I had been home that night.
I remembered because I had fallen asleep downstairs after working late. Claire had awakened me around three and kissed my forehead while telling me I should come upstairs.
Now the camera told me Ryan had entered the house nearly two hours earlier.
The affair was not new.
Worse, they had done it while I was home.
I checked older logs.
Expanded video was unavailable.
But sensor history existed.
At 1:22 a.m. that same night, six minutes after Ryan entered, one sensor had been manually disabled.
Not the bedroom.
Not the back door.
My office.
I stared at the screen.
That office held Sentinel Ridge contracts, encrypted backup drives, client architecture files, insurance documents, and the locked cabinet containing corporate records Ryan and I normally accessed only at work.
Suddenly the bedroom was not the most important room in my house.
I looked toward the hallway.
Then back at the security log.
My wife was sleeping with my business partner.
And somehow that was no longer the worst thing I had discovered.
Chapter 3: The House Stops Cooperating
I triggered the sequence.
Every downstairs shade moved at once.
The living-room curtains closed.
The dining-room blinds dropped.
Hallway lights came on at full brightness.
A small red status light appeared on the living-room camera.
Protected recording.
Then the bedroom privacy lock released.
Silence filled the house.
Three seconds later, Claire screamed my name.
“Grant!”
I stayed seated.
The bedroom door opened slowly.
Claire appeared first.
She wore the pale nightgown she had changed into after dinner.
Her face looked completely different from the woman who had smiled while letting Ryan through the front door.
Behind her, Ryan stepped into the hallway.
He saw me.
Stopped.
Neither said anything.
I held up my phone.
The security dashboard glowed in my hand.
Claire looked at the screen.
Then at me.
“Grant…”
I cut her off.
“Which one of you wants to explain why Ryan was here three nights ago too?”
Ryan went pale.
Claire turned toward him.
That one reaction told me she had not expected me to know about the earlier visit.
Ryan took a cautious step.
“Listen.”
“No.”
My voice was quiet.
That stopped him better than shouting would have.
Claire gripped the doorframe.
“What did you do to the house?”
That question almost made me laugh.
Not what do you know?
Not are you okay?
Not why is my husband awake after I watched him eat dinner and waited for him to pass out?
The house.
That was what frightened her.
“I changed the administrator settings.”
“When?”
“Before tonight.”
Ryan glanced toward the front door.
Claire saw him.
For the first time since they stepped into the hallway, they did not look like two people protecting one secret.
They looked like two people protecting different secrets.
Claire turned toward him.
“What did you tell him?”
“Nothing.”
“You said—”
“I didn't say anything.”
“Stop.”
They both looked at me.
“I don't care which one of you thinks the other got caught first.”
Claire swallowed.
“This isn't what you think.”
I looked at the bedroom behind her.
“At least try something original.”