Chapter 8 - A House Made of Glass
Mara dragged Alice through the smoke while Ethan carried the metal safe under one arm. Claire followed with one hand against the wall and the other cradling her stomach. The fire had started in three places at once, too coordinated to be accidental.
Outside, the night air felt sharp and clean. Firefighters rushed toward the building, but the flames were already consuming the roof. Daniel’s voice continued through the speakers until a cable snapped and the sound dissolved into static.
Alice clutched Rosa’s birth certificate.
“He knew I would come here.” “He wanted you to come,” Ethan said.
Mara turned toward the burning shelter.
“The recorder is still inside.”
Ethan shook his head.
“We have enough to prove the fire was deliberate.” “We have a safe and a birth certificate,” Mara said.
“Not enough to stop a county board.”
Claire looked back at the building. In one window, a shadow moved against the orange glow. Someone was watching them.
She pointed.
“There.”
Mara and Ethan ran around the side of the shelter. A figure emerged from a rear door carrying a black case. Mara pursued him through an alley, but he threw the case into a waiting car and escaped.
The license plate had been removed. Back at Sentinel Ridge, the team examined the safe. It contained several lists of payments, but most names were coded.
The digital recorder was damaged by heat, though one file could still be recovered. Vivian’s voice came through in fragments.
“Claire’s medical file... the doctor... if she refuses, the report must say...”
Static swallowed the rest. Dr. Lena Ortiz arrived before midnight. She listened to the damaged file without speaking.
When it ended, she took off her glasses.
“Vivian contacted my office six weeks ago,” she said.
Claire felt cold.
“Why?” “She said you were having panic episodes.
She asked whether I would sign a statement recommending that Daniel manage your financial affairs temporarily.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Did you tell Daniel?”
“I told him I could not discuss your care without your consent.”
Claire believed her, but something in the doctor’s hesitation made Ethan look up. Dr. Ortiz lowered her voice.
“There is more. Someone accessed your prenatal records using a staff password. The entries were not changed, but the access occurred after midnight on three separate dates.”
Mara’s eyes narrowed.
“Can the hospital identify the device?”
“Not from the records I received.”
Claire remembered the photograph taken from inside her hospital room.
“Daniel was not supposed to be there.” “He wasn’t,” Dr. Ortiz said.
“But Vivian volunteers at the hospital foundation. She has a badge.”
The room fell silent. The family had not merely been watching Claire at home. They had been watching her everywhere.
Mara placed a small recorder on the table.
“We can use that.” “Use what?” Claire asked.
“The hospital foundation is hosting a donor luncheon tomorrow. Vivian will attend.”
Ethan rejected the idea immediately.
“Claire is not going near her.”
Claire turned to him.
“If Vivian believes she still controls me, she’ll talk.”
“She’ll hurt you.”
“She already is.”
They prepared a plan that depended less on confrontation than on observation. Claire would attend the luncheon with a visible security escort but no recording device she could be accused of hiding. Mara would monitor from a nearby service corridor.
Ethan would remain outside. Vivian greeted Claire at the entrance with a hug that never touched her body.
“You look exhausted,” she whispered.
“Are you taking your medication?”
“I’m taking what my doctor prescribed.”
“You know, confusion can be a warning sign.”
Claire smiled.
“So can manipulation.”
Vivian’s fingers tightened around her arm.
“Daniel wants to forgive you.”
“Daniel wants the land.”
The smile vanished. They moved to a quiet balcony overlooking the ballroom. Vivian spoke in a low voice, certain that the music would cover them.
“You have no idea what will happen if you keep fighting,” she said.
“The child will be born into chaos. You’ll be declared unfit, and Ethan will be blamed for turning you against your husband.”
“Who will declare me unfit?”
“People who know you.”
“People you pay?”
Vivian leaned close.
“Daniel is not the one who should frighten you.”
Claire felt the baby shift.
“Then who is?”
Vivian looked past her toward the ballroom. Silas Venn stood near the stage, speaking with Grant.
“The man your father tried to expose,” Vivian whispered.
“He believes Coyote Wash belongs to him.”
“Why tell me?”
“Because if you sign, he may let you live.”
Claire’s heart slammed against her ribs. Vivian walked away before Claire could respond. Mara’s voice came through the earpiece.
“We got it. Every word.”
May you like
But then the lights in the ballroom went dark. When they came back on, Claire’s purse was open. Inside was a photograph she had never seen.
It showed her father standing beside a burned truck. Written across the image in red ink were five words. YOUR BROTHER LEFT HIM THERE.
