Chapter 5
Victoria reached for the envelope.
Ethan pulled it away.
"Don't."
Her hand stopped in midair.
The police officers watched everything.
Victoria immediately changed her tone.
"Ethan, whatever Olivia wrote while heavily medicated could be confused."
"You haven't read it."
"I don't need to."
"Then why are you scared?"
"I'm not."
"You are."
Victoria straightened.
"You've known this child for less than two hours. You've seen Olivia for five minutes after twelve years. And you're willing to destroy your entire life because of whatever story they invented."
Ethan looked at the wedding dress.
"My entire life was already invented."
Victoria's jaw tightened.
The officers spoke with hospital security.
Nobody arrested Lucy.
Nobody took the checks.
Victoria's complaint suddenly looked very different now that Ethan had produced the agreement.
She hated that.
Ethan could see it.
"Leave," he said.
"You can't order me out of a hospital."
"No. But security can."
Victoria leaned closer.
"So this is how it ends?"
"It ended when you paid the mother of my child to disappear."
"You still don't know she's yours."
Lucy stood behind Ethan.
Victoria's cruelty was deliberate now.
She wanted the girl to hear.
Ethan turned toward Lucy.
"Would you like to know?"
Lucy looked up.
"If you're my dad?"
"Yes."
She nodded.
"I already know. But I want you to know too."
Ethan looked at the doctor.
"Can we do a DNA test here?"
"Not through emergency care unless medically necessary. But I can direct you to a lab."
Victoria laughed softly.
"How convenient."
Ethan ignored her.
"First thing tomorrow."
Lucy nodded.
Victoria's eyes hardened.
"You're going to regret this."
Ethan looked at security.
"Please escort Ms. Hale out."
Two security officers approached.
Victoria stared at Ethan.
Then at Lucy.
Then at the sealed envelope.
"You have no idea what opening that will do."
Ethan's blood went cold.
"You know what's inside."
Victoria said nothing.
That was answer enough.
She turned and walked away.
Her wedding dress swept across the hospital floor.
Lucy waited until she disappeared.
Then whispered,
"I hate her."
Ethan looked down.
"You have every reason to be angry."
"Mom says hate makes people stupid."
"Your mom sounds wise."
"She also says Victoria's evil."
Ethan almost smiled.
"That sounds wise too."
They sat in the waiting area.
The envelope remained unopened between Ethan's hands.
Lucy stared at it.
"Aren't you going to read it?"
"Yes."
"Then read it."
Ethan broke the seal.
Inside were six handwritten pages.
Olivia's handwriting became shakier toward the end.
Ethan began.
Ethan,
If Lucy gave you this, it means either I finally became brave enough to tell you everything or I ran out of time.
You need to know that Victoria did not only threaten me because she wanted you.
She was protecting something bigger.
Your father discovered that Richard Hale had been moving money through Pierce Development without authorization.
Ethan stopped.
He read the sentence again.
Lucy watched him.
"What?"
"My father's company."
He continued.
At first your father believed Richard was hiding losses. Then he realized the transactions were connected to shell companies.
Your father confronted Richard.
Victoria was there.
She begged your father not to go to the police.
He refused.
Ethan's hands trembled.
Seven years earlier, his father had been preparing to sell several assets.
At the time, Ethan thought it was because of retirement.
What if it wasn't?
He kept reading.
Your father contacted me shortly before he died.
I hadn't spoken to him in years.
He found me.
He knew about Lucy.
He knew she was yours.
Ethan stopped breathing.
Lucy leaned closer.
"Grandpa knew?"
Ethan could barely answer.
"Yes."
Her eyes widened.
"He knew about me?"
Ethan nodded.
A pain unlike anything he'd felt all day cut through him.
His father had known.
And never told him.
Why?
The next paragraph answered it.
He wanted to tell you.
I begged him not to.
I was still afraid of Victoria.
Your father said he had evidence that would make sure she could never threaten us again.
He said once he gave it to federal investigators, we could come home.
Three days later, he died.
Ethan's vision blurred.
He remembered that day.
His father had been found in his home office.
Heart attack.
Richard Hale had been the one who called Ethan.
Victoria had been there too.
She held Ethan while he cried.
His stomach turned.
Lucy touched his arm.
"Keep going."
The official cause was cardiac arrest.
I have no proof anyone caused his death.
But before he died, your father mailed me a copy of a medical report.
It showed a medication in his bloodstream that was not part of his prescriptions.
Ethan stood so quickly the chair slid backward.
Lucy jumped.
"What is it?"
He couldn't answer.
He kept reading.
The report is not with this letter.
I hid it somewhere Victoria could never find it.
Your father told me about a safe-deposit box.
He said the original financial records were inside.
He also told me something else.
Richard wasn't the person he feared most.
Victoria was.
Ethan lowered the pages.
The hallway spun around him.
Lucy stared.
"What did it say?"
"That my father's death might not have been natural."
Her mouth opened.
"Victoria?"
"I don't know."
"Mom thinks she did it?"
"Your mother says she doesn't have proof."
Lucy looked toward the intensive-care doors.
"Mom never accuses people unless she's sure."
Ethan thought of Victoria standing beside his father's coffin.
Her arm around his waist.
Her whisper in his ear.
I'm here. You're not alone.
Rage rose through him.
His phone rang.
Unknown number.
He almost ignored it.
Then answered.
"Hello?"
A distorted voice spoke.
"Don't open box 314."
Ethan froze.
"Who is this?"
Lucy saw his expression.
The voice continued.
"If you care about the child, forget what Olivia told you."
Ethan stood.
"Who are you?"
The call ended.
Lucy looked frightened.
"What happened?"
He looked around the corridor.
Families.
Nurses.
Visitors.
Anyone could be watching.
"Someone knows about the box."
Lucy's eyes widened.
"Victoria?"
"Maybe."
His phone buzzed.
A photograph arrived from the unknown number.
Ethan opened it.
His blood turned cold.
It was a picture taken through a windshield.
Claire.
His sister.
Walking his mother toward a black SUV outside the chapel.
Under the photograph was one sentence.
THE HALES AREN'T THE ONLY ONES WHO HAVE SECRETS.
Ethan immediately called Claire.
No answer.
Again.
No answer.
Lucy stood.
"What's wrong?"
"My sister."
He called his mother.
Voicemail.
Ethan grabbed his jacket.
Then stopped.
Olivia was unconscious.
Lucy couldn't be left alone.
And whoever sent the message knew exactly where his family had been.
His phone buzzed again.
Another photograph.
This one was older.
His father.
Richard Hale.
And a third man Ethan recognized.
His uncle, Daniel Pierce.
The caption beneath it read:
ASK DANIEL WHO REALLY OWNED THE SHELL COMPANIES.
Ethan stared at the screen.
His uncle had spent years blaming the Hale family for every problem Pierce Development had ever faced.
He had stood beside Ethan at the wedding less than an hour earlier.
And now he wasn't answering his phone either.
Lucy whispered,
"Who is Daniel?"
Ethan looked at her.
"My father's brother."
"Can we trust him?"
Ethan looked at the photograph again.
"I don't know who we can trust."
The intensive-care doors opened.
A doctor came toward them.
"Ms. Bennett is awake."
Lucy ran forward.
"Can I see her?"
"Yes. But only briefly."
They entered Olivia's room.
Her eyes opened when Lucy took her hand.
Ethan approached the other side.
"I read the letter."
Olivia nodded weakly.
"The medical report," Ethan said. "Where is it?"
Olivia looked at Lucy.
Then back at Ethan.
"I hid it."
"Where?"
Her voice was barely audible.
"In your father's house."
Ethan frowned.
His father's house had been empty for years.
"Where?"
Olivia struggled to speak.
"The wall."
"What wall?"
She squeezed his hand.
"The nursery."
Ethan stared at her.
"There was never a nursery."
Olivia's eyes filled with tears.
"Yes, there was."
His heart pounded.
"What are you talking about?"
"Your father built one."
"For Lucy?"
Olivia nodded.
"He planned to bring us home."
Ethan felt the room tilt.
Olivia whispered,
"Behind the moon."
Then the alarms started.
Nurses rushed in.
Lucy screamed.
Ethan was pushed toward the door.
Through the chaos, Olivia's eyes found his.
May you like
And before the doors closed between them, she mouthed two words.
Find it.
