Chapter 2 - The Missing Ten Seconds.
The hospital room was too bright for secrets.
Lauren sat upright against white pillows while a fetal monitor traced steady rhythms across the screen beside her.
Nathan stood near the window, jacket removed, tie loosened, his phone still in his hand.
The physician had already examined Lauren and reassured them that the baby appeared stable.
The soreness in her leg would likely deepen before it improved, but there was no sign of a serious injury.
Lauren should have felt only relief.
Instead, the deleted security file occupied every quiet space in the room.
"Say it again."
Nathan turned from the window.
"What?"
"Who has administrator access?"
He looked tired now.
Not physically tired.
The heavier kind.
"My mother has the primary account."
"And you?"
"Secondary administrator."
"Ashley?"
"No."
Lauren watched him carefully.
"Then either your mother deleted it or Ashley used her account."
Nathan sat beside the bed.
"There's a third possibility."
Lauren waited.
"The house manager has emergency access for system maintenance."
"Caleb?"
Nathan nodded.
Caleb Ross had managed the Mitchell estate for eleven years.
He knew every contractor, every alarm code, every staff schedule, and every family preference down to which guest rooms required feather-free pillows.
Lauren had always found him courteous and almost invisible.
"Would Caleb delete footage for Ashley?"
"I don't know."
"Would he delete it for your mother?"
Nathan looked down at the phone.
"I don't know that either."
Lauren turned toward the monitor and listened to the steady beat that had calmed her since the nurse first connected it.
The sound reminded her what mattered most.
But it also sharpened her anger.
Ashley had not merely humiliated her.
She had turned Lauren's pregnancy into a weapon.
She had chosen a moment when Lauren's balance was weaker, when any fall would be frightening, and then she had smiled.
"Nathan."
"I'm here."
"I don't want to go back there tonight."
He answered without hesitation.
"We won't."
Lauren looked at him.
"Even if your mother asks?"
His expression hardened.
"Especially if she asks."
His phone rang before Lauren could respond.
Evelyn.
Nathan stared at the name for two rings, then answered on speaker.
"How is she?"
Evelyn's voice was calm.
Too calm.
"The baby looks stable."
"Thank God."
Lauren said nothing.
Nathan leaned forward.
"The security archive was deleted."
There was a brief pause.
"I know."
Lauren's eyes snapped toward him.
Nathan's face became still.
"How do you know?"
"Because Caleb told me the system reset after you left."
"A reset doesn't selectively remove one archive."
Another pause.
"Then perhaps the system malfunctioned."
Lauren closed her eyes.
Nathan did not.
"Did you delete it?"
Evelyn's voice cooled.
"No."
"Did Ashley use your account?"
"Of course not."
"Then why was administrator access detected from the foyer panel?"
Evelyn sighed.
"Nathan, this is becoming theatrical."
Lauren opened her eyes again.
The word struck her almost as sharply as the kick.
Nathan stood.
"Theatrical?"
"Ashley behaved badly."
"She kicked my pregnant wife."
"And Lauren is fine."
Nathan's hand tightened around the phone.
"That isn't the point."
"I am trying to prevent one ugly incident from destroying relationships that have existed for decades."
Lauren stared at the white blanket over her knees.
There it was.
The old family equation.
History mattered more than harm.
Appearance mattered more than truth.
Nathan spoke quietly.
"Did Ashley ask you to call me?"
Evelyn's answer came too quickly.
"No."
"Is she there?"
Silence.
Nathan gave a humorless laugh.
"Put her on."
"Nathan."
"Put her on."
A rustle sounded through the speaker.
Then Ashley's voice appeared, suddenly fragile.
"I am so sorry."
Lauren looked toward the ceiling.
Nathan did not reply.
Ashley continued.
"I panicked when you walked in."
"You lied before I said a word."
"I was scared."
Lauren's patience snapped.
"You were dancing."
The line went quiet.
Ashley inhaled softly.
"Lauren, I know you hate me."
Lauren almost laughed.
"This is not about whether I like you."
"You've always made me feel unwelcome."
"You kicked me."
"I barely touched your leg."
Nathan's eyes closed.
Ashley realized too late what she had admitted.
Lauren sat straighter.
"So you remember touching my leg."
"I didn't mean it like that."
Nathan spoke.
"We're done talking tonight."
"Nathan, please."
He ended the call.
For several seconds, neither he nor Lauren moved.
Then Lauren's phone buzzed on the bedside table.
A message from an unknown number.
She almost ignored it.
Then another arrived.
DON'T LET THEM TELL YOU THE VIDEO IS GONE.
Lauren's stomach tightened.
Nathan saw her face.
"What happened?"
She handed him the phone.
A third message appeared while he was reading.
I SAVED A COPY.
Nathan immediately typed back.
WHO IS THIS?
No answer came.
A minute passed.
Then two.
The physician returned to review Lauren's discharge instructions, forcing them to put the mystery aside.
By the time Lauren was allowed to leave, the unknown number had sent nothing else.
Nathan booked a suite at a downtown hotel under his assistant's name instead of taking Lauren to their apartment, concerned that Ashley or the family might follow.
Lauren teased him gently for being dramatic.
He did not smile.
"Someone deleted evidence inside my mother's house."
"And someone saved it."
"Which means someone expected it to disappear."
That thought stayed with Lauren during the quiet drive.
At the hotel, Nathan locked the door and checked the adjoining room before helping her settle onto the sofa.
Lauren watched him move around the suite.
He was angry, but underneath the anger she sensed something else.
Guilt.
"You knew she was obsessed with you."
Nathan stopped.
"Ashley?"
"Yes."
He sat opposite her.
"I knew she had feelings for me years ago."
"How many years?"
"Before I met you."
Lauren waited.
"Did anything happen?"
"No."
Nathan answered firmly.
Then his gaze shifted.
Lauren noticed.
"Nathan."
"Nothing happened."
"But?"
He rubbed a hand over his face.
"My mother wanted something to happen."
Lauren felt the room become smaller.
Nathan continued before she could speak.
"Ashley comes from the Grant family."
"I know."
"You know they are wealthy."
"Everybody knows that."
"What you may not know is that my father and Ashley's father planned a business merger years ago."
Lauren stared at him.
"What does that have to do with you?"
Nathan's laugh held no amusement.
"Everything, apparently."
He looked toward the dark window.
"Part of the plan was supposed to be a marriage."
Lauren went still.
"Between you and Ashley?"
Nathan nodded.
The room remained silent long enough for the city lights outside to feel very far away.
Then Lauren's phone buzzed again.
The unknown sender had returned.
This time there was an attachment.
A video file.
And beneath it, one sentence.
THE KICK ISN'T THE PART YOU NEED TO SEE.
May you like
Page
The Lie Beneath the Chandelier
