Chapter 2 - One Hour on the Clock.
The digital clock above the oven changed to 8:07 a.m.
Ethan had fifty-three minutes left, but he did not move toward the stairs.
He picked up the eviction notice and tore at one corner.
Skyley caught his wrist before the paper ripped.
"Destroying your copy will not erase the court record."
"This is a stunt from a disfigured woman who cannot control herself."
The word struck exactly where he intended.
Vanessa glanced at Skyley's scar and then looked down in shame.
Skyley released Ethan's wrist slowly.
"You used my injury as a weapon for eighteen months."
"I took care of you."
"You photographed my bandages for sympathy and slept with her while I was in surgery."
Vanessa's face drained of color.
"You told me the affair started after she came home."
Ethan turned on her with a warning stare.
"This is not your conversation."
"You brought her into it when you gave her my clothes."
Skyley pointed to the light blue dress.
Vanessa looked at the neckline and suddenly understood why it had fit so perfectly.
It had been tailored for Skyley before the fire.
"Take it off," Skyley said.
Vanessa flinched.
"I am not asking you to stand here undressed."
Skyley pulled a clean robe from a pantry hook and tossed it across the island.
"I am asking you to stop wearing something he stole from me."
Vanessa caught the robe with trembling hands and disappeared into the powder room.
Ethan reached for his phone.
"My attorney will have this notice canceled before breakfast."
"Call him."
Skyley's calmness unsettled him more than anger would have.
He dialed and began pacing across the sunlit tile.
Skyley opened the black card report on her tablet.
The kerosene purchase was only one item in a chain of unusual charges.
Ethan had also charged two first-class tickets to Zurich for the following evening.
One ticket carried his name, and the second carried Vanessa's.
Vanessa stared at the itinerary.
"You said we were driving to Boston after Skyley left."
"Plans changed."
"The tickets were purchased six weeks ago."
Ethan folded his arms and offered no answer.
There were payments to a private medical clinic, a locksmith, and a company called Phoenix Restoration.
The restoration company had no website, no employees, and an address belonging to a vacant warehouse.
Ethan ended his call without speaking to anyone.
"Temporary misunderstanding," he muttered.
"Your lawyer did not answer."
"He is in court."
"He was arrested at six this morning for falsifying property transfers."
The color left Ethan's face.
Skyley had not known that detail until her attorney texted it moments earlier, but she did not let surprise show.
Vanessa returned wearing the robe and carrying the blue dress over one arm.
"What is Phoenix Restoration?"
Ethan ignored her.
"Why did you buy kerosene?" Skyley asked.
"For the lake house generator."
"We sold the lake house two years ago."
The clock changed to 8:19.
Ethan stepped closer, lowering his voice.
"You do not understand what you are interfering with."
"Then explain it before your time expires."
His eyes moved toward the old brass air vent above the stove.
It was the same place the first flames had erupted eighteen months earlier.
Skyley's phone vibrated with a message from an unknown number.
You survived the first fire.
You will not survive the second.
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ONE HOUR TO VACATE | DOMESTIC SUSPENSE
