Victoria laughed. “Just the usual chaos. The boys were acting up again. I was correcting them.”
Ethan nodded slowly.
But his eyes flicked—just for a second—to Noah’s wrist.
Red.
Finger marks.
And in that moment, the plan formed.
Not confrontation.
Not yet.
He needed truth.
All of it.
—
That night, Ethan pretended everything was normal.
Dinner was elegant. Victoria charming. The boys quiet—too quiet.
Maya barely spoke.
But Ethan was watching.
Listening.
Recording.
Because before coming home, he had received something strange.
An anonymous message.
A short video file.
He hadn’t opened it yet.
Now, alone in his office, he pressed play.
The footage was shaky—taken from a phone.
It showed the backyard.
Victoria.
The boys.
And what followed made Ethan’s blood run cold.
Her voice—unfiltered, cruel.
“You’re just like your mother,” she spat at Liam. “Weak. Useless.”
The boy flinched.
Ethan froze.
His late wife.
The boys’ mother.
Victoria had never met her.
So how did she know how to hurt them like that?
The video ended.
Attached was one line:
“You should ask her about the accident.”
Ethan’s heart pounded.
The accident.
The car crash that killed his wife two years ago.
Ruled… unfortunate.
Unavoidable.
But suddenly—
He wasn’t sure.
—