Chapter 2
Valentina moved Ethan inside before she asked another question.
Thomas objected immediately.
“He’s fine.”
Valentina looked at her father.
Her son was shivering beneath two towels.
“He nearly drowned.”
“He coughed.”
Thomas shrugged.
“Children cough.”
Ethan flinched.
Thomas noticed and smiled.
“Look at him. Already performing.”
Valentina’s expression became still.
“You held me back.”
“To stop you panicking.”
“My son was underwater.”
“He needs to learn.”
“What?”
“That Mommy won’t always rescue him.”
Ethan heard every word.
Valentina stepped between them.
“No more.”
Vanessa adjusted her ruined wedding gown.
“This whole thing is becoming grotesque.”
Valentina looked at her.
“You pushed him.”
“He lost balance.”
Marcus laughed through a swollen lip.
“Exactly.”
Valentina lifted the tablet.
“The recording says otherwise.”
That ended the laughter.
Inside a private sitting room, Ethan sat beside Valentina while a medic checked him.
No hospital spectacle.
No outsiders.
Only people Valentina trusted.
When Ethan finally stopped shaking, she asked:
“Where did the recording come from?”
He pointed at the tablet.
“I wanted cartoons.”
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
He frowned.
“Tablet stayed on.”
“Where?”
“Pool house.”
Thomas’s face changed.
Small.
Enough.
Ethan continued:
“Vanessa said I had to leave.”
Vanessa snapped:
“He wandered into a private conversation.”
Valentina turned.
“He’s three.”
“So?”
There it was.
The word Thomas had taught everyone around him.
Pain reduced because the victim was small.
Fear mocked because the victim was young.
Valentina pressed play.
The first clip began with clinking glasses.
Then Marcus:
“Deep end?”
Vanessa:
“Has to be.”
Thomas:
“And Valentina?”
Pause.
Then Thomas’s recorded voice:
“I’ll hold her long enough.”
Ethan grabbed Valentina’s hand.
The room became silent.
May you like
The drowning had not gone wrong.
It had happened exactly as planned.
