Chapter 11 - The Glass Door
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"Get away from the door, Claire," Ethan said, his voice cold as granite, stepping forward to block her view of the couch.
"You think you're so smart, don't you, Ethan?" Claire sneered, stepping into the room. The brass poker gleamed in the white beam of his phone flashlight. "The great Ethan Caldwell. The brilliant CEO. You didn't notice a single thing for eighteen months! You were so easy to fool!"
"I was blind," Ethan acknowledged freely, his eyes tracking the distance between them. "I trusted you with my family. That was my mistake. But it ends tonight."
"It ends when I say it ends!" she shrieked, swinging the brass poker with wild, desperate force toward his head.
Ethan ducked left. The heavy brass bar crashed into the wooden doorframe with a deafening CRACK, sending splinters flying into the air.
Maddie woke up with a sharp gasp. "Daddy?!"
"Stay down, Maddie!" Ethan roared, grabbing Claire’s wrist with his left hand and twisting it backward.
Claire screamed in pain, dropping the heavy poker onto the carpet, but she immediately lashed out with her manicured fingernails, clawing at Ethan’s face.
Ethan didn't feel the scratches. The adrenaline coursing through his veins was pure fire. He shoved her backward with all his weight.
Claire stumbled back out into the dark hallway, crashing hard into the glass display cabinet that held Emma's antique porcelain collection.
The glass shattered in a thunderous explosion, sending shards raining down across the floor.
Claire fell onto her hands and knees among the broken glass, gasping for air, her blue dress torn, her hand bleeding from a deep cut.
"You ruined everything!" she sobbed hysterically, wiping blood from her cheek. "I was supposed to have half of everything! I deserved it!"
From the bottom of the grand staircase, heavy boots began pounding up the steps.
Flashlights swept across the dark walls.
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"POLICE! STAY WHERE YOU ARE!" shouted a deep voice.
Frank Miller and four armed Lake Forest police officers burst onto the second-floor landing, their weapons raised, illuminating the hallway in blinding tactical light.
