Chapter 4 - THE SECRET IN ETHAN’S FILE
Ethan finally fell asleep around three in the morning.
I sat beside him until his breathing became steady.
Then I opened the locked drawer in my office.
Inside was a blue folder.
ETHAN COLE CARTER.
His original birth certificate.
Hospital records.
Custody papers.
Documents I hadn’t touched since I married Richard.
Ethan’s biological father was named Daniel Carter.
Daniel and I had been together for three years.
He disappeared seven months into my pregnancy.
Not cheated.
Not abandoned me for another woman.
Disappeared.
His car was found beside a lake outside Portland.
His phone was inside.
His wallet too.
Police believed he had drowned.
His body was never recovered.
For years, I had accepted it.
What else could I do?
When Richard entered my life, Ethan was eleven months old.
Richard was patient.
Gentle.
He carried Ethan around the kitchen.
Read him bedtime stories.
When Ethan turned two, Richard asked to adopt him.
I cried when he signed the papers.
Now I wanted to burn every photograph from that day.
I pulled Daniel’s file closer.
A piece of paper slipped out.
A lab report.
PATERNITY TEST.
I frowned.
I had never ordered one.
The date was six months ago.
My heart began pounding.
Probability of paternity: 99.998%.
Father: Daniel Carter.
Child: Ethan Cole Whitman.
“What the hell?”
I flipped through the pages.
A second document.
PRIVATE DNA LAB — REQUESTING PARTY: RICHARD WHITMAN.
I felt sick.
Richard had secretly tested Ethan’s DNA.
But why?
Daniel’s paternity had never been disputed.
Then I saw the handwritten note clipped to the back.
CARTER MATCH CONFIRMED.
NOTIFY V.W. BEFORE AMANDA FINDS OUT.
V.W.
Vivian Whitman.
I grabbed my phone and called Sarah.
It was after three.
She answered anyway.
“What happened?”
“I found something.”
“What?”
“A DNA test Richard ordered.”
“For Ethan?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“He tested Ethan against Daniel.”
Sarah went silent.
“Daniel Carter?”
“Yes.”
“Amanda…”
“What?”
“Why would Richard have Daniel’s DNA?”
I froze.
That question hadn’t occurred to me.
Daniel disappeared almost five years ago.
Richard had never met him.
At least that was what Richard had always claimed.
Sarah said slowly, “You need to bring those papers to me.”
“I will.”
“And don’t contact Richard.”
“Why?”
“Because if he somehow had access to Daniel Carter’s DNA…”
My mouth went dry.
“…then he knows more about Daniel’s disappearance than you do.”
A floorboard creaked behind me.
I turned.
Someone stood outside the office window.
A shadow.
Tall.
May you like
Motionless.
Then the glass shattered.
