Chapter 6 - The Woman Who Knew Too Much"Where did you get him?"

Michael rushed to Olivia.

She held Ethan tighter.

"I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"I went downstairs for less than a minute."

Michael looked at the closet.

The compartment was still open.

"You didn't hear anything?"

"No."

Ethan began crying.

Michael took him.

The baby was warm.

Alive.

But there was something strange.

A faint red mark on his ankle.

Michael noticed a tiny paper bracelet.

Not from their house.

A hospital bracelet.

The name printed on it wasn't Ethan.

It read:

Baby Boy Reed.

Michael's blood went cold.

Olivia saw it.

"What is that?"

Michael didn't answer.

He carried Ethan downstairs.

Evelyn was standing exactly where they'd left her.

She looked at the bracelet.

Her face changed.

For the first time that night, genuine fear appeared in her eyes.

"Where did you get that?"

Michael stared at her.

"You know what this is."

Evelyn took a step backward.

"Give me the baby."

"No."

"Michael."

"No."

"What did you do?"

Evelyn said nothing.

Then Olivia spoke.

"Who is Daniel Reed?"

Evelyn's face hardened.

"Not your husband."

Olivia stepped forward.

"He was your husband's friend."

"He was more than that."

Michael looked at his mother.

"What does that mean?"

Evelyn's eyes moved between them.

Then she said the sentence that shattered everything.

"Daniel was Ethan's father."

Michael stared.

Olivia covered her mouth.

"That's impossible."

"Then ask your wife."

Michael turned to Olivia.

She was crying.

But she wasn't denying it.

"Olivia?"

She whispered:

"I didn't know."

"You're lying."

"I didn't know."

Evelyn laughed softly.

"She knew enough."

Michael felt betrayed.

He wanted to believe Olivia.

But suddenly every strange detail had a new shape.

Her fear.

Her secrecy.

The hidden documents.

The baby monitor.

Daniel Reed.

He stepped away.

"Why would you marry me?"

Olivia looked devastated.

"I loved you."

"Then why?"

"Because I thought Daniel was dead."

Michael froze.

"What?"

Olivia took a breath.

"Before I met you, Daniel told me he had a son."

Michael stared at her.

"He told you?"

"Years before Ethan was born."

She wiped her face.

"He said if anything happened to him, there was a child connected to his family."

Michael looked at Ethan.

"So you're saying..."

"No."

Olivia shook her head.

"I'm saying your mother has been hiding something."

Evelyn turned toward the door.

Michael moved after her.

"You're not leaving."

His mother stopped.

"Ask yourself one question."

"What?"

"Why would Daniel's hospital bracelet be inside your house?"

Michael had no answer.

Then the lights went out.

Every light.

The entire house plunged into darkness.

Ethan screamed.

A second later, something crashed against the nursery window upstairs.

Michael ran.

On the floor beneath the window was a brick.

Wrapped around it was a photograph.

Michael picked it up.

It showed Daniel Reed standing beside Evelyn.

May you like

My Family Inherited Millions and Left Me a Ruined House. Four Months Lat...

The lawyer’s office fell silent as my grandmother’s will was read, and I watched my family inherit millions while I received nothi...

A Desperate Mother Begged a Billionaire for a Job to Feed Her Two Childr...

I was stranded on a lonely Arizona highway with two starving children, a pair of ruined suitcases, and no way to reach our destina...

I Saved the Mafia Boss’s Baby from a Dumpster, but He Threw Me in Jail f...

The first thing I noticed when I opened the dumpster behind the Valente mansion was a tiny blue hand sticking out from beneath a f...

On the back were four words.

HE NEVER DIED HERE.