Chapter 1 - THE SECOND GRANT OPENED THE DOOR
Vivienne’s heel struck Noah’s side just as he crawled toward the toy beside the sofa.
The one-year-old rolled onto the thick rug and screamed.
Tessa moved before she had time to think.
She scooped Noah against her chest and stepped between him and Vivienne.
“Don’t touch him!”
Vivienne reached around her.
Tessa slapped the hand away.
Then Vivienne grabbed Tessa’s wrist.
Tessa tore free and struck Vivienne across the face.
The sound cracked through the living room.
Vivienne stumbled against the side table.
For a moment, nobody moved.
Then Vivienne’s eyes landed on the flower vase.
She grabbed it.
“You’re going to regret this!”
Tessa barely had time to turn.
The vase struck her near the side of her head and fell onto the rug.
Tessa crashed against the sofa, one arm still blocking Vivienne from Noah.
That was when the front door opened.
Grant Mercer stopped in the entryway.
His briefcase slipped from his hand.
Noah was sobbing behind the sofa.
Tessa held one hand against her head.
Vivienne stood over them, breathing hard.
The vase lay between her feet.
Grant’s face changed.
“Grant—”
“Don’t.”
One word.
Quiet.
Worse than shouting.
Vivienne immediately pointed at Tessa.
“She attacked me.”
Grant looked at the red mark across Vivienne’s cheek.
Then at Tessa.
“Tessa?”
“She kicked Noah.”
Vivienne laughed in disbelief.
“Oh my God.”
Grant crossed the room and lifted his son.
Noah clung to his shirt, still crying.
Grant checked him carefully and called their pediatrician.
Vivienne kept talking.
Tessa had become possessive.
Tessa resented her.
Tessa had slapped her first.
Grant heard every word.
Then his eyes drifted toward the security camera mounted near the entry arch.
Vivienne followed his gaze.
For less than a second, something flashed across her face.
Not relief.
Fear.
Grant noticed.
Vivienne recovered quickly.
“Good,” she said. “Watch it. Then you’ll know exactly what happened.”
Grant stared at her.
She sounded confident again.
Too confident.
And somewhere beneath Noah’s cries, Grant remembered something Tessa had said three weeks earlier.
You should check why that camera keeps changing angles.
May you like
He had laughed it off.
Now he wished he hadn’t.
