Chapter 8
Diane was supposed to be in custody.
That was the first thing Detective Morales said.
“She cannot be with Megan.”
But Megan insisted.
“My mother was there.”
Ethan clutched the phone.
“Megan, listen to me. Are you hurt?”
“I’m okay.”
“Where are you?”
“Trees. Road. I found a gas station.”
Morales asked for the name.
Megan read the sign.
It was nearly forty miles outside Nashville.
Police reached her twenty minutes later.
She was taken to a hospital.
Ethan wanted to go immediately.
My doctor refused to let me leave.
“Go,” I told him.
“I’m not leaving you.”
“She needs you.”
“So do you.”
“I have police outside.”
He hesitated.
I squeezed his hand.
“Go be the brother she should have had twelve years ago.”
His eyes filled.
Then he kissed my forehead.
“I’ll come back.”
Megan arrived at my hospital later that afternoon.
She had a cut above one eyebrow and bruises on her wrists.
Nothing life-threatening.
But the fear in her eyes looked old.
Much older than three days.
She sat beside my bed.
Ethan stood near the wall.
Vanessa had gone home for a few hours.
Morales remained by the door.
“Megan,” I said softly. “You don’t have to tell us everything right now.”
“Yes, I do.”
Her voice shook.
“I’ve waited twelve years.”
Ethan looked down.
Megan stared at her hands.
“The night Dad died, I came home from boarding school.”
“You told everyone you were there,” Ethan said.
“No. Mom told everyone I was there.”
His face tightened.
“I’m sorry.”
“I had been suspended.”
“What?”
“I got caught drinking. I was ashamed. Dad picked me up himself.”
Ethan blinked.
“He never told me.”
“He said we’d tell Mom together.”
She swallowed.
“When we got home, Warren was there.”
Morales sat closer.
“What happened?”
“They were arguing in Dad’s office.”
“About money?”
“I didn’t understand everything. Dad kept saying Warren had stolen from him.”
Ethan closed his eyes.
“Megan…”
“I went upstairs. Later, Mom came into my room.”
Her breathing changed.
“She told me Dad wasn’t feeling well and I should stay inside.”
“What did you do?”
“I waited.”
Tears filled her eyes.
“Then I heard something break.”
Ethan moved toward her.
She held up a hand.
“Please.”
He stopped.
Megan continued.
“I went into the hallway. Mom was coming out of Dad’s room.”
“With the glass?”
She nodded.
“She saw me and said Dad needed sleep.”
“What happened next?”
“Warren went in.”
Morales asked, “Did you see him carrying anything?”
“No.”
“How long was he inside?”
“Maybe ten minutes.”
“Then?”
“He came out.”
Megan’s hands began shaking.
“He saw me.”
Her voice dropped.
“He grabbed me and said Dad was sick and if I upset Mom, I’d make everything worse.”
Ethan whispered, “Did you go inside?”
“Yes.”
“What did you see?”
Megan started crying.
“Dad was on the floor.”
Ethan covered his mouth.
“He was still alive.”
The room went silent.
“What?” Morales asked.
“He looked at me.”
Megan sobbed.
“He said my name.”
Ethan’s face twisted.
“What did you do?”
“I screamed.”
She covered her face.
“Mom came in. Warren came back. He told me to leave.”
“Did they call an ambulance?”
“Not right away.”
Morales leaned forward.
“How long?”
“I don’t know. Five minutes. Maybe ten.”
“Why?”
Megan shook her head.
“Warren kept checking Dad’s desk.”
My skin crawled.
“He was looking for something.”
“Yes.”
“The recording?”
“Maybe.”
Megan lowered her hands.
“Mom was crying. She kept saying, ‘This wasn’t supposed to happen.’”
Ethan stared.
“What did that mean?”
“I don’t know.”
Morales asked carefully, “Did Diane give your father something?”
“I never saw it.”
“So why did you tell Emily your mother was involved in taking you?”
Megan looked at her.
“Because she was.”
Everyone froze.
“Explain.”
Megan took a breath.
“After Emily was hospitalized, Mom called me from the police station.”
Morales frowned.
“That shouldn’t have happened.”
“She had access to a phone during questioning for a short period.”
Megan nodded.
“She said she needed me to help her.”
“With what?”
“She wanted me to say Emily had been anxious lately. That she had complained about dizziness before.”
My stomach turned.
“She wanted you to lie.”
“Yes.”
“What did you say?”
“I told her no.”
“And then?”
“She said, ‘You owe me after what I did for you.’”
Ethan’s face hardened.
“What did she mean?”
“She spent years telling me she protected me after Dad died.”
Megan laughed bitterly.
“She said if police knew I had been drinking and suspended, they would blame me for stressing Dad.”
“You were sixteen,” I said.
“I know that now.”
“What happened after the call?”
“Warren contacted me.”
“How?”
“Unknown number. He said we needed to talk before I ruined the family.”
Morales asked, “Why did you go?”
Megan stared at her.
“Because I’ve been afraid of him since I was sixteen.”
No one judged her.
No one should have.
“He took you from the motel?” Morales asked.
“He showed up after I texted Emily.”
“How did he know you were there?”
“I don’t know.”
“Was Diane with him?”
“Not then.”
Megan rubbed her wrists.
“He drove me to a cabin.”
“Where?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Then Diane appeared?”
“Yes.”
My heart pounded.
“But Diane was in custody.”
Morales stood.
“Tell me exactly what you saw.”
Megan looked confused.
“She came into the room last night.”
“What was she wearing?”
“Dark pants. Gray sweater.”
Morales’s face changed.
“What?”
Ethan asked.
Morales pulled out her phone.
“Diane was released last night.”
The room exploded.
“What?” I shouted.
“Her attorney challenged the detention. At that point the lab results weren’t finalized and the charges were still being reviewed.”
“You let her go?”
“It wasn’t my decision.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I was told she’d surrendered her passport and would be under monitoring.”
“Clearly that worked.”
Morales didn’t defend it.
“She has now violated the terms of release.”
Ethan looked furious.
“She kidnapped Megan.”
“Yes.”
“Then find her.”
“We will.”
Megan began crying again.
“I’m sorry.”
I reached for her hand.
“For what?”
“I should have told Ethan years ago.”
Ethan knelt beside her.
“No.”
She looked at him.
He was crying too.
“You were sixteen.”
“I knew something was wrong.”
“You were sixteen.”
“I let Mom convince me—”
“No.”
He shook his head.
“I’m not doing this again.”
Megan stared at him.
He continued.
“I spent years blaming Rachel for not making me understand. I’m not going to blame you for being terrified.”
Her face collapsed.
They hugged.
For a long moment, nobody spoke.
Then Megan whispered into his shoulder.
“She made me think protecting the family meant protecting her.”
Ethan pulled back.
“That ends now.”
Detective Morales’s phone buzzed.
She read the message.
“The lab results are back.”
We all turned.
She looked at me.
“The substance found in the container matches what was detected in your blood.”
My chest tightened.
“Is that enough to charge her?”
“With the video and confession, yes.”
“And Rachel?”
Morales’s expression hardened.
“We preserved samples from her old case.”
I stared at her.
“You still have them?”
“In storage.”
“And?”
“They’re being retested.”
“How long?”
“Soon.”
I glanced at Ethan.
He looked terrified of the answer.
That evening, police searched three properties connected to Diane and Warren.
They found nothing.
No clothes.
No phones.
No vehicles.
It was as though both had disappeared.
At eleven that night, I woke to a contraction.
Then another.
The nurse came running.
“No, no, no.”
“What?”
“You may be going into labor.”
My heart stopped.
“I’m only thirty-four weeks.”
“We’re checking.”
Another contraction.
Stronger.
Ethan grabbed my hand.
“Is the baby okay?”
The nurse watched the monitor.
“For now.”
Doctors entered.
Machines moved.
The room filled with voices.
And for the next hour, everything became terrifyingly familiar.
Pain.
Fear.
People telling me to breathe.
But this time Diane wasn’t standing over me.
Ethan was beside me.
And he didn’t look away.
The contractions eventually slowed.
The doctor told us the baby was staying inside.
For now.
But he warned us.
“You may not make it to your due date.”
I nodded.
“Just keep him safe.”
“We will.”
At two in the morning, Detective Morales returned.
I knew from her face that something had happened.
“What?”
She closed the door.
“We got the results on Rachel’s preserved samples.”
Ethan stood.
Morales looked directly at him.
“There was evidence of the same substance in Rachel’s system after her pregnancy emergency.”
Ethan’s knees nearly gave out.
“She was right.”
His voice broke.
“She was right.”
I grabbed his hand.
Morales continued.
“There’s more.”
Nobody wanted more.
But more kept coming.
“The substance wasn’t found in her system after the car crash.”
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“It means we can now establish two separate events.”
“The miscarriage and her death.”
“Yes.”
“Do you think Warren caused the crash?”
“We’re investigating.”
Ethan cried silently.
Then Morales’s phone buzzed.
She looked down.
Her eyes sharpened.
“What?”
She showed us the screen.
A bank alert.
“Warren just tried to move twelve million dollars from a trust-linked account.”
“Where?”
“International transfer.”
“Can you stop it?”
“The bank froze it.”
I almost smiled.
For the first time, something had gone wrong for them.
Morales looked at Ethan.
“Your father’s trust has an emergency clause.”
“What clause?”
“When suspected misconduct is formally documented, temporary control passes to the next eligible beneficiary.”
Ethan stared.
“Me.”
“Yes.”
“So Warren can’t access it anymore.”
“Correct.”
“And Diane?”
“Neither can she.”
A strange quiet filled the room.
Twelve years of control.
Gone.
Not because Monday had arrived.
Because they had finally been exposed.
Then Megan’s phone rang.
Unknown number.
We all froze.
Morales motioned for her to answer.
Megan pressed speaker.
“Hello?”
Diane’s voice filled the room.
“Megan.”
Megan began trembling.
“Mom.”
“You ruined everything.”
Ethan stepped forward.
Morales raised a hand.
Megan swallowed.
“Where are you?”
“That doesn’t matter.”
“Are you with Uncle Warren?”
Silence.
Then Diane said, “Your uncle has lost his mind.”
My pulse quickened.
Morales mouthed, Keep talking.
Megan said, “You kidnapped me with him.”
“I was trying to fix things.”
“You tied me to a chair.”
“Because you wouldn’t listen.”
Ethan shut his eyes.
That sentence sounded like Diane in its purest form.
Megan’s voice strengthened.
“Did you poison Dad?”
Diane went silent.
“Mom.”
“I loved your father.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“I would never have killed him.”
“Did Warren?”
Another silence.
Then Diane whispered, “I didn’t know what he was going to do.”
Everyone froze.
Megan began crying.
“You knew.”
“No.”
“You knew!”
“I knew he wanted Richard quiet. I didn’t know he would let him die.”
Ethan staggered backward.
Morales looked at another officer.
They were recording everything.
Megan continued.
“And Rachel?”
Diane started breathing faster.
“Rachel should have left things alone.”
“Did Warren kill her?”
A pause.
Then Diane whispered, “He said he only wanted to scare her.”
The line went dead.
Nobody moved.
Then Morales said quietly, “We have enough.”
But I looked at her.
“No.”
She frowned.
“No?”
“Enough for what happened.”
I rested both hands over my stomach.
“But Diane sounded afraid of Warren.”
Morales nodded.
“So?”
I looked at everyone in the room.
“If Warren thinks he’s lost the money, lost the trust, and Diane is talking…”
Ethan understood first.
“He’s going after her.”
I nodded.
“And if he thinks she’ll lead police to him…”
May you like
Morales was already moving.
“Then Diane may be the next victim.”
