Chapter 2 - HE CAME HOME THREE DAYS EARLYRyan appeared in the kitchen doorway carrying a military-green travel bag over one shoulder.
For the rest of my life, I would remember his face.
Not the face he made when he saw Brianna.
The face he made when he saw me.
“Claire?”
The bag hit the floor.
He crossed the room so quickly that Brianna barely had time to step aside.
Ryan dropped beside me.
“What happened?”
I tried to speak.
Nothing came out except a strangled breath.
His hand hovered over my stomach, afraid to touch me.
“Claire. Baby, look at me.”
“My water.”
His face went white.
“What?”
“My water broke.”
He reached for his phone.
Brianna stepped forward.
“She fell.”
Ryan looked at her.
The expression on his face changed instantly.
“Call 911,” he said.
“I already—”
“CALL 911!”
She flinched.
Ryan dialed himself.
I clutched his sleeve.
“The babies.”
“They’re okay.”
“You don’t know that.”
“They’re okay.”
He was lying.
I knew he was lying.
He knew I knew.
But he kept saying it.
“They’re okay. You’re okay. I’m here.”
The dispatcher answered.
Ryan gave our address and described my pregnancy.
Then he noticed my cheek.
Brianna had scratched me while grabbing my hair. A thin line of blood ran toward my jaw.
His eyes moved to my scalp.
Then to the overturned chair.
Then to Brianna.
“What happened?”
“She slipped.”
I shook my head.
Brianna saw me.
Our eyes met.
“Claire,” Ryan said, “did you fall?”
I opened my mouth.
A contraction hit so hard I screamed.
Ryan caught my shoulders.
Brianna backed toward the hall.
“I’m going to get towels.”
“No.”
Ryan’s voice stopped her.
“Stay where you are.”
She stared at him.
“What?”
“Don’t move.”
Something in his tone frightened even me.
Brianna forced a laugh.
“Ryan, she fell. I tried to catch her.”
I managed two words.
“She hit…”
Ryan lowered his face toward mine.
“What?”
“She…”
Brianna interrupted.
“She’s confused.”
Ryan slowly looked over his shoulder.
“My wife is speaking.”
For once, Brianna stayed silent.
I grabbed his wrist.
“She hit me.”
The room went still.
Ryan stared at me.
“Where?”
I put my hand over the lower half of my stomach.
He looked at Brianna.
She immediately shook her head.
“No. Absolutely not.”
“You hit her?”
“She came at me!”
I could barely believe it.
Twenty seconds earlier, I had supposedly fallen.
Now I had attacked her.
Ryan noticed too.
“You just said she slipped.”
“I panicked.”
“You said you tried to catch her.”
“I did.”
“Then how did she come at you?”
Brianna’s mouth opened.
Sirens sounded in the distance.
Ryan stood.
I had never seen him move that slowly.
“You need to leave.”
“What?”
“Get out of my house.”
“Ryan, listen to me.”
“Outside. Now.”
“I’m your sister.”
“I know exactly who you are.”
“Claire has been turning you against me for years!”
Another contraction ripped through me.
Ryan instantly dropped back to my side.
The sirens became louder.
Brianna remained frozen near the doorway.
She seemed genuinely shocked.
Not by what she had done.
By the fact that Ryan wasn’t choosing her.
Red lights flashed through the front windows.
Paramedics entered moments later.
Two women and a man crowded around me, asking questions.
“How many weeks?”
“Thirty-four plus six,” I said.
“Twins?”
“Yes.”
“Any bleeding?”
“A little.”
“Any trauma?”
I looked toward Brianna.
“Yes.”
Ryan answered at the same time.
“She was struck in the abdomen.”
One paramedic looked up sharply.
“By whom?”
Brianna stepped backward.
“That’s not what happened.”
Ryan pointed toward the foyer.
“Her.”
The paramedic’s expression changed.
Someone called the police.
They helped me onto a stretcher.
As they lifted me, I screamed again.
The contractions were now less than three minutes apart.
One medic pressed the fetal monitor against my stomach.
I watched her face.
“What?”
She adjusted it.
“What is it?”
“Stay calm.”
“Tell me.”
“We’re getting Baby A clearly.”
“And Baby B?”
She moved the sensor.
Nothing.
My heart stopped.
“Why can’t you find him?”
“We may just have positioning trouble.”
“Lucas!”
Ryan climbed into the ambulance with me.
The doors closed.
As we pulled away, I saw Brianna standing on our front porch.
A police cruiser had arrived.
An officer was speaking to her.
She was crying now.
Of course she was.
Brianna could produce tears faster than most people could produce identification.
At the hospital, everything became fluorescent lights and rushing feet.
My obstetrician, Dr. Elaine Parker, met us outside labor and delivery.
“Claire, we’re going straight in.”
“What about Lucas?”
“We found both heartbeats in transport.”
I almost sobbed from relief.
“But Baby B is showing some decelerations.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means we’re watching him very closely.”
They transferred me to a hospital bed.
A nurse cut away my dress.
A dark bruise was forming across my lower abdomen.
Ryan saw it.
His face changed.
He walked toward the wall.
For a moment, I thought he was going to punch it.
Instead, he pressed both palms against it and lowered his head.
“Ryan.”
He turned immediately.
“I’m here.”
“Don’t leave.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
A nurse attached monitors.
Two rapid heartbeats filled the room.
Sophie.
Lucas.
The most beautiful sound I had ever heard.
Then one rhythm slowed.
A machine began beeping.
Dr. Parker moved quickly.
“Claire, roll onto your left side.”
I obeyed.
Another contraction.
More beeping.
Ryan held my hand.
“What’s happening?”
Dr. Parker looked at us.
“We may need to deliver tonight.”
“They’re too early.”
“They’re premature, but thirty-four-week twins generally do very well with appropriate neonatal care.”
Generally.
I hated that word.
“Is this because she hit me?”
Dr. Parker’s eyes flicked toward the bruise.
“It’s possible the trauma triggered labor. We also need to rule out placental abruption.”
Ryan squeezed my hand.
I looked at him.
“Why are you home?”
He almost smiled.
“My meetings finished early. I wanted to surprise you.”
“You said Friday.”
“I know.”
It was Wednesday.
Three days early.
If he hadn’t come home…
I couldn’t finish the thought.
A uniformed police officer appeared outside the room.
Another stood behind her.
Ryan noticed them.
“I’ll talk to them.”
“No.”
He looked at me.
“I will.”
“Claire, you’re in labor.”
“And Brianna is probably already telling them I attacked her.”
He didn’t disagree.
The officer introduced herself as Detective Maya Reynolds.
“I can come back.”
“No,” I said. “Please stay.”
She asked whether I felt able to describe what happened.
I told her.
The money.
The locked door.
The threats.
My refusal.
The punch.
My water breaking.
The words Brianna whispered.
They’ll think you fell.
Detective Reynolds wrote everything down.
Ryan’s expression became harder with every sentence.
Then the detective said something strange.
“Mrs. Brooks, your sister-in-law claims you became physically aggressive after accusing her of stealing documents.”
I almost laughed.
Instead, I cried.
Ryan stood.
“She assaulted my pregnant wife.”
“I understand what you’re alleging, sir.”
“Alleging?”
“Ryan,” I whispered.
He stopped.
Detective Reynolds remained calm.
“There are conflicting statements. We’ll collect evidence.”
That was when I remembered.
The camera.
I sat upright too quickly.
“Ryan.”
“What?”
“The kitchen camera.”
His eyes widened.
I grabbed his hand.
“The camera recorded it.”
For the first time since he entered the kitchen, something like certainty appeared in his face.
He turned to Detective Reynolds.
“We have security cameras.”
“Interior?”
“Yes.”
“Cloud backup?”
Ryan nodded.
“My phone can access it.”
He opened the security application.
His fingers shook as he navigated through the recordings.
Then stopped.
His face drained of color.
“What?”
He stared at the screen.
“No.”
My stomach tightened.
“What is it?”
Ryan looked up.
“The kitchen camera is offline.”
Detective Reynolds stepped closer.
“Since when?”
Ryan checked.
“Fourteen minutes before Brianna arrived.”
The room went silent.
My blood ran cold.
Brianna hadn’t merely lost control.
She had planned this.
And somehow, she had known enough about our security system to disable the camera.
Or at least…
She thought she had.
Ryan stared at the screen again.
Then frowned.
“What?”
“There’s something weird.”
He tapped another menu.
“The camera is offline from the main account.”
“So?”
He looked at me.
“When I installed the system, I set up a secondary local backup.”
Detective Reynolds leaned closer.
“Where?”
Ryan swallowed.
“On the server in my office.”
He looked toward the hospital door.
“If Brianna didn’t know about that…”
May you like
The detective finished the thought.
“Then we may still have everything.”
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