Chapter 14 - Fifteen Minutes in the Nursery
Ethan grabbed his phone.
Vanessa saw.
"Don't."
He backed toward the stairs.
"You're not supposed to be here."
"This is my house."
"Get out."
"Where's Noah?"
Ethan's stomach tightened.
"Not here."
Vanessa smiled.
"I heard him."
Noah cried upstairs.
Ethan ran.
Vanessa followed.
He reached the nursery first and locked the door.
His hands shook as he called Daniel.
Voicemail.
Again.
No answer.
He called Laura.
The connection rang.
Vanessa slammed into the door.
"Ethan."
He dragged the changing table partly in front of it.
"Go away."
"Open the door."
"No."
Noah cried.
Ethan lifted him from the crib.
"It's okay."
The door shook.
Vanessa hit it again.
Laura answered.
"Ethan?"
"She's here."
Everything changed in Laura's voice.
"Where?"
"House."
"I'm calling police. Stay locked in."
The door frame cracked.
Vanessa struck again.
Ethan looked around.
Nursery.
One door.
Second-floor window.
No exit.
He held Noah.
"Mom."
"I'm coming."
The door burst inward.
Vanessa stumbled through.
Her face was wild.
She looked at the phone.
Then Noah.
"Give him to me."
Ethan backed away.
"No."
"Ethan."
"No."
"I am his mother."
"You kidnapped him."
"Give me my son."
She stepped forward.
Ethan moved around the crib.
Vanessa followed.
"Stop making this difficult."
"Leave."
"Your father has poisoned you."
Ethan laughed nervously.
"You did that yourself."
Vanessa lunged.
Ethan turned away.
She grabbed his hoodie.
Noah screamed.
"Let go."
"Give him to me."
"No."
Vanessa pulled harder.
Ethan kicked backward.
His heel struck the box fan Daniel had moved into the corner.
It toppled.
Vanessa looked down.
Something changed in her expression.
Ethan saw it.
"No."
She released his hoodie.
Then picked up the fan.
"What are you doing?"
Vanessa carried it toward the crib.
She plugged it in.
"Ethan."
He backed away.
She turned the fan on.
Full power.
Curtains snapped violently.
The room filled with noise.
Ethan stared.
Vanessa smiled.
"You wanted proof."
"What?"
"You spend months making me look like a monster."
"You are."
"So let's give everyone a story."
She moved toward him.
"Give me Noah."
"No."
"If you don't, I'll tell them you did this."
Ethan stared.
Vanessa reached.
He twisted away.
She grabbed Noah's blanket.
The fabric slipped.
Ethan tightened his arms.
"Stop."
Vanessa pulled again.
Noah screamed.
Then she got both hands around the baby.
For one terrifying second Noah was between them.
Ethan released one hand and grabbed Vanessa's wrist.
"You're hurting him."
Vanessa hissed.
"Let go."
"You let go."
She suddenly did.
Ethan stumbled backward with Noah.
Vanessa shoved the fan closer.
The airflow struck them.
Noah cried harder.
Ethan turned his back to shield him.
"What is wrong with you?"
Vanessa grabbed the hood.
He spun.
She slapped him across the mouth.
Pain flashed.
The taste of blood followed.
Noah screamed.
Ethan staggered.
Vanessa spat at his feet.
"Look at you."
Ethan wiped his lip.
"Touch him again."
Vanessa laughed.
"Go ahead."
She shoved him into the changing table.
Formula packets flew.
Baby wipes hit the floor.
Ethan nearly dropped Noah.
He caught himself.
The door behind them opened.
Daniel stood there.
He had returned because Rachel needed the original recorder.
He heard Noah screaming before he reached the stairs.
Now he saw everything.
Ethan.
Noah.
Vanessa.
The fan.
His son's blood.
"What the hell did you do?"
Vanessa froze.
Daniel entered.
Ethan moved away from her.
"Dad."
Vanessa lifted both hands.
"He attacked me."
Daniel looked at Ethan's split lip.
Then at the baby.
Then at the fan.
Vanessa continued.
"He brought that thing in here."
Ethan shook his head.
"No."
Daniel's breathing changed.
Vanessa sensed it.
"Daniel."
He crossed the room.
He grabbed the fan.
Ethan saw his father's face.
"Dad, don't."
But Daniel was already moving.
He ripped the plug free.
Lifted the fan.
Vanessa stepped backward.
"Daniel."
He threw it.
The fan struck Vanessa at the side of the head and shoulder.
She fell.
Everything stopped.
Daniel stared.
Ethan stared.
Noah cried.
Then Ethan said the words Daniel would remember for the rest of his life.
"You didn't believe me before."
Daniel looked at him.
"You kept telling me I misunderstood her."
The anger disappeared.
Daniel saw fear.
Not only fear of Vanessa.
Fear of him.
Daniel lowered himself slowly.
"You're right."
Ethan said nothing.
"I should have believed you."
Noah cried against Ethan's chest.
Daniel looked at Vanessa.
She was unconscious but breathing.
He did not approach her.
He called emergency services.
Then Laura.
Then Rachel.
Police arrived within minutes.
Paramedics treated Vanessa.
Her injuries were not life-threatening.
Daniel did not lie.
He told officers exactly what he had done.
"I threw the fan."
An officer asked why.
Daniel looked at Ethan.
"Because I lost control."
Ethan's eyes widened slightly.
Daniel continued.
"That part is on me."
Vanessa regained consciousness before being transported.
She pointed weakly toward Daniel.
"He tried to kill me."
Daniel did not respond.
Then one officer looked toward the corner of the nursery.
The security camera.
Daniel had installed it days earlier.
The red indicator was on.
Everything had been recorded.
The intrusion.
The struggle.
The fan.
The slap.
The shove.
Daniel's arrival.
His throw.
All of it.
For once, nobody had to rely on Vanessa's story.
For once, Ethan did not have to prove what happened with bruises, notes or memory.
May you like
The truth was already there.
And this time Daniel would face his own truth too.
