Chapter 6 - SOMEBODY IN THE HOUSE
Daniel ordered the gates locked.
No one left.
No one entered.
Claire stood in the foyer with her arms crossed.
“You’re overreacting.”
“Someone threatened me.”
“My mother wouldn’t hurt you.”
“I didn’t say it was your mother.”
Claire looked away.
That was enough.
Daniel called Luis, his head of security.
“Pull every camera feed from the last seventy-two hours.”
Luis nodded.
“Inside and outside?”
“Everything.”
Rosa came downstairs holding Ethan.
The baby had fallen asleep against her shoulder.
Daniel looked at them.
A mother and son who had lived under the same roof for months without being allowed to know the truth.
His anger sharpened.
“Rosa, pack a bag for Ethan.”
Claire’s head snapped around.
“What?”
“We’re leaving.”
“You are not taking him.”
Daniel faced her.
“You gave up the right to tell me what to do.”
“You’re not his father.”
The words landed hard.
Rosa looked at Daniel.
Claire immediately realized what she had done.
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“No,” he said quietly. “But I’m the man who got up at two in the morning when he had a fever. I’m the man who slept on the nursery floor because he wouldn’t stop coughing. I’m the man he knows as Dad.”
Claire’s eyes hardened.
“And Rosa is his mother.”
Silence.
Rosa looked stunned.
Daniel hadn’t told her yet.
Her knees nearly gave out.
“What?”
Claire’s face went white.
Daniel turned to Rosa.
“The test came back.”
Rosa clutched Ethan.
“No…”
“He’s yours.”
She began sobbing.
Not loudly.
The sound came from somewhere deep inside her body.
She kissed Ethan’s hair again and again.
“My baby.”
Claire backed away.
Rosa looked at her.
For the first time, grief turned into fury.
“You knew.”
“Rosa—”
“You watched me clean your floors.”
Claire stepped back.
“You watched me wash his bottles.”
“Listen to me—”
“You watched me cry on his birthday.”
“I didn’t—”
“You stole six months from me!”
Rosa lunged.
Daniel caught her before she reached Claire.
“Rosa!”
“I hate you!”
Ethan woke and cried.
Rosa instantly stopped fighting.
She held him close.
“I’m sorry. Mama’s sorry.”
The word Mama made Claire flinch.
Then Luis entered quickly.
“Mr. Whitmore.”
“What?”
“You need to see this.”
They went to the security room.
Luis played footage from 3:17 a.m.
A hooded figure entered through the side service door.
No forced entry.
They used a code.
Daniel leaned closer.
“Who is that?”
Luis froze the image.
The person looked toward the camera.
Claire gasped.
Daniel stared.
It wasn’t Evelyn.
It wasn’t a stranger.
May you like
It was Dr. Reed.
And he had entered the mansion carrying a medical bag.
