Chapter 4 - The Shadow at the Window
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Three days later, the hospital cleared me for discharge. Logan drove his heavy armored SUV to the private basement exit of St. Jude’s Hospital, helping me secure Lily and Noah into their infant car seats in the back.
Thomas Sterling walked alongside us, carrying my hospital bags.
"Richard and Mark were arraigned yesterday afternoon," Thomas reported as we loaded the vehicle. "My team blocked their bail request, but Denise and Carla were released on fifty thousand dollars bond this morning."
"Carla won't stop," I warned, remembering my sister-in-law's cold, calculating eyes. "She’s the one who convinced Mark to go after Ethan’s estate in the first place."
"Let them try," Logan said, shutting the heavy trunk door. "Our house is fully secured."
We drove thirty minutes out of Boise to the foothills, arriving at the private timber house Ethan and I had bought six months prior. Surrounded by tall pine trees and a ten-foot security fence, the home felt like a sanctuary.
Logan checked every perimeter sensor before helping me take the twins inside. The living room was quiet, smelling of cedar and fresh flowers that Ethan’s colleagues had sent.
I laid the sleeping twins in their crib in the primary bedroom, collapsing onto the bed beside them, exhausted from the physical toll of the C-section and the emotional storm.
At two in the morning, a soft tapping sound woke me from a light sleep.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
I sat up instantly, my pulse spiking. The room was dark, lit only by the pale moonlight streaming through the window curtains.
I crept over to the glass, pulling the curtain back an inch.
Parked on the dirt road right outside our main gate was a silver sedan with its lights off. Standing near the fence, holding a long telephoto camera lens, was a man in a dark hoodie.
May you like
He was taking photos of the nursery window.
Before I could move, Logan’s shadow glided past my bedroom door. A second later, I saw Logan sprint across the front lawn toward the gate like a hunting panther. The photographer panicked, scrambled into the silver sedan, and sped away into the night, leaving behind a cloud of dust.
