CHAPTER 1 — THE WOMAN IN RED
The first thing Ethan Blackwood saw was his pregnant wife lying on the marble floor.
Claire’s cream-colored dress had twisted around her legs. One hand was pressed against her stomach, while the other reached weakly toward the chair beside her.
Standing only a few feet away was Vanessa Vale.
Her red silk gown was flawless. Her diamond earrings still caught the chandelier light. Most disturbing of all, she was smiling.
“Claire!” Ethan dropped to his knees.
Claire’s face had gone pale. Her breathing came in short, uneven bursts.
Vanessa slowly folded her arms.
“She lost her balance,” she said. “I tried to catch her.”
Ethan looked at the overturned chair.
It had not simply fallen backward. One of its legs had been dragged several feet across the polished floor, leaving a thin black mark.
Claire tightened her fingers around Ethan’s wrist.
“She pulled it away,” Claire whispered.
Vanessa’s smile disappeared.
“That’s not what happened.”
“You told me my baby would never inherit this family,” Claire said.
Ethan rose slowly.
For years, Vanessa had been welcomed into every Blackwood gathering. Her father, Marcus Vale, controlled the finances of the Blackwood Foundation. Before Ethan met Claire, both families had expected Ethan and Vanessa to marry.
But Ethan had never seen Vanessa look afraid.
Until now.
“Why were you alone with her?” Ethan asked.
Vanessa lifted her chin.
“She asked to speak with me privately. She was upset. Emotional.”
Claire tried to sit up, then gasped and clutched her stomach.
Ethan immediately turned back to her.
“Call an ambulance,” he ordered.
Vanessa reached for her phone, but Claire shook her head.
“Not her phone.”
Ethan stared at his wife.
Claire’s eyes were filled with something deeper than pain.
Fear.
As hotel employees rushed into the corridor, Vanessa stepped away from the chair.
“She is confused,” Vanessa said. “You know how she has been lately.”
Ethan ignored her and lifted Claire carefully into his arms.
As he carried her toward the elevator, Claire pressed her lips close to his ear.
“Vanessa knows where your father is.”
Ethan nearly stopped walking.
His father, Daniel Blackwood, had died in a private plane crash nineteen years earlier.
There had been no survivors.
“What did you say?”
Claire’s eyes began to close.
“Your father didn’t die in that plane.”
The elevator doors opened.
Before entering, Ethan glanced back at Vanessa.
She was no longer watching Claire.
She was staring upward.
Ethan followed her gaze and saw a security camera mounted directly above the corridor.
A small red light blinked beneath its lens.
Vanessa had realized the entire incident had been recorded.
But instead of panicking, she gave Ethan a cold, knowing smile.
May you like
Then she silently mouthed four words.
Go ahead. Watch it.
