Chapter 5 - The Woman Who Wanted My Place
We were moved before sunrise.
Not back to the Blackwood mansion.
Ethan knew I would refuse.
Instead, Daniel arranged a private floor inside one of Blackwood Holdings’ downtown residential buildings.
The official records showed the floor under renovation.
In reality, it had been converted years earlier into a secure emergency residence.
Reinforced elevators.
Independent power.
Private medical equipment.
Two escape routes.
A security team Ethan personally selected.
I hated every inch of it.
Not because it was uncomfortable.
Because it looked exactly like what my life had become.
A beautiful cage.
At six in the morning, I stood beside the windows overlooking Chicago while Ethan argued with Daniel in the hallway.
“I want every employee re-vetted.”
“We’re already doing it.”
“Do it again.”
“We have three hundred people with possible access.”
“Then start with the people who knew about the safe house.”
“That list includes you.”
“Excellent. Investigate me too.”
I almost smiled.
The baby shifted.
Then a sharp tightening wrapped around my stomach.
I held the windowsill.
Not again.
The contraction lasted forty seconds.
Then faded.
I told no one.
At eight, Ethan entered carrying coffee.
He placed one cup beside me.
“Decaf.”
“I’m capable of ordering coffee.”
“I know.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Because I’m learning.”
I looked at him.
His injured shoulder was immobilized beneath his sweater.
“You should be resting.”
“So should you.”
“I wasn’t shot.”
“You’re growing an entire person.”
“Fair.”
We sat across from each other.
For a strange moment, it felt almost like the early years of our marriage.
Before everything became difficult.
Before fear and pride took over.
“Tell me about Marcus,” I said.
Ethan’s expression changed.
“What do you want to know?”
“Everything.”
He leaned back carefully.
“My grandfather built the organization after World War II. My father inherited it. Marcus believed he should have.”
“Because?”
“He was older.”
“So why didn’t he?”
“My grandfather didn’t trust him.”
“Apparently with good reason.”
“Yes.”
“When your father died, why didn’t Marcus take over?”
“Because the organization chose me.”
“You were seventeen.”
“Twenty-one when I formally took control.”
“What happened during those four years?”
His face became unreadable.
“Marcus trained me.”
The answer chilled me.
“The man who killed your father raised you.”
“Yes.”
“Did you know then?”
“No.”
“When did you find out?”
“Six months ago.”
“Who told you?”
“Andrew Reed.”
Vanessa’s brother.
Everything connected.
“Andrew found records?”
“Yes. Payments made twenty years ago to the man who planted the explosives on my father’s boat.”
“And then Andrew was killed.”
“Three weeks later.”
My stomach tightened again.
This one stronger.
I breathed carefully.
Ethan noticed.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“That wasn’t nothing.”
“Pregnancy.”
He stood.
“Claire.”
“Sit down before you reopen your shoulder.”
He remained standing.
“When was the last contraction?”
I stared at him.
“How do you know it was a contraction?”
“I spent most of yesterday reading.”
Despite myself, I laughed.
He looked offended.
“You read?”
“Apparently shocking.”
“How many baby books?”
“Four.”
“In one night?”
“I skim quickly.”
Another contraction started.
I closed my eyes.
This one lasted longer.
Ethan immediately crouched beside me.
“Claire.”
“Time it.”
He looked at his watch.
When it ended, he said, “Fifty-two seconds.”
“That’s fine.”
“How far apart?”
“I don’t know.”
His expression sharpened.
“You had others?”
“One.”
“When?”
“Before breakfast.”
“Claire.”
“Don’t become unbearable.”
“I am already unbearable.”
That made me laugh again.
Which somehow made the situation more frightening.
He called Hannah.
She came within thirty minutes.
After examining me, she frowned.
“Your cervix has changed slightly.”
My heart sank.
“Meaning?”
“Meaning I want you resting.”
“Hospital?”
“Not yet. You have medical equipment here, and I can arrange nursing coverage.”
Ethan looked at her.
“If she needs a hospital, we go.”
“I know.”
Hannah looked amused.
“You’ve become an obstetrician overnight?”
“He read four books,” I said.
Hannah nodded solemnly.
“Terrifying.”
Ethan ignored both of us.
After she left, I was ordered to bed.
I hated it.
At noon, Vanessa arrived under guard.
Ethan immediately objected.
“She shouldn’t be here.”
Vanessa’s face hardened.
“I’m the reason you’re going to find Marcus.”
That silenced him.
She placed a folder on the table.
“My brother kept records.”
Ethan opened it.
Inside were shipping manifests.
Names.
Container numbers.
Dates.
Payments.
“I found these in a storage unit.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t know they existed until yesterday.”
“How?”
“A lawyer called me.”
“Whose lawyer?”
“Andrew’s.”
Vanessa sat down.
“He left instructions. If he died and I was ever threatened, the lawyer was supposed to release a key.”
Daniel examined the documents.
“This could prove the trafficking operation.”
“It can prove more.”
Vanessa removed a flash drive.
“My brother recorded conversations.”
Ethan stared at it.
“With Marcus?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
She hesitated.
“My mother.”
Ethan froze.
“Your mother?”
I sat forward despite Hannah’s orders.
“What does Eleanor have to do with this?”
Vanessa looked at Ethan.
“I don’t think she knew what Marcus was actually moving through the ports.”
“But?”
“She knew he was using foundation accounts.”
We listened to the recordings.
Eleanor’s voice was unmistakable.
She spoke about investigators.
Claire.
The divorce.
Protecting the family’s reputation.
Marcus reassured her that he would “handle the Bennett problem.”
My stomach turned.
Ethan’s face became stone.
Then another recording played.
Marcus:
Once the girl is out, we move the next phase.
Eleanor:
Do not hurt her.
Marcus laughed.
No one said anything about hurting her.
Eleanor:
I mean it.
Marcus:
Of course.
The recording ended.
Ethan stood.
“She gave him access.”
Daniel nodded.
“She didn’t know what he planned.”
“I don’t care.”
I looked at him.
“Ethan.”
“She put you in his hands.”
“She thought she was investigating me.”
“She wanted to destroy your reputation so I would pay you less.”
“Yes.”
“That is not better.”
“No.”
Vanessa shifted in her chair.
“There’s more.”
We looked at her.
Her eyes were red.
“I lied before.”
Ethan’s expression sharpened.
“About what?”
“The messages.”
My heart stopped.
“What about them?”
“Not all of them were fake.”
Silence.
Vanessa looked at me.
“The first message after the anniversary was mine.”
I already knew that.
“The one about feeling safe.”
“Yes.”
“The jacket photo?”
“Mine.”
“The necklace?”
She swallowed.
“Mine.”
I felt stupid all over again.
“You said it belonged to a client.”
“I lied.”
Ethan stood so quickly the chair moved backward.
“Vanessa.”
She flinched.
“You gave her that necklace?”
I asked.
Ethan’s anger became confusion.
“No.”
Vanessa looked down.
“I bought it.”
“With what money?”
“My brother left me money.”
“You told me Ethan gave it to you.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Tears filled her eyes.
“Because I wanted you to leave him.”
There it was.
Simple.
Ugly.
Human.
“You wanted my husband.”
“Yes.”
“You wanted me to think he was cheating.”
“Yes.”
Ethan looked murderous.
“I should have fired you.”
“Yes.”
“You knew she was pregnant?”
Vanessa’s face changed.
“What?”
“You knew?”
“No.”
I studied her.
She looked genuinely stunned.
“Then who photographed my vitamins?”
“I don’t know.”
Daniel looked at Ethan.
“Someone else.”
The conspiracy grew larger again.
Vanessa wiped her eyes.
“I was jealous. I was cruel. But I didn’t try to kill her.”
I believed her.
I didn’t forgive her.
Those were different things.
“Why tell us now?”
“Because my brother died because he waited too long to tell the truth.”
She looked at me.
“And because I almost became the kind of person who destroys another woman and calls it love.”
I said nothing.
Ethan did.
“You’re done working for me.”
Vanessa nodded.
“I assumed.”
“You’ll be protected until this ends.”
“I don’t deserve that.”
“No. But Andrew did.”
Vanessa cried then.
Quietly.
I turned away.
Hours later, Eleanor arrived.
Ethan nearly refused to let her enter.
I told him to let her.
She entered my bedroom and stopped beside the door.
No expensive coat this time.
No jewelry.
She looked tired.
“Claire.”
“What did you think Marcus meant by handling me?”
Her face tightened.
“I thought he would find evidence.”
“Of an affair.”
“Yes.”
“An affair that didn’t exist.”
“Yes.”
“Why hate me that much?”
Her eyes met mine.
“I didn’t hate you.”
“You have an unusual way of showing affection.”
“I thought you made Ethan weak.”
Ethan stood near the window.
His face darkened.
Eleanor continued.
“He was different after he married you.”
“How?”
“He hesitated.”
I almost laughed.
“He became careful. He stopped retaliating immediately. He started selling businesses his father built. He stopped allowing certain activities in the ports. Men questioned whether marriage had softened him.”
“And you thought that was bad.”
“I thought softness could get him killed.”
I looked at Ethan.
The same belief again.
Love equals weakness.
Information kills.
Silence protects.
This family had been poisoning itself with fear for generations.
Eleanor looked at my stomach.
“Then I discovered you were leaving him.”
“You mean after he asked for a divorce.”
“Yes.”
“I wanted to know why.”
“So you hired Marcus.”
“I made the worst mistake of my life.”
Ethan laughed without humor.
“That competition is crowded.”
She looked at him.
“I am sorry.”
He turned away.
I believed her apology.
That did not make trust magically return.
Before Eleanor left, she approached my bed.
“May I ask something?”
“What?”
“Boy or girl?”
“I don’t know.”
She nodded.
“I hope I’m allowed to meet them.”
I studied her.
“That depends on what kind of grandmother you decide to become.”
Her eyes filled slightly.
“Fair.”
After she left, Ethan remained.
“You didn’t have to give her that.”
“I didn’t give her anything.”
“You gave her a possibility.”
“Possibilities aren’t promises.”
He nodded.
Another contraction came.
This one made me gasp.
Ethan immediately pressed the call button.
Hannah arrived ten minutes later.
Then everything changed quickly.
My blood pressure had risen.
The contractions were stronger.
The baby’s heartbeat dipped during one of them.
Hannah’s face became serious.
“We’re going to the hospital.”
Fear exploded through me.
“I’m only thirty-three weeks.”
“I know.”
“No.”
“Claire.”
“No.”
Ethan took my hand.
I pulled away instinctively.
Then another contraction hit.
I grabbed him.
Hard.
He let me crush his fingers.
“We’re not having the baby tonight,” I whispered.
His face went pale.
“No.”
“You don’t know that.”
“No.”
His other hand covered mine.
“But whatever happens, I’m here.”
The ambulance took us through a private entrance.
By midnight, medication had slowed the contractions again.
But Hannah was no longer relaxed.
“You stay admitted.”
“For how long?”
“Until I’m comfortable sending you home.”
“That could be days.”
“Yes.”
I groaned.
Ethan sat in the chair beside the bed.
“You’ll survive.”
“You’re enjoying this.”
“I am enjoying the part where professionals prevent you from ignoring medical instructions.”
I threw a pillow at him.
He caught it.
For one brief moment, we were laughing.
Then his phone rang.
Daniel.
Ethan answered.
Listened.
His face changed.
“What location?”
He stood.
“I’m coming.”
I immediately knew.
“Marcus.”
He looked at me.
“We found his base.”
“You’re not going.”
“I have to.”
“You were shot yesterday.”
“Shoulder.”
“People die from shoulders?”
“That isn’t how anatomy works.”
“Ethan.”
He stopped joking.
“If we don’t move now, he disappears.”
I hated that I understood.
I hated even more that I was afraid.
He approached the bed.
“I’ll come back.”
“You said that last time.”
“And I did.”
“Bleeding.”
“Still counts.”
My eyes burned.
“You are impossible.”
“I know.”
He hesitated.
Then bent and pressed a kiss against my forehead.
The first kiss he had given me in three months.
He froze afterward, as if surprised by his own action.
So did I.
“Come back,” I whispered.
His gray eyes held mine.
“I will.”
He left.
At 2:43 a.m., I woke to footsteps outside the room.
A nurse entered.
At least, she wore a nurse’s uniform.
But I had never seen her before.
She smiled.
“Time for your medication.”
Something inside me became cold.
“What medication?”
“For the contractions.”
“Hannah said nothing until four.”
The woman’s smile disappeared.
Her hand moved into her pocket.
I screamed.
She lunged.
I threw the water pitcher.
It struck her shoulder.
The door opened.
A Blackwood guard rushed in.
The woman pulled a gun.
One shot exploded.
The guard fell.
I tried to get out of bed.
The woman grabbed my arm.
“Come with me.”
“Go to hell.”
She pressed the gun against my side.
“Marcus wants the baby alive.”
My blood froze.
Then I realized what she hadn’t said.
He didn’t necessarily want me alive.
May you like
And Ethan was miles away.
Exactly where Marcus had wanted him.
