Chapter 3 - THE SECOND LIFEI drove home alone.
I don’t remember the journey.
I remember the house.
The silence.
The empty nursery.
Noah’s little blue blanket still lying across the rocking chair.
A stuffed elephant on the floor.
One tiny sock beneath the crib.
I picked it up.
It smelled like baby powder.
I sat on the floor and stared at it.
Three months ago, Noah had been born at 4:17 a.m.
I had held him.
I had cried.
I had promised Claire I would become a better man.
Then I had gone back to Vanessa.
The truth was uglier than the affair.
I had created two lives.
In one, I was Claire’s husband.
In the other, I was Vanessa’s lover.
And now both lives had collided.
I went downstairs.
Claire’s office was locked.
I had never been allowed inside.
Tonight, I broke the door.
Inside, everything had been cleaned.
Shelves empty.
Drawers empty.
Laptop gone.
But something caught my eye.
A loose floorboard.
I knelt.
Pulled it up.
There was a small metal box underneath.
Inside were photographs.
Dozens.
Me.
Vanessa.
Hotel rooms.
Restaurants.
Airport lounges.
Every moment of my affair documented.
Claire had known everything.
But beneath those photographs was something else.
A USB drive.
I plugged it into the spare laptop.
One video file.
Recorded three weeks earlier.
Claire appeared on screen.
Her face was calm.
Almost frighteningly calm.
“Ethan,” she said.
“If you're watching this, it means I left.”
I leaned closer.
“I know about Vanessa.”
My heart stopped.
“I know about the hotel rooms. The private dinners. The lies.”
She looked down.
“I also know you lied about Noah.”
I froze.
“What?”
Claire continued.
“You told me Noah was yours.”
A pause.
“You believed that because I allowed you to.”
I stopped breathing.
“You are not Noah’s biological father.”
The room tilted.
“But you are the reason he is in danger.”
I stared at the screen.
Claire’s eyes filled with tears.
“I discovered what you and your father have been doing.”
I frowned.
“My father?”
“Money has been disappearing from Carter Holdings for years.”
She leaned closer to the camera.
“You thought the missing funds were accounting errors.”
I shook my head.
“They weren't.”
Claire’s voice dropped.
“Your father created shell companies.”
My mouth went dry.
“He used your name.”
Then she said something that made my blood freeze.
“And when your father died, someone took over the operation.”
I whispered,
“Who?”
Claire looked directly into the camera.
“You did.”
The video ended.
I stared at the black screen.
“No.”
I replayed it.
Again.
Again.
Then my phone rang.
Daniel.
I answered.
“Where are you?”
“At home.”
“You need to leave.”
“Why?”
Silence.
“Daniel.”
His voice cracked.
“Because the police just arrived at my office.”
“For what?”
“They found a body.”
My stomach dropped.
“Whose?”
May you like
Daniel breathed heavily.
“Vanessa Cole.”
