Chapter 24
Ethan’s mother.
Sarah.
The woman who had cried on Harold’s porch.
The woman who gave me a letter for Ethan when he was older.
The woman serving probation and trying to rebuild herself.
Vincent had something on her.
Or he was lying.
With Vincent, both were possible.
My father looked stricken.
“There is no second ledger,” he whispered.
Vincent heard.
His laugh turned sharp.
“Thomas. Still lying badly.”
Detective Morales, listening through Harold’s second phone, motioned for me to keep him talking.
“What do you think happened to Sarah?” I asked.
Vincent’s voice dropped.
“You mean before Richard? Before the debts? Before she handed Ethan over to people like us?”
My stomach tightened.
“She was a victim.”
“She was useful.”
“You’re disgusting.”
“And you are sentimental. Midnight. Sawmill. Bring Thomas too. No police.”
The call ended.
Ethan appeared in the doorway.
His headphones hung around his neck.
“What about my mom?”
My heart stopped.
He had heard.
Not all.
Enough.
I went to him.
“Buddy—”
“What happened to my mom?”
His eyes filled.
“Did Vincent hurt her too?”
I looked at Harold.
Then my father.
Then back at my son.
“I don’t know everything.”
He backed away.
“You always say truth.”
“I am telling you the truth. I don’t know.”
“Then find out.”
His voice cracked.
“Please.”
So we did.
Sarah was brought to the secure location under police guard.
She looked terrified when she saw all of us.
“What happened?”
I told her about Vincent’s call.
She sat down slowly.
“No.”
“What does he have?”
Her hands shook.
“I don’t know.”
“Sarah.”
She covered her mouth.
“I never told you how I met Richard.”
Ethan stood behind me.
I turned.
“Maybe he should not hear this.”
Ethan’s voice was firm.
“It’s about my mom.”
Sarah looked at him.
Tears filled her eyes.
“I was working at a diner,” she said softly. “I was young. Broke. My family was gone. Richard came in every week. He was kind at first.”
Ethan listened with wide eyes.
“He said he could help me. Then he introduced me to Vincent. Vincent said I owed Richard for all the help. Money. Favors. Silence.”
She cried.
“I tried to leave when I found out I was pregnant with you.”
Ethan’s face changed.
“With me?”
Sarah nodded.
“Vincent said if I ran, he would make sure no one believed I was fit to be your mother. He had photos. Recordings. Things taken when I was scared.”
My anger burned cold.
Sarah looked at me.
“I gave Ethan to Richard for visits because Vincent threatened me. Then Richard started hurting him. I knew something was wrong. I was too afraid.”
Ethan’s lips trembled.
“Why didn’t you come get me?”
Sarah broke.
“I was weak.”
I knelt beside Ethan.
He looked at her.
Then whispered, “Dad came.”
Sarah sobbed.
“Yes. He did.”
I held Ethan as he cried.
Not because he hated her.
Because some truths are too heavy for small hearts.
Detective Morales planned a trap for the sawmill.
No real ledger.
No surrender.
My father admitted there might be a second data cache, but he had never found it.
“My wife may have hidden it,” he said.
“My mother again?”
He nodded sadly.
Of course.
Everything circled back to ghosts.
At midnight, I went to the sawmill wearing a wire.
My father came too.
Police surrounded the area.
Harold fought to come and lost.
Ethan stayed with Sarah, Harold, and an officer.
The sawmill looked worse than before.
Burned in places.
Rotting.
Wet from rain.
A place where nightmares went to breed.
Vincent stepped from the shadows with a gun in his hand.
Thinner.
Bearded.
Eyes bright with madness.
“Family reunion,” he said.
My father lifted his hands.
“It’s over, Vincent.”
“No,” Vincent said. “It’s inherited.”
He pointed the gun at me.
“Where is Arthur’s second ledger?”
“I don’t have it.”
Vincent smiled.
“Then your son hears the truth.”
He lifted his phone.
A live video call connected.
Ethan’s face appeared on the screen.
My blood turned to ice.
He was not at the safe house.
He was sitting in a car.
Crying.
Beside him was Sarah.
May you like
Bound and terrified.
Vincent whispered, “You brought police. So I brought insurance.”
