Chương 5
Lena watched him for a moment.
Then she nodded.
“Okay.”
The word was quiet.
Not agreement.
Not trust.
Something closer to a temporary alliance.
Ethan’s phone vibrated.
A message appeared from an unknown number.
The words were short.
Ask Claire what she signed before Mia was born.
Ethan read the message twice.
The first time, he thought he had misunderstood it.
The second time, the words felt heavier.
Ask Claire what she signed before Mia was born.
He locked the phone screen.
Lena watched him.
“What is it?”
He did not answer immediately.
The noise of the airport seemed to press closer.
A child cried somewhere near the security line.
A suitcase wheel rattled across the tile.
Someone laughed loudly near the coffee counter.
All of it felt distant.
“What did they send you?” Lena asked.
Ethan looked at her.
“A question.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
He put the phone in his pocket.
“Claire signed something before Mia was born.”
Lena’s expression changed.
“What?”
“That’s what they said.”
She sat back down slowly.
“Did you know about anything?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
The question irritated him.
Not because it was unfair.
Because he had been asking himself the same thing since Claire left.
“I was there when Mia was born.”
“That’s not the same thing.”
Ethan stared at her.
“You think Claire hid something from me?”
“I think someone is trying very hard to make you believe she did.”
The answer stopped him.
He expected suspicion.
He expected another mystery.
Instead, Lena sounded cautious.
Like she understood the difference between a fact and a trap.
Ethan looked at the phone again.
A part of him wanted to call Claire immediately.
Another part knew that the moment he heard her voice, everything he had been avoiding would become real.
They had not spoken since she left.
Not one conversation.
Only messages through lawyers after the custody notice arrived.
The last personal message from Claire sat unanswered in his phone.
I need time.
He had read it so many times the words had stopped feeling like language.
“Can you contact her?”
Lena asked.
Ethan looked up.
“What?”
“Claire.”
“I can.”
“Will she answer?”
He looked away.
“I don’t know.”
Lena nodded.
That small movement bothered him.
She was not judging him.
She was accepting the possibility that his life was more complicated than he wanted it to be.
The truth was, he had spent the last two weeks telling himself Claire had abandoned them because that was easier than admitting he did not understand what happened.
Anger had been simpler than confusion.
Blame had been simpler than grief.
He stood and adjusted Mia’s carrier.
“We’re leaving.”
“Where?”
“Home.”
Lena looked surprised.
“I thought you needed answers.”
“I do.”
He looked toward the exit.
“But I need to see what’s waiting for me there first.”
They walked through the airport together, but not like friends.
Not like family.
Like two people who had found themselves standing on the same side of a door they did not know how to open.
Outside, the afternoon air felt warmer than Ethan expected.
He had forgotten the weather where they landed was different.
That small detail bothered him.
He had spent so much energy watching for threats that normal things felt strange.
A taxi driver called out destinations.
A couple argued softly beside the pickup lane.
A woman balanced a sleeping toddler on one hip while trying to load bags into a car.
Life continued.
Ethan hated how normal everyone else looked.
Lena stood beside him holding her phone.
“You have somewhere safe to go?”
He looked at her.
“My house.”
“Is that where Claire lived?”
“Yes.”
“Does anyone else know you’re coming?”
“No.”
Lena hesitated.
“Maybe don’t go there alone.”
Ethan almost refused.
The old instinct came first.
He was the father.
He handled problems.
He did not need help.
Then Mia made a small sound against his chest.
He looked down.
The argument inside him disappeared.
“I’m not bringing her somewhere dangerous.”
“I didn’t say you were.”
“You were thinking it.”
“Yes.”
The honesty almost made him smile.
Almost.
“You always answer like that?”
“Only when I’m tired.”
For the first time all day, Ethan let out a small laugh.
It disappeared quickly.
But Lena noticed.
Neither of them mentioned it.
They took a taxi to the rental car area because Ethan had left his car at the airport weeks earlier when he rushed to the hospital.
The driver talked the entire way about traffic and construction.
Ethan answered with occasional sounds.
Lena stared out the window.
Neither of them seemed interested in pretending everything was normal.
At the rental counter, Ethan’s phone rang.
He looked at the screen.
Claire.
His entire body went still.
Lena noticed.
“You should answer.”
He stared at the name.
“She never calls.”
“Maybe she has a reason now.”
He accepted the call.
For several seconds, neither person spoke.
Then Claire’s voice came through.
“Ethan?”
The sound of her voice almost broke something inside him.
Not because he was happy.
Because he remembered.
“Where are you?”
Her breathing changed.
“You’re back?”
“Yes.”
A pause.
“Did you talk to anyone?”
Ethan looked at Lena.
The question was wrong.
Not unexpected.
Wrong.
“What does that mean?”
“Ethan.”
“No.”
His voice hardened.
“You called me after two weeks, and the first thing you ask is whether I talked to someone?”
Claire went quiet.
He could hear movement behind her.
A door closing.
Maybe she had stepped away from someone.
Maybe she did not want someone to hear.
“I need to see Mia.”
The anger in him shifted.
“You don’t get to disappear and then just say that.”
“I know.”
The answer was immediate.
“I know what I did.”
He closed his eyes.
That was not the response he expected.
Claire had always been good at defending herself.
Even when she was wrong.
Especially when she was wrong.
“I received a message.”
Silence.
“From who?”
“I don’t know.”
May you like
“What did it say?”
Ethan looked at Lena.
