late."
"What did you see?"
"Marcus Vale."
Ryan shouted in the background:
"What about Marcus?"
William swore quietly.
Then Ryan took the phone.
"Claire, what did you find?"
I thought about answering.
Then remembered everything that had happened that evening.
"No."
"What?"
"You don't get automatic access to me anymore."
"This isn't about our marriage."
"Everything became about our marriage when you brought Vanessa into our living room."
"Claire—"
"Put your father back on."
Silence.
Then William returned.
"Good."
"What?"
"You're learning."
Despite everything, I smiled.
"Come home."
"We're leaving now."
Police searched the house and found no intruder.
The monitor transmission had apparently been intercepted remotely.
That was terrifying enough.
At 3:40 a.m., William returned.
Ryan came with him.
I met them downstairs.
Ryan looked exhausted.
He glanced toward the staircase.
"The boys?"
"Sleeping."
"Can I see them?"
I hesitated.
He was still their father.
His betrayal of me did not erase that.
"Don't wake them."
He nodded.
Before he could move, the front door opened behind him.
Vanessa stood there.
Her face was wet with tears.
Ryan stared.
"What are you doing here?"
"I need to tell Claire something."
"At four in the morning?"
"Yes."
She looked at me.
"The baby might not be Ryan's."
Ryan closed his eyes.
William said nothing.
I was too tired to be shocked anymore.
"Come in."
Vanessa sat.
She explained.
She had dated the man she knew as Eric Hale before Ryan.
They had reconnected once.
Six weeks earlier.
The hotel photograph.
"Once?" Ryan asked.
"Yes."
"And you told me the baby was mine."
"The timing still makes you more likely."
"More likely?"
She began crying.
Ryan walked away.
I watched them and felt something unexpected.
Not satisfaction.
Sadness.
This was what betrayal did.
It multiplied.
Ryan had lied to me.
Ryan had lied to Vanessa.
Vanessa had lied to Ryan.
Ethan—or Eric—had lied to everyone.
And now unborn children and newborn babies were standing in the wreckage.
"Get a DNA test," I said.
Ryan turned toward me.
"Claire."
"I'm serious."
Vanessa nodded.
"I will."
"And until then, stop making decisions based on assumptions."
She looked ashamed.
"I should never have come here tonight."
"No."
"I thought he'd already told you."
"You still came."
"I know."
That was enough.
I didn't need an apology speech.
Ryan went upstairs to see the twins.
He returned ten minutes later with red eyes.
"I can't lose them."
I looked at him.
"You should have thought about that before."
"I'm their father."
"Then start behaving like one."
He nodded.
No argument.
That surprised me.
Then William's phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed.
"Where?"
He listened.
"We're coming."
He hung up.
"Ethan?"
William nodded.
"He's at the hospital."
"Why?"
"He was attacked."
Ryan grabbed his jacket.
William looked at me.
"Stay here."
This time, I agreed.
Ryan and William left.
Vanessa left too.
Megan went upstairs to sleep in the guest room.
I remained at the kitchen table.
Dawn was beginning to lighten the windows.
My entire life had changed between sunset and sunrise.
Then my laptop chimed.
A new email.
No sender name.
Subject:
ELEANOR LEFT ONE MORE VIDEO.
My heart started pounding.
I opened it.
A video attachment.
Eleanor appeared again.
This recording was different.
She was crying.
"Claire, if you're watching this one, then someone has found the records."
She looked directly into the camera.
"There is something I didn't tell William."
I leaned closer.
"Marcus wasn't working alone."
My stomach tightened.
"The second person is someone Ryan trusts completely."
The video glitched.
Then resumed.
Eleanor said one name.
I froze.
May you like
Because the person she named had been standing in my living room less than an hour earlier.
And then I heard the front door unlock downstairs.
