Chapter 3
I stopped breathing.
Dad reached for the plastic cup beside my bed.
“What pills?”
“I don't have them here.”
“Where are they?” Detective Sloan asked.
“At home. Kitchen cabinet. White bottle. No label.”
Ramirez immediately stepped into the hallway and made a call.
My mind raced backward.
Every morning for two weeks, Damon had placed one capsule beside my breakfast.
He always watched until I swallowed it.
When I complained it made me sleepy, he told me pregnancy was exhausting.
Yesterday, I had hidden the capsule beneath my tongue and spit it into the sink.
That was the day I discovered his messages with Lacey.
That was the day everything exploded.
“What if I hurt my baby?” I whispered.
The nurse heard me.
“We'll run additional tests.”
Dad sat beside me.
“Look at me.”
I couldn't.
“Claire.”
Finally, I met his eyes.
“You protected your daughter the moment you realized something was wrong.”
I started crying.
“I should've realized sooner.”
“Damon worked hard to make sure you didn't.”
Detective Sloan returned to the documents.
“How long has your marriage been difficult?”
“About six months.”
“What changed?”
I thought about it.
“Money.”
Dad looked surprised.
“What money?”
“Damon started asking about my trust.”
“You never told me.”
“I thought it was normal. We're married.”
“What exactly did he ask?”
“How much was in it. When I could access it. Whether he would inherit it.”
Sloan wrote something down.
“Anything else?”
“He wanted me to sell this house.”
Dad's eyes narrowed.
“This house isn't yours to sell.”
“I know. That's why I refused.”
The house had belonged to my mother.
Before she died, she transferred it to a trust that prevented anyone from selling it without Dad's approval.
Damon hated that.
He called it humiliating.
He said a husband shouldn't have to ask his wife's father for permission.
At the time, I thought it was pride.
Now it looked different.
Much darker.
My phone vibrated.
A message from an unknown number.
I opened it.
Claire, this is Lacey. Please don't block me. Damon lied to me too.
Dad immediately said, “Don't answer.”
Detective Sloan held out her hand.
“May I?”
I gave her the phone.
Another message arrived.
I didn't know you were pregnant until two weeks ago.
Then another.
He told me the baby wasn't his.
My stomach turned.
Sloan looked at me.
“Do you want to continue receiving these?”
“Yes.”
Dad frowned.
“Claire.”
“If she knows something, I need to hear it.”
Sloan nodded.
She typed nothing.
We waited.
Lacey sent another message.
There's a storage unit. Damon made me help move boxes there.
I sat straighter.
“What storage unit?”
Sloan typed a short response asking for the location.
Lacey answered immediately.
Then she sent a photograph.
It showed a row of metal storage doors.
Unit 214.
Another photograph showed boxes inside.
One had my name written across the top.
CLAIRE - PERSONAL.
Dad stared.
“What did he take?”
I started mentally searching through the house.
“My mother's jewelry.”
“What?”
“I haven't seen it in months.”
Dad stood again.
“That jewelry was supposed to go to your daughter.”
“I thought I misplaced the case.”
Lacey sent another message.
There was also a crib.
I frowned.
“A crib?”
Dad looked at me.
“We already have a crib.”
The nursery had been finished months earlier.
Detective Sloan typed a question.
Why was there another crib?
Lacey's answer appeared.
I don't know. But Damon called the storage unit “the new place.”
Another message arrived.
He said once the baby came, everything would finally belong to him.
My hands went numb.
Dad took a slow breath.
“Detective, I want that unit searched.”
“We're already working on it.”
A doctor entered.
She looked serious.
“Claire, I have your blood results.”
My eyes immediately went to my stomach.
“Is my baby okay?”
“Her heartbeat is strong.”
I exhaled.
“But we found traces of a sedating medication in your system.”
Dad rose.
“What medication?”
The doctor gave the name.
I didn't recognize it.
Detective Sloan did.
“Can it cause confusion?”
“Yes.”
“Drowsiness?”
“Yes.”
“Memory problems?”
“In some people.”
Sloan looked at me.
“Damon may have been trying to make you appear unstable.”
My skin crawled.
Then the doctor added something that made the entire room silent.
“The amount in your blood is low now. But based on your description, you may have been receiving it repeatedly.”
Dad's face turned white.
“Could it harm the baby?”
“We're monitoring her closely.”
I covered my mouth.
My phone vibrated again.
This time the message came from Elaine.
You have no idea what you're doing.
Then another.
If Damon goes to prison, the truth about your baby comes out too.
I stared at the screen.
Dad saw it.
“What truth?”
I didn't know.
Then Elaine sent a photograph.
It was an ultrasound.
My ultrasound.
May you like
But someone had written three words across the top in red ink.
DAMON ISN'T FATHER.
