Chapter 8
The next two weeks were chaos.
Everything happened very fast.
Ethan’s lawyers filed motion after motion.
They tried to get the evidence thrown out.
They tried to discredit Rebecca.
They tried to paint Lily as a gold digger and me as a manipulative father using his daughter for money.
But the evidence was too strong.
And the public had already made up their minds.
Ethan Sterling was the villain.
Lily was the victim who had found her courage.
And I was the father who would burn the world down for his child.
People loved it.
The story went viral.
#JusticeForLily trended worldwide.
Women came forward with their own stories about Ethan.
Former employees.
Business partners.
Ex-girlfriends.
Each one added another brick to the wall we were building around him.
His company’s stock plummeted.
Board members resigned.
Sponsors dropped him.
The man who had everything was losing it all, one day at a time.
And he was getting desperate.
He called Lily once.
She didn’t answer.
He sent letters.
Emails.
Messages through mutual friends.
First, he begged.
Said he was sorry.
Said he’d change.
Said he’d give her anything she wanted if she’d just come back.
When that didn’t work, he threatened.
Said he’d ruin us.
Said he’d take Carter Industries down with him.
Said if he was going down, we were all going down together.
Marcus took the threats seriously.
He doubled Lily’s security.
He added security at my house.
He even assigned someone to watch Rebecca’s bookstore.
“Ethan is cornered,” he told me in his office one afternoon. “Cornered animals are the most dangerous. We need to be ready for anything.”
He was right.
Two days later, it happened.
I was at the safe house with Lily.
We were making dinner.
Laughing about something stupid.
For the first time in weeks, it felt like we were actually going to be okay.
Then Sarah’s phone buzzed.
She listened for a moment.
Her face went tight.
She hung up and turned to us.
“Ethan is here. He just pulled up outside. He’s alone, but he’s… agitated. The police are on their way. But they’re ten minutes out.”
Lily’s face went white.
She dropped the spoon she was holding.
“He found us. How did he find us?”
Sarah was already moving.
She herded us toward the back of the condo.
“Doesn’t matter. Right now, we need to get you somewhere safe. The panic room is through here.”
I stood my ground.
“I’m not hiding from him.”
Sarah gave me a look.
“Mr. Carter, with all respect, your job is to protect your daughter. The best way to do that right now is to get her somewhere he can’t reach. Let me handle Ethan.”
Before I could argue, we heard it.
A loud crash from the front of the condo.
The door being kicked in.
“LILY!”
Ethan’s voice.
Furious.
Unhinged.
“LILY, I KNOW YOU’RE IN THERE! COME OUT! WE NEED TO TALK!”
Sarah pushed us into the panic room.
A small, steel-walled closet hidden behind a bookshelf.
“Stay here. Don’t make a sound. The police are coming.”
She closed the door.
Locked it from the outside.
We were plunged into semi-darkness.
Lily clung to me.
Trembling.
“Dad, I’m scared.”
I held her tight.
“I know, baby. I know. But Sarah is out there. The police are coming. It’s going to be okay.”
Through the door, we could hear voices.
Ethan, shouting.
Sarah, calm and firm.
“Mr. Sterling, you need to leave. The police are on their way.”
“Where is she? What did you do with my wife?”
“She’s not your wife anymore, Mr. Sterling. And she doesn’t want to see you. Leave now, and this will go easier for you.”
A scuffle.
A grunt.
Then Ethan’s voice, louder and more desperate.
“You don’t understand! She’s mine! I made her! I gave her everything! And her father… that old man thinks he can take everything from me? I’ll kill him! I’ll kill them both!”
Lily sobbed against my chest.
I stroked her hair.
Whispered that everything would be okay.
Even though I wanted nothing more than to break down that door and tear Ethan apart.
Then we heard it.
Sirens.
Approaching fast.
Ethan heard them too.
“THIS ISN’T OVER!” he screamed. “YOU HEAR ME? IT’S NOT OVER!”
More scuffling.
The front door opening.
Police officers shouting.
And then, blessedly, silence.
Five minutes later, Sarah knocked on the panic room door.
“It’s safe. He’s gone. The police took him into custody. Breaking and entering. Making terroristic threats. They’re holding him without bail.”
I opened the door.
Lily blinked in the light.
“He’s really gone?”
Sarah nodded. “He’s gone. And with the new charges, he’s going to be in jail for a very long time. At least until the trial.”
Lily looked at me.
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And for the first time since that Easter Sunday phone call, she didn’t look afraid.
She looked free.
