Chapter 2: The Woman in White
Claire refused to accept defeat.
The next morning, she arrived at the hospital carrying expensive fruit baskets and crocodile tears.
"Ethan, please," she begged. "We've known each other for years. Why would I hurt Olivia?"
Before Ethan could answer, Noah spoke from the corner of the room.
"You said Daddy would belong to you if Mommy disappeared."
The room turned cold.
Claire's face drained of color.
Children rarely understood manipulation.
But they remembered words adults wished had vanished.
"You coached him!" Claire cried.
"No," Ethan replied.
"You did."
He opened his phone.
The villa's security footage played.
There it was.
Claire glancing around.
Claire stepping closer.
Claire pushing Olivia.
Deliberately.
The fruit basket slipped from her hands.
Apples rolled across the polished hospital floor.
"It was supposed to scare her," Claire whispered weakly. "I didn't think she'd fall like that."
"You were jealous," Ethan said.
Tears streamed down Claire's face.
For years, she had convinced herself that loving Ethan justified everything.
That if Olivia disappeared, she could finally have the life she dreamed of.
Instead, obsession had turned her into a stranger.
"You don't love me," Ethan said.
"You only loved the version of me that existed in your imagination."
Security escorted Claire away.
May you like
She never looked back.
Neither did Ethan.
