Chapter 6
Ethan stared at the phone.
“What do you mean she’s with you?”
Daniel’s voice remained calm.
“Exactly what I said.”
“Did you take her?”
“No.”
“Then why is she there?”
“She came to me.”
Ethan looked at Detective Hale.
The detective motioned for him to keep talking.
“Why?”
“Because she knew you finally found the old account.”
“What does she want?”
“Protection.”
“From who?”
Daniel laughed once.
“You still think your mother is the biggest liar in this family.”
Ethan’s face tightened.
“Stop talking in riddles.”
“Ask her about your father.”
“My father is dead.”
“I know.”
“What does that mean?”
A long silence.
Then Daniel said, “Ask how he died.”
Ethan stood.
“He had a heart attack.”
“That’s what she told you.”
My skin prickled.
I looked at Laura.
She was watching Ethan carefully.
“Daniel,” Ethan said, “what are you saying?”
“I’m saying your father had been planning to expose the missing trust money.”
Ethan stopped breathing.
“How do you know?”
“Because he called me three days before he died.”
“You hadn’t spoken to him in years.”
“He found me.”
“What did he say?”
“That he had made mistakes.”
Ethan’s eyes filled.
“What mistakes?”
“He helped your mother hide money.”
Ethan shook his head.
“No.”
“He wanted to fix it.”
“No.”
“He asked me to come home.”
Ethan’s voice cracked.
“You’re lying.”
Daniel’s voice softened.
“I wish I were.”
Detective Hale leaned closer to the phone.
“Daniel, this is Detective Marcus Hale.”
Silence.
“I need to speak with you and Mrs. Hartwell.”
Daniel responded cautiously.
“About?”
“Potential financial crimes.”
“I’m not involved.”
“Then speaking with us can help establish that.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“I tried talking to police sixteen years ago.”
“And?”
“Nobody believed the bastard son over the wealthy widow.”
Ethan closed his eyes.
“Daniel.”
“What?”
“Is Mom safe?”
“Yes.”
“Can I talk to her?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because she doesn’t want to talk to you.”
That hurt him.
I saw it.
“Where are you?”
Daniel disconnected.
Ethan stared at the phone.
Detective Hale immediately began making calls.
I sat completely still.
My daughter was upstairs in the NICU.
My husband’s family was apparently connected to millions of dollars in missing money.
His mother had disappeared.
His estranged brother had resurfaced.
And somehow my forged signature was part of it.
I looked at Ethan.
“You brought this into our home.”
His face collapsed.
“I didn’t know.”
“You knew enough.”
“I didn’t know about the theft.”
“You knew about Rachel.”
“Yes.”
“You knew about the debt.”
“Yes.”
“You knew about the trust.”
“Yes.”
“You knew your brother existed.”
“Yes.”
“You knew your family had fought over money before.”
“Yes.”
“And you told me none of it.”
He looked down.
“I was ashamed.”
I started crying.
“I married a résumé.”
He looked up.
“What?”
“You gave me the clean version of yourself.”
My voice shook.
“Successful business owner. Dead father. Widowed mother. No siblings. No serious ex. Built everything yourself.”
Ethan’s eyes filled.
“And every part of it was edited.”
“I loved you.”
“I don’t know who you are.”
“That doesn’t mean my love wasn’t real.”
“It means I cannot trust anything built on top of lies.”
He said nothing.
Detective Hale returned.
“We may have located Daniel’s vehicle.”
Ethan stood.
“Where?”
“Wisconsin.”
“Near what?”
“A property registered to a company called Hart Financial Management.”
My heart jumped.
“So the company is Daniel’s?”
“Not necessarily.”
“Who owns the company?”
“That’s what we’re determining.”
Laura spoke.
“Who owns the property?”
“A holding corporation.”
“Who controls that?”
Hale hesitated.
Then looked at Ethan.
“Your father did.”
Ethan went pale.
“My father?”
“The corporation was created twenty-three years ago.”
“But he’s been dead sixteen.”
“It transferred after his death.”
“To who?”
Hale looked at me.
Then Ethan.
“To Emily.”
I stopped breathing.
“What?”
“That’s impossible.”
Hale placed a document on the table.
“Your full legal name is listed as the current beneficial owner.”
I stared at him.
“I was nineteen when Ethan’s father died.”
“I know.”
“I had never met Ethan.”
“I know.”
“I had never heard of this family.”
“That is why we’re confused too.”
Laura took the document.
She read carefully.
Then looked at me.
“This ownership transfer happened six months ago.”
My chest tightened.
“When I was pregnant.”
“Yes.”
“Who signed it?”
Hale answered.
“Ethan.”
I turned toward my husband.
His face was blank.
“I didn’t.”
The detective stared at him.
“Your signature is on the authorization.”
Ethan shook his head.
“I never saw that.”
“So both our signatures are being forged now?”
Laura asked.
“Possibly.”
Hale nodded.
Ethan paced.
“This makes no sense.”
Then I remembered something.
“My hospital folder.”
Everyone looked at me.
“What?” Laura asked.
“When I came home, I was holding my hospital folder.”
“Yes.”
“I put it on the kitchen counter.”
My heart began beating faster.
“After my water broke, we left.”
Jessica frowned.
“What are you thinking?”
“There was another folder there.”
“What folder?”
“Dark blue.”
Ethan went still.
Laura noticed.
“What was it?”
He looked at me.
“Company documents.”
“From where?”
“My office.”
“What was inside?”
“Old incorporation papers.”
“Why did you bring them home?”
“I was going through everything after I met Daniel.”
“Were they still there when Jessica arrived?”
“I don’t know.”
Jessica shook her head.
“I didn’t notice.”
Detective Hale made a note.
“Has anyone been back to the house?”
Ethan said, “I went to pack clothes.”
“Anyone else?”
“Not that I know.”
Hale stood.
“We need to secure the property.”
My stomach tightened.
“Because someone might have entered?”
“Because documents connected to this investigation may be there.”
The police searched our house that afternoon.
I stayed at the hospital with Sophie.
Laura stayed with me.
Ethan went with Hale.
Three hours later, Laura’s phone rang.
She listened.
Then her eyes met mine.
“What?”
“They found the blue folder.”
“Good.”
Her expression told me it was not good.
“What?”
“It was empty.”
I closed my eyes.
“Of course.”
“There’s more.”
My stomach tightened.
“What?”
“They found a hidden compartment in Ethan’s office desk.”
I frowned.
“Hidden?”
“Yes.”
“What was inside?”
“Cash.”
“How much?”
“Almost eighty thousand dollars.”
I stared at her.
“No.”
“And two passports.”
“Whose?”
“One belongs to Ethan.”
“That’s normal.”
“The other has Ethan’s photograph.”
I frowned.
“But?”
“A different name.”
My mouth went dry.
“What name?”
Laura looked at her notes.
“Daniel Hart.”
I stared at her.
“That makes no sense.”
“No.”
“Why would Ethan have a passport with his brother’s name?”
“I don’t know.”
The door opened.
Detective Hale walked in.
Ethan followed.
My husband looked furious.
“That passport is not mine.”
Hale remained calm.
“It was in your desk.”
“I’ve never seen it.”
“You use that desk?”
“Yes.”
“Who else?”
“No one.”
I stared at Ethan.
He looked at me.
“I swear.”
The words meant almost nothing now.
Detective Hale continued.
“We’re having the document examined.”
“Am I under arrest?”
“No.”
“Am I a suspect?”
“You are a person whose identity may have been used in fraudulent documents.”
“That is not what I asked.”
Hale stared at him.
“I am not prepared to give you a label.”
Ethan laughed bitterly.
“Great.”
My phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
I looked at Hale.
He nodded.
I opened it.
A photo appeared.
My stomach dropped.
It showed Ethan’s mother sitting at a table.
Daniel stood behind her.
Both looked alive.
Both were looking at the camera.
Underneath was a message.
Ask Ethan where he was the night his father died.
I slowly raised my eyes.
Ethan saw my expression.
“What?”
I handed the phone to Hale.
He read it.
Then looked at Ethan.
“Where were you?”
Ethan frowned.
“What?”
“The night your father died.”
Ethan stared at the detective.
“At college.”
“What school?”
“Northwestern.”
“Were you on campus?”
Ethan hesitated.
My chest tightened.
“Ethan?”
He looked at me.
“No.”
“Where were you?”
His voice dropped.
“At home.”
I stopped breathing.
“You told me you were at college when your father died.”
“I was enrolled.”
“That is not what I said.”
Hale stepped closer.
“Why were you home?”
“My father called me.”
“What did he want?”
“To talk.”
“About what?”
Ethan looked toward the window.
“My mother.”
“And?”
“He said he was leaving her.”
I felt cold.
“Why?”
“He wouldn’t tell me.”
“What happened that night?”
Ethan rubbed his hands over his face.
“We argued.”
“With your father?”
“Yes.”
“About?”
“He told me Mom had done things I didn’t understand.”
“What things?”
“I thought he meant the affair.”
“What affair?”
“My mother had been seeing someone.”
Another secret.
“Who?”
“I didn’t know.”
“What happened next?”
“I left.”
“What time?”
“Around eleven.”
“And your father?”
“He was alive.”
“When did he die?”
“Mom called me at three in the morning.”
“What did she say?”
“That Dad collapsed.”
“Were police called?”
“No.”
“Ambulance?”
“Yes.”
“Autopsy?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“His doctor said the heart attack made sense.”
Detective Hale stared at him.
“Did you ever question it?”
“No.”
Then Ethan stopped.
His face changed.
“What?”
Hale asked.
Ethan whispered, “Daniel did.”
Everyone went silent.
May you like
“What did Daniel say?”
“He told me Dad didn’t die naturally.”
