Chapter 2: The Message on His Phone
The name glowing on Ethan’s phone screen made the entire room feel like it had tilted.
*Mrs. Carter.*
Ava’s second-grade teacher.
For a moment, I wondered if I had read it wrong.
Maybe the shattered mirror had thrown light across the screen.
Maybe my mind was searching for another explanation because the truth was too impossible to accept.
But the phone buzzed again.
The screen lit up.
*Mrs. Carter: We need to talk before Lauren finds out what Ava told me.*
My breath caught.
Before Lauren finds out.
Before I find out what Ava told her.
I looked at Ethan.
He looked like a man who had just watched a building collapse around him.
“What does that mean?”” I asked.
His mouth opened.
Closed.
Opened again.
“Lauren…”
“No.””
My voice came out sharper than I expected.
I pointed at the phone.
“Don’t say my name like that. Don’t stand there and pretend you’re confused. Explain.””
The blonde woman beside the bed slowly stood up, clutching my robe tighter around her body.
Ethan looked at her.
And that tiny movement told me something.
He wasn’t worried about being caught with her anymore.
He was worried about something bigger.
Something involving my daughter.
I felt a new kind of anger rise inside me.
“You lied to me,” I said quietly.
Ethan swallowed.
“Lauren, I can explain.””
“You said that already.””
“I mean it.””
“Then explain.””
He looked toward the door.
Toward where Ava was waiting downstairs.
His eyes softened for half a second.
That almost made it worse.
Because the man standing in front of me was still the father who sang silly songs with her in the kitchen. The father who built her treehouse. The father who cried when she lost her first tooth.
That man was still inside him.
And yet he had brought this woman into our home.
Into our bedroom.
While our daughter was here.
“Who is she?”” I asked.
The blonde woman stiffened.
Ethan looked at her.
“Her name is Claire.””
I turned toward Claire.
“Do you have a last name?””
Her jaw tightened.
“Claire Bennett.””
“Do you know my husband?””
The silence answered before she did.
“Yes.””
“How long?””
Claire looked away.
“Lauren…”
Ethan stepped between us.
“Stop.””
I laughed once.
A bitter sound.
“Stop?””
I stared at him.
“You don’t get to tell me to stop. Not in my house.””
Claire crossed her arms.
“You’re making assumptions.””
I looked at her.
“You’re in my bed.””
Her face changed.
A flash of irritation.
Not guilt.
Not shame.
I noticed that.
“You think this is simple,” she said.
“No,” I replied.
“I think it’s exactly what it looks like.””
Ethan rubbed his forehead.
“Lauren, Claire and I have known each other for years.””
The words landed harder than I expected.
Years.
Not weeks.
Not months.
Years.
I stared at him.
“Years?””
He immediately regretted saying it.
I saw it.
“You knew her before me?””
“No.””
“Then what does years mean?””
Neither of them answered.
The silence became unbearable.
I turned and walked out of the bedroom.
Not because I was done.
Because I needed air.
Because if I stayed another second, I didn’t trust what I might say.
The hallway seemed different now.
The family photos on the walls weren’t memories anymore.
They were evidence.
I reached the stairs.
“Ava?””
A small voice answered.
“I’m here.””
She was sitting on the bottom step, exactly where I had left her.
Her eyes went straight to the bat in my hand.
I immediately put it down.
“Hey,” I whispered.
She stood up and ran to me.
I dropped down and held her.
Her tiny arms wrapped around my neck.
“I’m sorry, Mommy.””
My heart broke.
“Why are you sorry?””
“Because Daddy said I shouldn’t tell.””
I pulled back.
“What?””
She looked scared.
“He said grown-up things are complicated.””
My stomach turned.
“Sweetheart, listen to me. You did the right thing telling me.””
“But Daddy looked angry.””
I brushed her hair away from her face.
“Were you scared?””
She nodded.
“He told me to stay downstairs and not bother him.””
“When?””
“After I heard Claire laughing.””
I froze.
“Claire?””
Ava nodded.
“She came here before.””
The room went silent.
I felt like I had stopped breathing.
“Before?””
Ava looked confused.
“Yes.””
“When?””
She counted on her fingers.
“Last week.””
Last week.
I stared at my daughter.
Ava was seven years old.
She didn’t understand betrayal.
She didn’t understand affairs.
She only understood that someone was in her house who shouldn’t be there.
“How many times has Claire been here?””
Ava looked down.
“I don’t know.””
I felt my chest tighten.
I wanted to scream.
I wanted to cry.
Instead, I forced myself to stay calm.
Because Ava was watching me.
And she needed her mother.
Not a woman falling apart.
“Sweetheart, did Daddy ever tell you to keep secrets from me?””
Her fingers twisted together.
Once.
Twice.
Then she nodded.
“What kind of secrets?””
She whispered:
“About the woman who came to our house.””
The words hit like a punch.
Behind me, footsteps approached.
Ethan.
“Lauren.””
I turned.
He stopped when he saw Ava in my arms.
For a moment, he looked ashamed.
Good.
He should.
“What did you tell her?”” I asked.
His face hardened.
“Don’t do this in front of Ava.””
I stared at him.
“Do what?””
“Make me the villain without hearing the whole story.””
I almost couldn’t believe him.
“The whole story?””
Claire appeared behind him.
She had changed out of my robe.
She was wearing a black dress from a bag she must have brought.
That detail hurt more than it should have.
She had planned to stay.
She hadn’t just stopped by.
She had brought clothes.
“Lauren,” Claire said softly, “you need to understand something.””
I stepped in front of Ava.
“No.””
Claire stopped.
“You don’t get to explain my marriage to me.””
Ethan sighed.
“Claire isn’t the reason things are falling apart.””
I looked at him.
“Then what is?””
His expression changed.
Fear.
Real fear.
“I was trying to protect Ava.””
The sentence confused me.
Protect Ava?
From what?
“You brought another woman into our bedroom to protect our daughter?””
“No.””
“Then tell me.””
He looked away.
And that was when I knew.
Whatever he was hiding, he had been hiding it for a long time.
“Ethan.””
He finally looked back at me.
“There’s something you don’t know about Claire.””
I looked at the woman standing behind him.
Then back at my husband.
“Who is she?””
Claire’s face went pale.
Ethan took a breath.
“She’s not just someone I know.””
My grip tightened around Ava.
“Then who is she?””
Nobody spoke.
The clock on the wall ticked.
One second.
Two seconds.
Three.
Then Ethan said the words that changed everything.
“Claire is the person who can prove that Ava’s biological father is not me.””
The world went completely silent.
Ava looked up at me, confused.
“Mommy?””
I couldn’t move.
Couldn’t speak.
Because there was only one thought running through my mind.
For seven years, I had watched Ethan hold Ava’s hand.
For seven years, I had watched him call her his daughter.
For seven years, I believed we were a family.
And now my husband was telling me that everything I knew about my child’s life might have been a lie.
I looked at Claire.
She was crying.
Not smiling.
Not angry.
Crying.
Then she reached into her purse and pulled out a small envelope.
“I didn’t want to bring this here,” she whispered.
Ethan looked at the envelope.
“Claire, don’t.””
She ignored him.
She walked toward me.
“This is why I came tonight.””
My hands trembled.
“What is it?””
She held it out.
“A DNA test.””
I stared at the envelope.
Then at Ethan.
His face had gone completely pale.
And before I could take it, Claire whispered:
“Lauren… you need to know who Ava’s real father is.””
She placed the envelope in my hand.
But before I could open it, my phone rang.
The number on the screen was unknown.
I almost ignored it.
Almost.
Then I saw the message that came in right after.
*I know what Ethan and Claire told you. Don’t trust either of them. The truth about Ava is much worse.*
I looked up.
May you like
Ethan was staring at my phone.
And for the first time that night, Claire looked afraid of him.
