Ethan lifted his phone.<\/p>\n
For a moment, Victoria didn’t move.<\/p>\n
Then she whispered:<\/p>\n
\u201cEthan, don’t.\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
Victoria\u2019s lips parted, but no words came out.<\/p>\n
Ethan opened the baby-monitor app.<\/p>\n
The recording loaded.<\/p>\n
There was Victoria entering the room.<\/p>\n
There was Leo sleeping peacefully.<\/p>\n
There was the iron.<\/p>\n
Then the steam.<\/p>\n
Again.<\/p>\n
And again.<\/p>\n
Ethan\u2019s face changed.<\/p>\n
Sarah watched him silently as the video continued.<\/p>\n
Victoria leaned over the crib and whispered something that made Ethan\u2019s blood run cold.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you keep crying, your father will blame Sarah.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ethan stopped the recording.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did you just say?\u201d<\/p>\n
Victoria began shaking her head.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was angry. I didn’t mean it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou put a hot iron over my son’s crib.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn’t touch him!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou pressed the steam button three times!\u201d<\/p>\n
Victoria burst into tears.<\/p>\n
\u201cEthan, I was only trying to scare him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sarah tightened her arms around Leo.<\/p>\n
Ethan stared at his fianc\u00e9e.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
Victoria wiped her cheeks.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause he hates me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sarah looked at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe’s a baby.\u201d<\/p>\n
Victoria suddenly snapped.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe’s the reason everything changed!\u201d<\/p>\n
The room went silent.<\/p>\n
Ethan frowned.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d<\/p>\n
Victoria realized she had said too much.<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo,\u201d Ethan said. \u201cTell me.\u201d<\/p>\n
She backed away.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just meant that after Leo was born, you stopped caring about me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ethan shook his head.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat still doesn’t explain this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then Sarah noticed something on the floor beneath the crib.<\/p>\n
A small black device.<\/p>\n
She crouched and picked it up.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is this?\u201d<\/p>\n
Victoria went completely still.<\/p>\n
Ethan took it from Sarah.<\/p>\n
His expression darkened.<\/p>\n
It wasn’t a baby monitor.<\/p>\n
It was a hidden audio recorder.<\/p>\n
And it had been placed inside Leo’s nursery.<\/p>\n
Ethan looked at Victoria.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou put this here?\u201d<\/p>\n
She didn’t answer.<\/p>\n
Sarah suddenly remembered something.<\/p>\n
Two nights earlier, Victoria had asked her a strange question.<\/p>\n
\u201cDoes Ethan usually check the nursery cameras?\u201d<\/p>\n
At the time, Sarah hadn’t thought anything of it.<\/p>\n
Now she understood.<\/p>\n
Victoria hadn’t been trying to hide what she was doing from Sarah.<\/p>\n
She had been trying to find out whether Ethan would ever discover it.<\/p>\n
Ethan connected the recorder to his phone.<\/p>\n
There were dozens of recordings.<\/p>\n
He played the most recent one.<\/p>\n
Victoria’s voice filled the room.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce Sarah is blamed for hurting Leo, Ethan will fire her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another voice answered.<\/p>\n
A man’s voice.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen what?\u201d<\/p>\n
Victoria whispered:<\/p>\n
\u201cThen Ethan will finally sign everything over to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ethan froze.<\/p>\n
Sarah looked at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything?\u201d<\/p>\n
He opened another recording.<\/p>\n
Victoria’s voice came through again.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe house. The accounts. The company shares. Everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then the man’s voice asked:<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd the baby?\u201d<\/p>\n
There was a long silence.<\/p>\n
Victoria finally answered:<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce Ethan believes Sarah is dangerous, he’ll send Leo away.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ethan’s phone slipped slightly in his hand.<\/p>\n
Sarah’s face went pale.<\/p>\n
Leo whimpered against her shoulder.<\/p>\n
Ethan immediately walked toward Victoria.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou planned to take my son away from me?\u201d<\/p>\n
Victoria stepped backward.<\/p>\n
\u201cEthan, listen\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
He held up the phone.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou’ve been recording us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Victoria started crying.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn’t supposed to happen like this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sarah stared at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho is the man?\u201d<\/p>\n
Victoria said nothing.<\/p>\n
Ethan played the recording again.<\/p>\n
This time, Sarah recognized the voice.<\/p>\n
Her eyes widened.<\/p>\n
\u201cMr. Ethan\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
Sarah swallowed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’ve heard that voice before.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the house.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ethan stared at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
Sarah looked toward the hallway.<\/p>\n
\u201cThree nights ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
Victoria suddenly screamed:<\/p>\n
\u201cDon’t tell him!\u201d<\/p>\n
Everyone froze.<\/p>\n
Because that was the first time Victoria had admitted there was something else.<\/p>\n
Something much bigger.<\/p>\n
And Ethan now understood that the baby, the recordings, and the attempt to frame Sarah were only the beginning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ethan lifted his phone. For a moment, Victoria didn’t move. Then she whispered: \u201cEthan, don’t.\u201d He looked at her. \u201cWhy?\u201d Victoria\u2019s lips parted, but no words came… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":723,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-1"],"yoast_head":"\n