Chapter 6 - The Unexpected Arrival|
Ethan and Madison walked confidently toward our booth, but the bright smiles on their faces completely froze the moment they noticed the freezing glare from my parents and the thick stack of financial documents sitting prominently on the table.
"Oh, you're all having breakfast here?" Ethan spoke up.
He desperately tried to keep his tone as natural and casual as possible.
"Madison and I just happened to be passing by. She was feeling a bit under the weather last night, so I took her home. I didn't expect to run into everyone here," he continued.
"That's right," Madison chimed in.
She played the role of the innocent, fragile sister to absolute perfection.
"Big sister, I am so sorry for ruining your party last night. I just felt so dizzy all of a sudden," she added.
I leaned back in my seat, slowly intertwining my fingers on my lap.
"Dizzy?" I repeated her word, my voice completely devoid of any emotion. "Did that dizziness require Ethan to use his mouth to cure you right there in the parking garage?"
Madison gasped, her mouth falling open as the color instantly drained from her face. Ethan took a half-step backward, sheer panic beginning to rise visibly in his eyes.
"Claire, what are you talking about?" Ethan stammered. "That was just a misunderstanding. I was just... checking her eye because some dust flew into it."
That blatant, pathetic lie echoed in the absolute silence of the diner. My father gripped his ceramic coffee mug so tightly that his knuckles turned white, and I genuinely feared the cup would shatter in his bare hand.
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"A misunderstanding worth $38,600 from the company's funds," I replied coldly, pointing a manicured finger at the expense reports. "I know everything, Ethan. And both of you are going to pay for this, down to the very last penny."
Suddenly, a sharp, excruciating pain shot through my lower abdomen. I clutched my stomach, cold sweat immediately breaking out across my forehead. The extreme stress had triggered a terrifying complication. The baby inside me was screaming.
