Chapter 4 - HIS MOTHER FINALLY TALKED
Ethan returned to the mansion at 6:40 a.m.
He found Evelyn sitting alone in the library.
She looked twenty years older.
The key chain lay on the table in front of her.
Ethan closed the door.
“Charles Mercer.”
Evelyn’s face changed.
That was enough.
“You knew.”
“Ethan—”
“You knew.”
He placed the recovered image on the table.
Evelyn stared at it.
“Tell me everything.”
“I can’t.”
Ethan laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
“You imprisoned my pregnant wife.”
“You helped stage her disappearance.”
“You allowed someone to drug her.”
“And you still think you get to decide what I’m allowed to know?”
Evelyn looked away.
“I never intended for Grace to be hurt.”
“Then why was she behind bars?”
“Because Charles was afraid she would go to the authorities.”
“And you helped him?”
“I thought I could control the situation.”
Ethan stared at his mother.
“You locked my wife in a cage because you thought you could control the situation?”
Evelyn’s voice broke.
“Your father started it.”
Silence.
Ethan stopped moving.
“My father?”
Evelyn looked at him.
“Years ago.”
“What did he start?”
“The accounts.”
“The shell companies.”
“The hidden transfers.”
Ethan sat slowly.
“My father stole from the company?”
“No.”
“Then explain it.”
Evelyn rubbed her hands together.
“Your father discovered that several executives were using Hargrove subsidiaries to move money offshore.”
“Charles?”
“Charles was one of them.”
“Why didn’t Dad expose him?”
“Because Charles had evidence against your father too.”
Ethan frowned.
“What evidence?”
“A payment.”
“What payment?”
Evelyn’s eyes dropped.
“Your father bribed a government official twenty-two years ago to secure a shipping contract.”
Ethan said nothing.
“He regretted it.”
“That doesn’t erase it.”
“I know.”
“So Charles blackmailed him.”
“Yes.”
“And after Dad died?”
“He blackmailed you.”
Ethan stared at her.
“I didn’t even know.”
“That was the point.”
Evelyn looked ashamed.
“I protected you from it.”
“No.”
Ethan stood.
“You hid it from me.”
“There’s a difference.”
“I was trying to keep your father’s legacy intact.”
“And Grace?”
Evelyn closed her eyes.
“She found the transfers.”
“So you chose the company over her.”
“I chose you.”
“No.”
Ethan’s voice hardened.
“You chose the version of me you could control.”
Evelyn flinched.
He leaned toward her.
“Who drugged Grace?”
“I never gave her anything.”
“Who did?”
“Charles sent a private nurse.”
Ethan’s blood went cold.
“Name.”
“I only knew her as Rebecca.”
“Full name.”
“I don’t know.”
“Where is she?”
“She disappeared yesterday.”
Ethan stepped back.
“Convenient.”
“Ethan, please believe me.”
“I believed you when you told me Grace left.”
“That mistake nearly cost me my wife and child.”
He headed for the door.
“Where are you going?”
“To destroy the merger.”
Evelyn stood.
“You can’t.”
Ethan turned.
“Watch me.”
“If you cancel it now, Charles will know you discovered everything.”
“Good.”
“You don’t understand.”
Evelyn crossed the room.
“He has people inside the company.”
“How many?”
“I don’t know.”
“He has board members.”
“Possibly.”
“Police?”
Evelyn hesitated.
Ethan noticed.
“How far does this go?”
“I don’t know anymore.”
He stared at her.
Then Evelyn said the one thing that stopped him.
“Your father left you something.”
Ethan slowly turned.
“What?”
“A file.”
“Where?”
“I hid it after he died.”
“Why?”
“Because he made me promise I would only give it to you if Charles ever came after your family.”
Ethan’s eyes hardened.
“He came after my family three days ago.”
Evelyn walked toward the fireplace.
She reached behind an old photograph of Ethan’s father.
A small biometric safe was hidden inside the wall.
She opened it.
Inside was a black envelope.
Ethan’s name was written across the front in his father’s handwriting.
He opened it.
There was a flash drive.
And a note.
May you like
Ethan read the first line.
Son, if you are reading this, Charles Mercer finally made the mistake I always knew he would make.
