Chapter 4: The Man Who Was Supposed to Be Dead
I stared at my birth certificate until Ethan Cole’s name blurred.
“No.””
My mother sat on the edge of the bed, twisting her wedding ring around her finger.
“Sarah—”
“No. My father was Robert Bennett.””
“Robert raised you.””
“He was my father.””
“He loved you like his own.””
I threw the certificate onto the bed.
“Stop talking around it.””
Mom flinched.
“Tell me who Ethan Cole was.””
She looked toward the locked bedroom door.
“Your biological father.””
The room suddenly felt too small.
I remembered Robert teaching me to ride a bicycle.
Robert sitting through terrible school plays.
Robert crying when he walked me down the aisle to marry Jason.
He had died when I was twenty-five.
“You’re telling me Dad knew?””
“Yes.””
“And Ethan?””
“He knew too.””
“Then why did I never meet him?””
Mom’s eyes filled.
“Because I was afraid of him.””
I stared at her.
“Why?””
She picked up the old flip phone.
“Ethan wasn't a violent man. But he became obsessed with proving something after you married Jason.””
“What?””
“That the Millers had destroyed his family.””
A chill crawled across my skin.
“Jason’s family?””
“Specifically Diane.””
I almost laughed.
“That makes no sense.””
“It will.””
Mom removed the phone from the evidence bag.
Its casing was scratched and cracked.
“This belonged to Ethan.””
“How did you get it?””
“He gave it to me the night Lily was born.””
“Why?””
“Because he thought someone was following him.””
I folded my arms.
“You told Jason not to call the police after Ethan disappeared.””
“Yes.””
“Why?””
“Because Ethan made me promise.””
I stared at her in disbelief.
“A man vanished and you protected the people who might have hurt him?””
“No. I protected you.””
“From what?””
Mom pressed the power button.
Nothing happened.
“The battery is dead. But I copied everything years ago.””
She pulled a small memory card from the box.
“Emails. Photographs. Audio recordings.””
My stomach tightened.
“What recordings?””
“Diane.””
That name landed heavily.
Mom opened a drawer and removed an old laptop.
While it started, I heard Lily laughing faintly at the television down the hall.
The sound made my chest ache.
Seven years old.
She should have been worrying about cartoons and missing teeth.
Instead, she'd spent the afternoon being told she didn't belong to her own father.
Mom inserted the card.
A folder appeared.
ETHAN.
Inside were dozens of files.
Mom clicked an audio recording.
Static filled the room.
Then Diane’s voice.
You stay away from Sarah.
My breath stopped.
A man answered.
You don't get to tell me that.
Ethan.
I had never heard his voice before.
Diane spoke again.
You abandoned her once. Do it again.
I looked at Mom.
She wouldn't meet my eyes.
Ethan’s voice sharpened.
I didn't abandon Sarah. You made sure I couldn't find her.
The recording crackled.
Then Diane said something that turned my stomach.
If Sarah learns what happened, Jason loses everything.
The recording ended.
“What does that mean?””
Mom shut the laptop.
“Twenty-nine years ago, Ethan worked for Diane’s father.””
“What kind of work?””
“Construction. Land development. Her father, Charles Mercer, was building subdivisions all over Arizona.””
I knew the name.
Mercer Development.
Diane had always spoken proudly about her father’s company.
“What does that have to do with me?””
“Ethan discovered Charles was falsifying inspection reports.””
My mother’s voice dropped.
“One development had serious structural problems. Ethan threatened to report him.””
“Did he?””
“He tried.””
“What happened?””
“Charles destroyed him.””
She told me Ethan had been accused of stealing company money. Records appeared showing transfers into an account under his name.
He lost his job.
His reputation.
Almost everything.
“And Diane helped her father,” Mom said.
“Why?””
“She was twenty-three. She worshipped him.””
I shook my head.
“This still doesn't explain Jason.””
“No. But this does.””
Mom reopened the laptop.
She clicked a scanned document.
A property transfer.
The address looked familiar.
I read it twice.
Then realized why.
Diane and Frank’s house.
The house where Lily had been attacked.
“What am I looking at?””
“The land under that house originally belonged to Ethan’s mother.””
I looked closer.
The current ownership section didn't list Diane.
It didn't list Frank.
It listed a trust.
Cole Family Restitution Trust.
Beneficiary:
Sarah Bennett.
My mouth went dry.
“I own their house?””
“Not exactly.””
Mom leaned closer.
“You own the land beneath it.””
I stared at her.
“Does Diane know?””
“She knows someone in Ethan’s family controls it. I don't think she knows it’s you.””
My phone buzzed.
Jason.
I ignored it.
It buzzed again.
Then again.
Finally a message appeared.
SARAH, DO NOT TELL MY MOTHER WHAT YOU FOUND.
Another followed.
PLEASE. THIS IS BIGGER THAN THE HOUSE.
I showed Mom.
Her face changed.
“What?””
She whispered, “He knows.””
“Knows what?””
Before she could answer, someone pounded on the front door.
Three hard blows.
Mom went pale.
Lily called from the living room.
“Grandma?””
I stepped into the hallway.
“Stay there, baby.””
The pounding came again.
Then a man shouted through the door.
“Sarah!””
Jason.
I opened it only far enough to see him.
He was sweating, breathless.
“You followed me?””
“I need to talk to you.””
“You need to leave.””
He glanced over my shoulder.
“Did she show you Ethan’s files?””
My silence answered him.
Jason closed his eyes.
“God.””
“What aren't you telling me?””
He lowered his voice.
“My mother didn't attack Lily today because of the DNA test.””
My skin prickled.
“Then why?””
“Because Lily found something.””
“What?””
Jason reached into his pocket.
He held up a small brass key.
“I found this beside the trash cans after you left.””
Stamped into the metal were two words.
MERCER STORAGE.
Jason looked terrified.
“Lily told me Grandma tried to take it from her.””
I stared at the key.
“What's in the storage unit?””
May you like
Jason swallowed.
“The last thing Ethan left behind before he disappeared.””
