Chapter 1 - STAY AWAY FROM MY WIFE
Richard heard Claire crying before he saw her.
Then he turned the corner.
And stopped.
His pregnant wife was already on the marble floor.
Back against the dark wood wall.
Both hands protecting her belly.
Tears on her face.
Vanessa stood over her in a deep-red dress.
Dominant.
Breathing hard.
Then she saw Richard.
Her confidence disappeared.
“Wait—this isn’t what it looks like!”
Richard walked faster.
Claire looked up.
“She cornered me.”
Her voice broke.
“I was scared.”
The corridor changed.
Richard’s eyes moved from Claire’s tears to Vanessa.
Then back to the woman carrying his child.
“You stood over my wife while she was crying?”
Vanessa lifted both hands.
“She is twisting this.”
Richard stepped closer.
He did not touch her.
Did not raise his voice.
“Stay away from her.”
Vanessa’s lips trembled.
One tear appeared.
But Claire noticed something else.
Vanessa was not looking at Richard.
She was looking at the floor.
A cream envelope had fallen beside Claire’s ivory dress.
Richard saw it.
“What is that?”
Vanessa answered too quickly.
“Nothing.”
Wrong move.
That was the first crack.
Richard bent down beside Claire first.
“Are you hurt?”
Claire shook her head.
“No.”
Then looked at Vanessa.
“But she wanted me frightened.”
Silence.
Richard picked up the envelope.
Vanessa stepped forward.
“Don’t open that.”
Too fast.
Too afraid.
That was enough.
Richard broke the seal.
Inside was one document.
Already dated.
Already prepared.
At the top:
Emergency Marital Competency Review — Claire Whitmore.
Richard stopped breathing.
Claire stared at it.
“I’ve never seen that before.”
Vanessa said nothing.
Richard turned the page.
His wife had already been described as:
Emotionally unstable.
Paranoid.
Irrational during pregnancy.
Unable to make independent financial decisions.
Claire looked at Vanessa.
“You wrote my breakdown before I had one.”
Silence.
Then Richard saw the date.
The report had been created six weeks earlier.
Claire had only learned she was pregnant four weeks ago.
The corridor went dead.
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Someone had prepared to call her unstable before she even knew she was carrying a child.
And Vanessa knew exactly why.
