Chapter 4 - Margaret had been watching her for weeks
Margaret and I did not begin as natural allies.
When I first married Ethan, she was cool, formal, and careful in a way that made me feel inspected. She wasn’t rude, but she was a woman who had spent most of her life protecting the Carter name, and she liked to be certain of people before she trusted them. I understood it, even when it irritated me.
The change began slowly once I got pregnant. Margaret saw the worst of my first-trimester nausea, the way I still tried to smile through exhaustion, the way I handled family strain without putting Ethan in the middle. More importantly, she started seeing Chloe clearly.
Twice in the month before the attack, Margaret found Chloe inside parts of the estate where she had no business being. Once it was Ethan’s study, where she claimed she was “just looking for a charger.” Another time it was the upstairs family office, where she said she had gotten lost looking for the powder room. The estate was big, but not that confusing.
Margaret didn’t accuse her immediately. She watched.
Then she noticed other things. Chloe asking casual questions about Ethan’s travel schedule. Chloe wanting to know whether the nursery would be in the east wing or the main family suite. Chloe making snide comments about how “exhausted” I looked, as if she were waiting for motherhood to weaken me into something she could use.
A week before the attack, Margaret told Ethan privately that Chloe needed to stop staying over at the estate so often. Ethan agreed in principle but made the mistake of softening the conversation. He told Chloe she should take some space. Chloe cried, apologized, blamed stress, and somehow managed to stay close enough to keep circling our lives.
Margaret never bought the apology.
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On the morning she fired the flare, she found the first piece of proof that told her this was more than jealousy.
It was in Chloe’s overnight bag.
