Chapter 2
I was halfway across the parking garage when Ethan stopped answering.
“Ethan?”
I called again.
Straight to voicemail.
Again.
Nothing.
My hands shook as I unlocked my car.
I didn’t even remember putting the key in the ignition.
All I could think about was Daniel standing at the bottom of our staircase.
My husband had caught our thirteen-year-old son recording him with another woman.
And I had no idea what he would do next.
I called my neighbor, Denise.
She lived two houses down.
“Sarah?”
“Can you look outside?”
“What’s wrong?”
“Is Daniel’s truck in my driveway?”
A pause.
“Yes.”
“Is there another car?”
“Black Mercedes. I don’t recognize it.”
My stomach twisted.
“Can you stay where you can see my house?”
“Sarah, you’re scaring me.”
“Please.”
“Okay.”
I backed out too fast.
My tires squealed.
Then my phone rang.
Ethan.
I answered instantly.
“Baby?”
He whispered, “Mom.”
“Are you okay?”
“I’m in my room.”
“Is the door locked?”
“Yes.”
“Where’s Dad?”
“Outside.”
My heart slammed.
“Outside your door?”
“Yes.”
Then I heard Daniel.
“Ethan, open this door.”
My son’s breathing became faster.
I gripped the steering wheel.
“Don’t open it.”
Daniel knocked again.
“Come on, buddy. We need to talk.”
Ethan whispered, “He knows I recorded them.”
“How?”
“I dropped my phone.”
I almost cried.
“Did he touch you?”
“No.”
“Did he threaten you?”
“He said I misunderstood.”
Another knock.
“Ethan.”
Daniel’s voice was softer now.
That almost scared me more.
“I’m not mad.”
My son looked at the phone.
“Mom, he sounds mad.”
“I know.”
I turned onto the freeway.
Traffic.
Of course.
Red lights stretched ahead of me.
“Stay on the phone.”
Daniel tried the doorknob.
“Open this door.”
Ethan said nothing.
Then the woman’s voice came from farther away.
“Daniel, leave him alone.”
Silence.
Daniel replied, “This has nothing to do with you.”
“It does now.”
“Go downstairs, Vanessa.”
Vanessa.
I finally had her name.
Vanessa said, “He’s a kid. You’re frightening him.”
Daniel’s voice dropped.
“You said you wanted this fixed.”
“Not like this.”
“What did you think would happen?”
“I didn’t think he was home.”
Neither had Daniel.
That was the only reason Ethan had discovered them.
His school had dismissed early because a water main had broken.
Daniel thought our son would be in class until three-thirty.
I thought he would too.
No one had expected him to walk through our front door at 1:47 p.m.
No one except fate.
Daniel knocked again.
“Ethan, I’m giving you ten seconds.”
My son whispered, “Mom.”
“I’m here.”
“What do I do if he comes in?”
My chest tightened.
“Stay away from him. Don’t argue. Keep your phone with you.”
“Okay.”
Then Daniel said something through the door.
“You don’t want your mother seeing those videos.”
I froze.
Ethan’s voice shook.
“Why?”
“Because you don’t understand what you recorded.”
My son looked at me through the phone as if I could see him.
Daniel continued.
“Your mom’s going through enough already.”
I almost laughed from disbelief.
Enough?
I didn’t even know my life had been secretly collapsing.
Daniel said, “You send those videos, you might make everything worse.”
Ethan suddenly became quiet.
I knew my son.
I knew exactly what Daniel was doing.
He wasn’t threatening him.
He was making him feel responsible.
“Ethan,” I said firmly.
“Yeah?”
“You have done nothing wrong.”
Daniel knocked again.
“Buddy, your mom could lose the house because of this.”
My blood went cold.
The house.
What had he done?
Ethan whispered, “Mom, what does he mean?”
“I don’t know.”
That was the worst part.
I really didn’t.
Daniel said, “Open the door and let me explain.”
Then Ethan surprised both of us.
“No.”
Silence.
Daniel’s voice changed.
“What?”
“I said no.”
My son sounded terrified.
But he repeated it.
“I’m staying here until Mom gets home.”
My eyes filled with tears.
Daniel hit the door with his palm.
“Your mother has filled your head with nonsense!”
“I haven’t talked to her!”
That was true.
Daniel didn’t know I was on the phone.
For a moment, nobody spoke.
Then Daniel said, “Give me your phone.”
“No.”
“Ethan.”
“No!”
Vanessa spoke again.
“Daniel, stop.”
“Stay out of this!”
Then I heard footsteps.
Moving away.
A door slammed downstairs.
Ethan breathed out.
“Mom?”
“I’m almost home.”
That was a lie.
I was still twenty minutes away.
I called Denise from my second phone while keeping Ethan connected.
“Can you see anything?”
“The woman just came outside.”
“What’s she doing?”
“She’s getting in the Mercedes.”
“Is Daniel with her?”
“No.”
Vanessa was leaving.
That meant Daniel and Ethan would be alone.
“Denise, can you walk over?”
“What?”
“Please.”
“If Daniel is angry—”
“Just ring the bell. Say you need something.”
“I’m going.”
Three minutes later, Ethan whispered, “Someone’s at the door.”
“That’s Denise.”
Daniel went downstairs.
I could hear him talking faintly.
Then Ethan suddenly said, “Mom, I found something.”
“What?”
“I’m in Dad’s office.”
My heart stopped.
“You left your room?”
“Denise is downstairs.”
“Ethan, go back.”
“But Dad left his office open.”
“Go back to your room.”
“Mom.”
His voice changed.
“What?”
“There’s a folder with your name.”
I closed my eyes.
“Do not touch anything.”
“Too late.”
“Ethan.”
“There are pictures.”
“What pictures?”
“Of you.”
My skin prickled.
“What kind?”
“You at work.”
I gripped the steering wheel tighter.
“Excuse me?”
“There’s one of you outside your office.”
Another.
“You’re getting coffee.”
Another.
“You’re sitting in your car.”
My mouth went dry.
Daniel had photographs of me being followed.
“Ethan, leave.”
“Wait.”
“No.”
“There’s paperwork.”
“What paperwork?”
“It says custody.”
My stomach dropped.
Then I heard the front door close downstairs.
Daniel.
Denise had left.
“Ethan, go.”
My son started running.
I heard his breathing.
Then suddenly he stopped.
“What?”
Silence.
“Ethan?”
He whispered, “Dad’s upstairs.”
Footsteps approached.
Slowly.
Daniel said, “What were you doing in my office?”
My son didn’t answer.
“Ethan.”
Then Daniel’s voice came closer.
“Give me the folder.”
My son whispered into the phone.
“I took one page.”
“What page?”
He started moving again.
Daniel shouted.
“Ethan!”
My son ran.
I heard a door slam.
The lock clicked.
He had made it back to his room.
Daniel pounded once.
“Give me what you took!”
I was six minutes from home.
“Ethan, what page did you take?”
He unfolded something.
Then his breathing stopped.
“Mom.”
“What?”
“It has your signature.”
My stomach twisted.
“On what?”
“It says you agreed Dad gets full control of the house if you separate.”
I felt dizzy.
“I never signed anything like that.”
Ethan was silent.
Then he whispered, “There’s another signature.”
“Whose?”
“Grandma’s.”
Daniel’s mother.
Patricia.
My pulse hammered.
“What does it say beside her name?”
“Witness.”
I stopped breathing.
Daniel’s mother had supposedly watched me sign a document I had never seen.
My own mother-in-law.
Before I could process it, Daniel shouted through the bedroom door.
“You have no idea what your mother has done to this family!”
Ethan started crying.
And suddenly something inside me snapped.
I turned onto our street.
My house appeared ahead.
Daniel’s truck.
The black Mercedes was gone.
Denise stood in her driveway staring toward us.
I parked.
Ran.
Opened the front door.
“Daniel!”
He turned at the top of the stairs.
For one brief moment, surprise crossed his face.
“You’re home early.”
I stared at him.
My husband.
The man I had been married to for sixteen years.
The man whose son was locked in a bedroom because he had discovered the truth.
“Move away from his door.”
Daniel raised both hands.
“You need to calm down.”
“No.”
“Sarah.”
“Move.”
“You don’t understand what’s happening.”
I climbed the stairs.
Daniel stepped in front of me.
I stopped.
“Touch me and I call the police.”
His eyes changed.
He moved aside.
I knocked.
“Ethan, it’s Mom.”
The door flew open.
My son threw himself into me.
I held him.
Behind us, Daniel said, “This is ridiculous.”
I turned.
“Who is Vanessa?”
His jaw tightened.
“My business partner.”
“Do you kiss all your business partners?”
“Sarah—”
“What account doesn’t exist?”
Silence.
“What documents are you trying to make me sign?”
He looked at Ethan.
“You should never have recorded private conversations.”
I stepped between them.
“You speak to me.”
Daniel looked back at me.
“You want the truth?”
“Yes.”
“No.”
His answer stunned me.
“What?”
“You think you do.”
He walked into his office.
Then returned carrying another folder.
He threw it onto the hallway table.
Bank statements spilled out.
My name appeared on several pages.
So did Daniel’s.
Then I saw a number.
$487,216.
I looked up.
“What is this?”
Daniel’s face was expressionless.
“The account Vanessa asked about.”
“Whose money is that?”
He stared at me.
May you like
Then answered.
“Yours.”
