Chapter 2 - The RecordingEthan watched the footage four times.
Each replay made the room quieter.
Sarah sat on the sofa with Leo wrapped in a soft blue blanket while Ethan stood near the fireplace.
Victoria remained beside the doorway.
She had refused to go upstairs.
“I want my attorney here.”
Ethan didn’t look at her.
“You don’t need an attorney to collect your clothes.”
“You’re treating me like a criminal.”
“I’m treating you like someone I don’t want near my child.”
Victoria’s eyes narrowed.
Sarah had never seen Ethan speak to her that way.
For months, Victoria had possessed an almost effortless influence over him.
She chose restaurants.
She rearranged rooms.
She decided which staff members were “appropriate” for formal events.
Two gardeners had been dismissed after she complained.
An older cook named Mrs. Dalton had resigned after Victoria repeatedly criticized her.
Sarah had survived mostly because Ethan trusted her.
Now Sarah wondered whether that was exactly why Victoria disliked her.
Ethan paused the recording.
The frame showed Victoria standing over Leo’s crib.
“Why was the iron even in here?”
Victoria crossed her arms.
“I told you. My scarf.”
“The scarf was across the room.”
“I walked over there afterward.”
“No.”
Sarah spoke quietly.
“The recording shows the scarf was already on the sofa before she entered.”
Victoria turned.
“Nobody asked you.”
Ethan looked at Sarah.
“Keep talking.”
Victoria’s expression tightened.
Sarah pointed toward the screen.
“She brought the iron in with her.”
Ethan replayed the beginning.
Sarah was right.
Victoria entered carrying it.
There was no scarf in her hands.
“Ethan,” Victoria said, “you’re letting her manipulate this.”
He ignored her.
Sarah noticed something else.
“Go back.”
Ethan stopped.
“What?”
“Before Leo wakes.”
He rewound the clip.
Sarah leaned closer.
Victoria entered.
She looked toward the hallway.
Then toward the camera.
She stood still for three seconds.
“She knew the camera was there,” Sarah said.
Ethan looked at her.
Victoria laughed nervously.
“Of course I knew. It’s been there for months.”
Sarah shook her head.
“Then why do this where it could be recorded?”
The question changed the atmosphere.
Ethan stared at the phone.
Victoria seemed relieved.
“Exactly.”
Sarah continued.
“Unless she thought it wasn’t recording.”
Victoria’s relief vanished.
Ethan looked toward the camera.
“The monitor records automatically.”
“Yes,” Sarah said.
“But someone turned off cloud recording last week.”
Ethan frowned.
“What?”
Sarah remembered noticing the notification while helping the nanny connect the monitor to a tablet.
“The app showed that recording had been disabled.”
“I turned it back on,” Ethan said. “Three days ago.”
Victoria’s eyes shifted toward him.
Sarah noticed.
So did Ethan.
He looked at Victoria.
“Did you know I turned it back on?”
“No.”
The answer came too fast.
Sarah’s stomach tightened.
Ethan opened the settings menu.
The application displayed account activity.
Recording disabled.
Six days earlier.
User: E. Cole Home Account.
Recording enabled.
Three days earlier.
User: Ethan Cole.
Ethan looked up.
“Who disabled it?”
Victoria shrugged.
“You probably did.”
“I didn’t.”
“Then Sarah did.”
Sarah shook her head.
“I don’t have the account password.”
Victoria looked at Ethan.
“This is ridiculous.”
Ethan opened another menu.
Connected devices appeared.
His phone.
The nursery tablet.
The kitchen display.
And an iPad.
Victoria’s iPad.
Nobody spoke.
Victoria’s face slowly hardened.
“You gave me access.”
“Yes.”
“So?”
“So you could have disabled recording.”
“That doesn’t prove I did.”
Ethan stared at her.
“No.”
He looked again at the frozen video image.
“But it gives me another question.”
Before Victoria could answer, Leo coughed again.
Sarah stood immediately.
“We should call the pediatrician.”
Ethan nodded.
Victoria stepped forward.
“I’ll come.”
“No,” Ethan said.
“I’m his future stepmother.”
“Not tonight.”
Her mouth opened.
Ethan walked toward the hall.
“Sarah, can you come with me?”
“Of course.”
Victoria followed them.
“You cannot exclude me from this family because of one misunderstood moment.”
Ethan stopped.
“You were standing over my son with an iron.”
“I didn’t hurt him.”
“That isn’t the standard.”
Victoria stared at him.
Something shifted behind her eyes.
“If I leave this house tonight,” she said, “people will hear about it.”
Ethan looked at her.
“Is that a threat?”
“It’s reality.”
She straightened.
“Your investors. Your board. The press. Your reputation.”
Sarah watched Ethan carefully.
Ethan ran Cole Heritage Properties, one of Virginia’s largest private development companies.
Victoria understood his public position.
She understood exactly what embarrassment could cost him.
Perhaps she expected him to retreat.
He didn’t.
“If protecting Leo damages my reputation,” Ethan said, “then my reputation deserves to be damaged.”
Victoria went silent.
Ethan carried Leo toward the front door.
Sarah followed.
As they passed Victoria, she heard the woman whisper:
“You have no idea what you’re destroying.”
Sarah turned.
Victoria was staring directly at her.
Sarah remembered those words during the drive to the pediatric clinic.
She remembered them while Leo was examined.
She remembered them when the doctor said the baby was frightened and irritated but appeared stable and should be watched closely.
And she remembered them after midnight when they returned home.
Victoria was gone.
Her suitcases were gone.
Her car was gone.
But on the polished table beside the entrance sat Ethan’s spare house key.
Beneath it was a folded note.
Ethan opened it.
There were only seven words.
You will regret choosing her over me.
Sarah read the sentence twice.
“Her?”
Ethan looked at her.
Victoria hadn’t written:
You will regret choosing Leo over me.
She had written:
You will regret choosing her.
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Sarah.
The threat had never been only about the baby.
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