Chapter 2 - THE LOCKED BATHROOM
Claire placed the phone inside the toilet tank’s plastic cover.
Then she opened the faucet.
“No one.”
Ethan tried the handle.
“Open the door.”
“I’m using the bathroom.”
“You have thirty seconds.”
His voice had changed.
The laziness was gone.
Suspicion had replaced it.
Claire looked at her burned hand.
The skin had blistered across the palm and two fingers.
She needed a hospital.
She also needed to leave without revealing what she had copied.
Ethan struck the door with his fist.
“Claire.”
She flushed the toilet and unlocked the door.
He pushed inside immediately.
His eyes moved across the room.
“What were you doing?”
“Trying not to pass out.”
He grabbed her chin.
“Do not become dramatic.”
Claire looked directly at him.
“You burned my hand.”
“You reached toward the stove.”
The lie arrived effortlessly.
Lorraine appeared behind him wearing a silk robe.
“If she starts making accusations, call Dr. Preston.”
Claire knew that name.
Dr. Robert Preston handled private medical problems for several executives at Hale Capital.
He had once issued a false diagnosis after a senior partner assaulted an employee during a company retreat.
Claire’s fear sharpened.
They did not intend to take her to a real hospital.
Ethan released her.
“You’ll sleep in the guest room.”
Lorraine crossed her arms.
“And tomorrow, we’ll discuss your behavior.”
Claire walked slowly down the hallway.
She did not look toward the toilet tank.
When the guest-room door closed behind her, she heard Ethan lock it from outside.
The windows were sealed.
The house alarm was active.
Her injured hand had begun to swell.
For the first time that night, panic threatened to overwhelm her.
Then headlights swept across the curtains.
A vehicle stopped near the side gate.
Claire listened.
No doorbell rang.
No one knocked.
Instead, the house alarm suddenly chirped.
Mara still had the emergency access code Claire had given her years earlier.
The security panel announced that the garage door had opened.
Ethan shouted from downstairs.
“What the hell?”
Claire heard running footsteps.
Then a woman’s voice called through the house.
“Claire Morgan?”
Mara had not come alone.
Two paramedics entered behind her.
A uniformed police officer followed.
Ethan reached the staircase first.
“This is private property.”
Mara looked at him.
“I received a message requesting emergency medical assistance.”
“My wife is fine.”
The officer stepped forward.
“Then she can tell us herself.”
Ethan tried to block the staircase.
Lorraine appeared beside him.
“She is emotionally unstable.”
From behind the locked guest-room door, Claire began pounding with her uninjured hand.
“I’m locked inside!”
The officer’s expression changed.
Ethan turned toward the sound.
For one second, everyone saw the truth on his face.
Not surprise.
Not concern.
Calculation.
The officer ordered him to unlock the room.
Ethan refused.
The door was forced open.
Mara found Claire sitting on the floor with the burned hand wrapped against her chest.
One paramedic knelt beside her.
The other looked toward Ethan.
“This is a serious contact burn.”
Claire lifted her blouse slightly and removed the hidden memory card.
She placed it in Mara’s palm.
“Do not let them take this.”
Lorraine’s face went pale.
Ethan stared at the card.
May you like
Then he whispered something only Claire heard.
“You have no idea what you just started.”
