Chapter 2: Ten Seconds
Mason was holding the bottle of sunscreen.
He had emptied half of it — straight down the back of Ryan's shirt.
Ryan stood there dripping, white cream soaking through the fabric, running down his neck, while every coworker on that beach stared in silence.
"Mason!" Ryan's voice cracked.
"What is wrong with you?"
Mason didn't flinch.
"You said you felt sick, Dad.
I thought you needed to cool down."
A few people looked away.
Someone coughed.
Lauren took a small step back.
Ryan grabbed Mason's arm.
"Apologize.
Right now."
"For what?" Mason said.
"You told Mom it would take ten seconds.
I just helped."
The silence that followed was worse than the screaming.
I couldn't move.
I couldn't speak.
My ten-year-old had just said out loud what every person on that beach had already seen — and Ryan knew it.
Lauren looked at Ryan.
Then at me.
Then at Mason.
She opened her mouth to say something.
But before she could speak, Ryan's phone buzzed on the lounge chair.
He glanced at the screen — and his face went completely white.
He picked it up, read the message, and looked at Lauren with an expression I had never seen on him before.
Not embarrassment.
Not anger.
Fear.
---
What was in that message — and why did Ryan look at Lauren like that?
What Claire found out next changed everything she thought she knew about that promotion.
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