Chapter 2
Thomas recovered first.
He always did.
“That child nearly drowned. He’s confused.”
Ethan tightened his fingers around my hand.
I looked at my father.
“He knows what he heard.”
“He’s three.”
Vanessa sat against the collapsed DJ stand holding her ribs.
“He also lies when he wants attention.”
I turned.
She smiled cruelly.
“What? We’re pretending toddlers are reliable now?”
Ethan lowered his eyes.
Vanessa noticed.
“See?”
She leaned forward.
“He knows exactly how to make Mommy stop everything.”
I stepped between them.
“You pushed him into a pool.”
“He shouldn’t have been snooping.”
There.
Not denial.
Reason.
“What was he snooping into?”
Silence.
I looked at the tablet.
Marcus shouted:
“Don’t play it.”
Every capo on the terrace heard him.
I almost smiled.
“Thank you.”
His face changed.
I pressed play.
Thomas’s voice.
Clear.
Recorded somewhere indoors.
“Vanessa gets the boy near the deep end.”
Marcus answered:
“And if Valentina notices?”
“She will.”
A pause.
“That’s the point.”
My skin went cold.
The recording continued.
Vanessa laughed.
“She dives after him.”
Thomas:
“She always does.”
Marcus:
“And then?”
Silence.
A chair moved.
Then Thomas again.
“Then she’s wet, separated from her guards, and thinking like a mother instead of a boss.”
I stopped the recording.
No one on the terrace moved.
Thomas straightened his jacket.
“It was a contingency conversation.”
“For what?”
He shrugged.
“Your temper.”
I stared.
“You planned my son’s drowning to test my temper?”
“He was never going to drown.”
Ethan whispered:
“But Grandpa wouldn’t let you help.”
Thomas looked at him.
Cold.
“Stop whining. You’re alive.”
My son flinched.
Thomas continued:
“If you had listened and stayed away from the tablet, none of this would have happened.”
I felt something inside me settle.
He blamed Ethan.
Of course he did.
I lifted the tablet again.
“There’s more.”
Marcus took one step forward.
My guards blocked him.
His face went pale.
That interested me.
“What comes after I dive?”
No one answered.
I pressed play.
This time Vanessa’s voice:
“Who takes Valentina after the pool?”
Thomas answered:
“Marcus.”
Then another voice.
Male.
Unknown.
“And if she fights?”
Thomas laughed.
“She’ll be worried about the boy.”
My father looked at Ethan.
Then me.
“He’s always been the easiest way to move her.”
That was when I understood.
May you like
Ethan had never been the final target.
He was the leash.
