Chapter 2 - The Room They Locked
Nathan followed me upstairs.
“Claire.”
I kept walking.
“Claire, stop.”
I reached Ethan's hallway.
Nathan caught my wrist.
I looked at his hand.
He released me immediately.
“This is insane.”
“No.”
I pushed open Ethan's bedroom door.
“This is late.”
Ethan sat on the carpet beside his bed.
His knees were pulled against his chest.
He was wearing the same gray sweatshirt he had worn at breakfast.
Beside him sat a plate containing an untouched sandwich.
“Hey, sweetheart.”
He looked up.
His eyes went immediately to Nathan behind me.
His shoulders tightened.
I noticed.
Nathan noticed me noticing.
“Ethan,” Nathan said carefully.
My son looked down.
I sat beside him.
“You're coming with me tonight.”
His eyes lifted.
“Where?”
“Grandpa's apartment.”
My father had kept a small Manhattan apartment even after retiring to Connecticut.
It had remained empty since his death.
More importantly, Victoria had never had a key.
Ethan whispered, “Can I bring Rocket?”
Rocket was the battered stuffed dog he had carried since preschool.
“Absolutely.”
Nathan exhaled.
“You're taking him away from me?”
I turned toward him.
“You let your mother call him an embarrassment.”
“I didn't agree with her.”
“You didn't stop her.”
“That isn't the same thing.”
“To a frightened eight-year-old listening through an air vent, it is.”
Nathan froze.
I looked at Ethan.
His face told me everything.
“You heard them?”
He nodded.
My stomach twisted.
“Sweetheart, none of what they said was true.”
His lip trembled.
“I tried not to make noise.”
The sentence nearly destroyed me.
I took his hands.
“You never have to make yourself smaller for anyone.”
Nathan stepped forward.
“Buddy, Grandma didn't mean—”
Ethan recoiled.
Not dramatically.
Just enough.
Nathan stopped.
Then Ethan looked at me.
“Can we go before Aunt Brooke locks the hall again?”
Silence.
I felt every muscle in my body become still.
“What did you say?”
Ethan's breathing quickened.
Nathan stared at him.
“Ethan, what are you talking about?”
My son pointed toward the hallway.
“When Olivia has friends.”
I lowered my voice.
“What happens when Olivia has friends?”
His fingers tightened around Rocket.
“Aunt Brooke says I scare them.”
I swallowed.
“What does she do?”
“She makes me stay in my room.”
Nathan shook his head.
“She doesn't lock you in.”
Ethan looked at him.
“Yes, she does.”
Nathan went pale.
I stood.
I walked into the hallway.
The old bedroom doors used decorative brass keys.
I examined Ethan's lock.
Then I saw something on the outside frame.
Fresh scratches.
I pulled the door closed.
The key was already sitting in the exterior lock.
My hands became cold.
Nathan stared at it.
“That shouldn't be there.”
“No.”
I removed the key.
“It shouldn't.”
Ethan appeared behind me.
“She said if I came downstairs and scared Olivia's friends again, she'd send me somewhere for sick kids.”
Nathan's face collapsed.
“Brooke said that?”
Ethan nodded.
I looked at my husband.
“Still think I'm overreacting?”
He didn't answer.
I packed Ethan's clothes.
Rebecca's associate carried the bags downstairs.
When we reached the foyer, Brooke was standing beside Victoria.
“You cannot just take him and destroy this family.”
I walked past her.
Then Olivia spoke.
“Mom.”
Brooke turned sharply.
“Not now.”
Olivia's face was pale.
But she forced the words out.
“You should tell them about the basement camera.”
Everyone stopped.
Brooke's expression changed.
“What camera?”
Olivia looked directly at me.
“The one Uncle Nathan told Mom to remove after Ethan's accident.”
May you like
I slowly turned toward my husband.
Nathan looked like he had forgotten how to breathe.
