Chapter 11 - The Confession He Tried to Take Back
The room went completely still.
Ethan realized what he had said one second too late.
Renee’s eyes widened.
I kept my face blank.
“What did you tell her to do?” I asked.
“Nothing.”
“You just said you didn’t tell her to push that hard.”
“I misspoke.”
“No. You confessed.”
He rubbed both hands over his face.
“You have no idea what kind of pressure I’m under.”
“Then explain it.”
He looked at Renee. “Can we have privacy?”
“No,” we said together.
His mouth tightened.
“My investment group collapsed. I guaranteed loans personally. Mom knew. She said if you understood how bad it was, you would help.”
“I told you I would help with a repayment plan.”
“You said you wouldn’t touch the trust.”
“Because it belongs to our daughter.”
“She isn’t even born yet!”
The words echoed in the room.
I stared at him.
He looked away.
“So what was the plan?” I asked. “Scare me into signing something?”
He said nothing.
“Make me look unstable?”
Still nothing.
“Take the baby?”
His voice dropped. “Temporary custody. Until you got yourself together.”
“I was together.”
“You were stubborn.”
The cruelty of that sentence stripped away the last piece of the man I thought I had married.
I lifted my phone from beneath the blanket.
The recording timer was running.
Ethan saw it.
His face changed.
“Claire.”
I hit send.
The audio went to Lena and Detective Chen at the same time.
He lunged for the phone.
Renee slammed the emergency call button.
Ethan stopped halfway across the room as alarms sounded at the nurses’ station.
“You think you won?” he hissed.
“No,” I said. “I think I survived.”
Security appeared in the doorway.
Ethan backed away.
Then Detective Chen called me.
May you like
Her first words were not about the confession.
“We got access to the bedroom,” she said. “Claire, there’s something else in your dresser.”
