Chapter 2: Ask About Marcus
The valet pulled up the footage on his phone.
Everyone standing outside could see it clearly.
Vanessa locking the door.
Noah's small face appearing at the window.
Her turning away without looking back.
Then walking inside, laughing with the others.
My hands were shaking.
"That's not what it looks like," Vanessa said.
"Then tell me what it looks like," I said.
She opened her mouth.
Closed it again.
My mother stepped forward.
She had followed us outside without me noticing.
"This isn't the first time," she said quietly.
Vanessa's eyes snapped toward her.
"Stay out of this."
"I saw her last week," my mother continued, her voice steady.
"Noah was crying in the hallway.
She walked past him and closed the bedroom door."
I looked at Vanessa.
She didn't deny it.
She just stared at my mother with something cold in her eyes.
Then she said, very quietly, "You have no idea what that child is like when you're not around."
The words hit me like ice water.
Because the way she said it — it wasn't a defense.
It sounded like a warning.
And then my phone buzzed.
A message from a number I didn't recognize.
Three words.
*Ask about Marcus.*
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Who is Marcus — and what does he have to do with Noah?
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What Vanessa said next made my stomach drop.
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