Chapter 1 - The Sentence That Changed Everything
Monica’s hand hit Claire between the shoulder blades before Claire understood what was happening.
Eight months pregnant, Claire pitched forward over the second-floor landing of their Westlake Village home.
“Ethan!”
Her husband moved before thought could catch up.
Ethan lunged beneath the railing and caught Claire against his chest seconds before she struck the marble floor. The impact drove him backward, but he kept one arm beneath her shoulders and the other away from her stomach.
“Claire. Look at me.”
She was breathing.
Terrified, but conscious.
He lowered her carefully to the floor, then looked up.
Monica was still standing at the railing.
Ethan ran upstairs.
His foot struck Monica hard enough to send her backward against the wall.
“Stay away from my wife!”
Monica stared at him.
Then something in her expression broke into bitter amusement.
“It’s laughable,” she said. “You once said that once she was gone, I’d never have to wear this uniform again.”
Ethan stopped.
Claire heard every word.
The foyer suddenly felt enormous.
She slowly looked at her husband.
“What did she just say, Ethan?”
He had caught Claire without hesitation.
He had protected their unborn child.
But he could not answer one simple question.
Monica sat against the wall, one hand pressed to her shoulder, watching him struggle.
Then she smiled.
Not triumphantly.
Almost angrily.
May you like
As though she had finally said something Ethan had spent a long time making sure Claire would never hear.
And Claire remembered the appointment Ethan had been insisting she keep on Tuesday.
