Chapter 4 - The AccusationOfficer Daniel Reyes arrived shortly after nine.
He was calm, professional and careful not to make assumptions.
Sarah appreciated that.
Victoria’s complaint, he explained, alleged that Sarah had become “emotionally unstable” after Victoria’s engagement to Ethan and had repeatedly behaved possessively toward Leo.
“She says you pushed her yesterday,” Reyes said.
Sarah sat across from him in Ethan’s study.
“I moved between her and the baby.”
“She claims you struck her shoulder.”
“I didn’t.”
“She also says you threatened her.”
“I told her I would call Mr. Ethan if she touched Leo again.”
Reyes nodded.
“Any previous arguments?”
Sarah hesitated.
There had been arguments.
But nothing dramatic.
“She didn’t like me caring for Leo.”
“Why?”
“She said employees should not become emotionally attached.”
Reyes wrote something down.
Ethan sat nearby.
“You should see the video.”
“I will.”
Ethan opened his laptop.
They watched the recording.
Reyes said nothing until it ended.
Then he asked:
“Does the camera have audio?”
“Yes.”
“Backup?”
“Cloud storage.”
“Do not modify the files.”
“I already downloaded copies.”
“That’s fine. Keep the originals.”
Reyes looked at Sarah.
“This footage significantly changes Victoria’s complaint.”
Sarah exhaled.
“Am I under investigation?”
“I investigate evidence, not social status.”
His answer reassured her.
Then Reyes asked Ethan:
“Did Ms. Victoria live here?”
“For seven months.”
“Have access to security systems?”
“Yes.”
“Passwords?”
“Some.”
“Financial accounts?”
“No personal banking.”
“Business systems?”
Ethan paused.
“Limited.”
Reyes noticed.
“What does limited mean?”
“She helped organize charity events and my schedule. She had access to my office calendar and guest lists.”
“Documents?”
“Possibly.”
Sarah watched Ethan’s discomfort grow.
The investigation was no longer only about what happened beside Leo’s crib.
Reyes closed his notebook.
“I recommend changing your access codes.”
“I already started.”
“All of them.”
Ethan nodded.
“And Mr. Cole?”
“Yes?”
“Do not meet Ms. Victoria alone.”
Ethan frowned.
“Why?”
“Because right now, both sides are making serious allegations.”
Sarah almost objected.
Both sides?
But technically, Reyes was right.
Victoria accused Sarah.
Sarah accused Victoria.
Video supported Sarah, but procedure still mattered.
After Reyes left, Ethan called his attorney.
Sarah returned to the kitchen.
She tried to work.
She couldn’t.
Every polished surface reminded her of Victoria.
Every room held memories.
Victoria laughing during dinner.
Victoria criticizing flowers.
Victoria choosing wedding fabrics.
Victoria holding Leo during photographs.
Had Sarah missed signs?
At eleven thirty, her phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
She opened the message.
A photograph appeared.
Sarah carrying Leo through the garden three weeks earlier.
Below it:
You always wanted to be his mother.
Sarah’s stomach tightened.
Another message arrived.
Maybe Ethan will finally see it.
Sarah walked quickly to the study.
“Mr. Ethan.”
He looked up.
She showed him.
His face darkened.
“Don’t respond.”
“I wasn’t going to.”
“Screenshot everything.”
Another message arrived.
This one contained a photo of Sarah entering the carriage house.
Taken at night.
Ethan stood immediately.
“When was that taken?”
Sarah zoomed in.
She recognized the coat.
“Two nights ago.”
Victoria had still been living in the main house.
“She was photographing you?”
“Or someone was.”
Ethan called Officer Reyes.
While he spoke, Sarah looked again at the photo.
Something bothered her.
The angle.
It had been taken from beyond the hedge near the service road.
Not from the main house.
Someone had been outside.
Watching.
Ethan ended the call.
“Reyes wants the messages forwarded.”
Sarah nodded.
Then another arrived.
This time there was no photo.
Just one sentence.
Ask Ethan what happened to the first Mrs. Cole.
Sarah looked at Ethan.
He had gone completely still.
“What does that mean?”
He stared at the screen.
Sarah knew Ethan had never been married.
Leo’s mother, Claire, had died shortly after childbirth from complications unrelated to Victoria.
Ethan and Claire had been engaged but never reached their wedding date.
“There was no first Mrs. Cole,” Sarah said.
Ethan sat slowly.
“No.”
“Then why would she say that?”
“I don’t know.”
Sarah studied him.
He looked unsettled in a different way now.
Not guilty.
Confused.
“Could she mean Claire?”
Ethan’s voice became quiet.
“Maybe.”
Claire Bennett had been Ethan’s partner for six years.
She had known Sarah well.
Warm, funny, stubborn Claire.
Her death had devastated the house.
Victoria entered Ethan’s life seven months later.
Too quickly, Sarah had thought then.
But grief made lonely people vulnerable.
Ethan opened the photograph again.
“What is Victoria trying to do?”
Sarah looked at the sentence.
Ask Ethan what happened to the first Mrs. Cole.
“I don’t think that message is only meant to frighten me.”
“What else?”
“It’s trying to make me suspicious of you.”
Ethan looked up.
“Divide us.”
Sarah nodded.
A grim realization settled between them.
Victoria understood that evidence alone would not save her.
So she needed another strategy.
Confusion.
Rumors.
Fear.
If she could make Sarah doubt Ethan and Ethan doubt Sarah, she could isolate them.
But Sarah had spent years beside Margaret Cole.
And Margaret had taught her something important about manipulation.
The strongest lie was rarely the one people believed immediately.
It was the one that made them question something they had already believed to be true.
Sarah locked her phone.
“She wants us to start doubting each other.”
Ethan’s jaw tightened.
“She’ll be disappointed.”
Neither of them knew that less than twelve hours later, Ethan would discover a locked folder on his home computer labeled:
May you like
![92 The Girl They Called Broke Was a Billionaire’s Daughter—But Her Father’s Arrival Exposed a Secret Powerful People Had Buried for Years]](https://cdn.treeiq.biz/site_590/2026/11/clone-0-0915d882-53d7-4d17-b43a-a010ca1a1068.webp)
CLAIRE.
And inside it would be photographs that neither Ethan nor Sarah had ever seen.
Related Stories
