CHAPTER 6 — Ethan Had Been Trying to Tell Me
Ethan sat alone in an interview room with his hands cuffed to the table.
When Daniel placed the anonymous note in front of him, his face collapsed.
“You contacted Sarah Holloway,” Daniel said.
Ethan nodded.
My anger didn’t disappear, but it changed shape.
“Why?”
He looked at me through the glass partition.
“Because I found the files.”
“When?”
“Three months ago.”
“And your first decision was to steal my research?”
“No.”
He rubbed both hands over his face.
“Dad caught me looking through his office. He said if I told you anything, he’d send Mom to prison.”
“She belongs in prison.”
“I know that now.”
His voice broke.
“But she’s my mother.”
The sentence hurt because I understood it.
He continued.
“Dad said the only way to keep the family together was to make you leave quietly. He wanted you discredited so you wouldn’t get the fellowship or stay near the university.”
“You helped him.”
“At first.”
He looked ashamed.
“I copied your files. I gave him your drafts. But when I found the birth certificate, I panicked.”
“So you contacted Sarah.”
“I thought if she came, Dad would finally admit everything.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because every time I tried, I chickened out.”
He gave a strange, miserable laugh.
“I know. Great brother.”
I stared at him.
“Why destroy the laptop?”
“Dad texted me during the ceremony.”
Daniel placed Ethan’s phone on the table.
The message was still visible.
DESTROY THE COMPUTER. NOW. OR YOUR MOTHER TAKES THE FALL FOR EVERYTHING.
I read it twice.
Then Daniel scrolled to an older message.
Another text from my father.
Once Emily is gone, the trust belongs to you alone.
“What trust?” I asked.
Ethan looked confused.
“I thought you knew.”
“Knew what?”
He swallowed.
“Sarah’s family left you money.”
The room fell silent.
“How much?”
Ethan shook his head.
“Dad always called it the Holloway estate.”
Daniel opened another file from the recovered laptop.
A financial statement appeared.
May you like
The current balance was forty-eight million dollars.
And Richard Bennett was listed as trustee.
