Chapter 20 - Shadows on the Lawn
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Tessa stared at me, her hands trembling at her sides.
"You ruined everything, Ian. You think you won, but you destroyed this family."
"No, Tessa," I said quietly.
"I protected my wife and my child. That's what a real man does."
I turned around and walked out of the store, leaving her standing alone among rows of display chairs.
Life moved forward. Spring turned into summer.
Lily began crawling around our living room, her small hands grabbing onto our furniture as she pulled herself up to stand.
Clare and I watched her with endless joy.
The house on Brookfield Avenue remained sold, my parents remained in their apartment, and Tessa remained distant.
On a rainy Tuesday evening, while Clare was putting Lily to sleep upstairs, I sat in my home office looking through financial reports.
My phone chimed on the desk.
It was an text message from an unknown, unlisted number.
I opened the message.
It was a single photo.
The photograph showed the exterior of my own house, taken from the dark street outside my driveway.
Beneath the photo was a single line of text:
Comfort is just temporary.
I stood up from my desk, walked over to the window, and pulled back the blinds.
May you like
Outside, rain was falling steady against the glass.
Down at the corner of the street, under the dim glow of a streetlight, a dark sedan was idling with its headlights turned completely off.
