Chapter 3 - The Woman Who Wanted to Replace a Child
Vanessa had been waiting in Ethan's study for nearly twenty minutes when he entered.
She immediately rose from the leather sofa.
“Finally. Are you going to let that nanny ruin our lives?”
Ethan closed the door.
“Sit down.”
Her expression changed.
She was accustomed to Ethan being patient, even when she was unreasonable. He had always believed that arguments could be settled through conversation.
But the man standing before her now looked like someone she had never met.
“Did you throw Lily's ball into the pond?”
Vanessa crossed her arms.
“She was being difficult.”
“She is two.”
“And already spoiled rotten.”
“Did you knock over her chair?”
Vanessa gave a dismissive laugh.
“It was an accident.”
“Did you hit Maria?”
“She grabbed me first!”
“Maria was holding my daughter.”
Vanessa's mouth tightened.
“You're making me sound like a monster.”
“No. I'm asking you questions.”
She stepped toward him, softening her voice.
“Ethan, darling, you know how much I love you. This entire day has been exhausting. I was trying to teach the child a little discipline, and your nanny attacked me.”
“Then why did you threaten Maria's brother?”
For the first time, Vanessa had no immediate answer.
Ethan watched the silence stretch between them.
Finally, she sighed.
“I may have said something I shouldn't have.”
“You threatened to destroy someone's livelihood because she wouldn't let you mistreat my daughter.”
“I was frustrated!”
“Frustration doesn't explain cruelty.”
Vanessa's eyes flashed.
“You have no idea what it is like to live in this house! Every room belongs to Lily. Every conversation returns to Lily. Even our engagement plans have been delayed because you insist on arranging your entire life around a child who won't remember half of it!”
Ethan stared at her in disbelief.
“She is my daughter.”
“And I was supposed to become your wife!”
“You were supposed to become part of this family.”
Vanessa's face twisted.
“Then choose. Her or me.”
The words hung in the air.
Ethan remembered the first time Vanessa had met Lily. She had arrived with expensive toys and a beautiful pink dress, smiling for photographs while Ethan's late wife, Olivia, was still being mourned.
At the time, he had mistaken Vanessa's polished charm for kindness.
Now he wondered whether he had ever truly known her.
“My daughter is not competing with you,” he said. “But you seem determined to make her your enemy.”
Vanessa grabbed her handbag.
“If you cancel this engagement over a tantrum, you'll regret it.”
“The engagement is over.”
Her face went white.
“You can't be serious.”
“Your belongings will be packed. You will leave the estate tonight.”
She stared at him, waiting for him to take it back.
He didn't.
As she stormed toward the door, she turned one final time.
“You think you're protecting her? Ask your precious nanny what happened the night Lily was taken to the emergency room last winter.”
Ethan froze.
“What are you talking about?”
But Vanessa was already walking away.
For several seconds, he couldn't move.
Lily had been taken to the emergency room last winter after a fall in the nursery. He had been told she rolled off a low bed while playing.
The doctor had found bruising on her upper arm, but Ethan had accepted the explanation that she had bumped into a toy chest.
He had been overseas when it happened.
And Vanessa had been the one who called him.
Ethan opened the study door.
“Maria!”
The nanny appeared at the end of the hallway.
He looked at her carefully.
“What happened to Lily last winter?”
May you like
Maria's face crumpled.
And Ethan knew the truth was worse than he had imagined.
