Chapter 2
I picked up the silver remote before Vanessa could move.
Her eyes followed it.
Too fast.
Too carefully.
“Ryan,” she said softly, “give that to me.”
I held Noah tighter.
“Why?”
“It fell from my pocket. It’s just the gate remote.”
“You said it wasn’t yours.”
She swallowed.
“I was confused.”
Maria coughed from the pool steps.
“She opened the gate, sir.”
Vanessa snapped, “You are lying because you almost killed my son!”
That sentence should have sounded like a mother’s rage.
It did not.
It sounded practiced.
I looked toward Mr. Alvarez.
“What did you record?”
He held his phone higher over the fence.
“Vanessa near the stroller. Gate opening. Then Maria running.”
Vanessa’s face drained.
I stepped toward the fence.
“Send it to me.”
“Already did.”
My phone buzzed.
A video arrived.
Vanessa lunged.
Not at Mr. Alvarez.
At my phone.
I turned my body away, shielding Noah.
“Do not touch me.”
She froze.
Maria climbed slowly from the pool, dripping onto the patio.
Her knees nearly buckled.
She still said, “Is baby okay?”
That made my chest tighten.
I grabbed a towel from the lounge chair and handed it to her.
Vanessa laughed bitterly.
“You are comforting the maid?”
“She saved our son.”
“She caused this!”
I opened the video.
The camera angle came from the neighbor’s second-floor balcony.
The backyard was clear.
Noah’s stroller sat locked near the shaded patio.
Maria was at the outdoor table folding baby blankets.
The side gate opened.
Vanessa stepped in from the side yard.
She looked around.
Then walked behind the stroller.
Her hand moved near the brake.
The stroller rolled.
Slowly at first.
Then faster down the slight patio slope toward the pool.
Maria turned.
Dropped the blankets.
Screamed.
Ran.
The stroller hit the pool edge and tipped.
Maria jumped in before it fully flipped.
I stopped the video.
My whole body went cold.
Vanessa whispered, “That angle is misleading.”
I looked at her.
“You were behind the stroller.”
“I was trying to stop it.”
“No. You moved away.”
“I panicked.”
“You blamed Maria before you asked if Noah was breathing.”
Her eyes filled with tears now.
Too late.
“Ryan, I was scared.”
“For yourself.”
She slapped me.
Not hard enough to hurt.
Hard enough to shock.
“Do not say that to me.”
Maria gasped.
Mr. Alvarez shouted, “I’m calling police.”
I looked at Vanessa slowly.
She had just hit me while I held our soaked baby.
Whatever doubt remained left my body.
“Good,” I said toward the fence. “Call them.”
Vanessa’s fake tears vanished.
“You are choosing a maid over your wife.”
I looked at Noah.
Then Maria.
May you like
Then the stroller.
“No,” I said. “I am choosing the person who jumped in.”
