Chapter 1 - Ethan Already Knew
Margaret Bennett's heel struck my side before I even understood she'd moved.
I was eight months pregnant, standing near the top of our staircase with a box of baby clothes balanced against my chest.
One second I was looking at tiny cotton onesies.
The next, there was nothing beneath my foot.
The box flew from my hands.
My shoulder struck one carpeted step, then my hip hit another.
I twisted instinctively, trying to protect my stomach.
“Tell Ethan you slipped,” Margaret shouted.
I landed at the bottom hard enough to knock the air from my lungs.
My hands went immediately to my belly.
“Baby. Please.”
The front door opened.
“Claire?”
Ethan rushed inside.
I had never been happier to see my husband.
“She pushed me!”
Margaret hurried down behind me.
“She threw herself down!”
I stared at her.
Margaret's eyes instantly filled with tears.
“She’s trying to tear our family apart.”
Then my phone vibrated beside my leg.
A doorbell-camera notification.
Ethan picked it up.
He opened the video.
I watched his expression change.
Margaret saw it too.
Her face drained.
I reached for the phone.
“Give it to me.”
“Claire—”
“Give me my phone.”
He did.
The clip began before Margaret kicked me.
It showed her entering through our front door eleven minutes earlier.
But she wasn't alone.
Ethan was standing beside her.
My husband had supposedly been at work.
On the recording, Margaret turned toward him.
Her voice was perfectly clear.
“Are you sure she hasn't found the papers?”
Ethan glanced toward the staircase.
“Not yet.”
The video continued.
I slowly raised my eyes.
Ethan turned away from me.
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And suddenly the most terrifying thing in our house wasn't the woman who had kicked me.
It was the possibility that my husband already knew why she'd done it.
