Chapter 6 - THE MAN WHO WANTED EVERYTHING
We returned to the house with police protection.
Charles was gone.
His bedroom was empty.
His clothes had disappeared.
So had several files.
Detective Bennett searched the house for hours.
Then she found something beneath the floorboard in Richard's office.
A second safe.
Inside was a ledger.
Richard opened it.
His hands shook.
"These are the transfers."
Eight million dollars.
Every transaction.
Every account.
Every date.
Every signature.
At the bottom was Charles Hale's name.
Richard stared at the ledger.
"He did it."
Ethan looked at him.
"You let him do it."
"I trusted my brother."
"You trusted everyone except your son."
Richard lowered his head.
I stepped between them.
"Enough."
Both men looked at me.
"We don't have time to destroy each other."
Detective Bennett nodded.
"She's right."
Then the lights flickered.
A message appeared on Richard's computer.
YOU HAVE UNTIL MIDNIGHT.
Underneath it was a photograph of Samuel.
Taken inside the clinic.
I felt the room spin.
"He followed us."
Detective Bennett immediately called for backup.
Ethan picked up Samuel.
"We need somewhere he can't find."
Richard looked at me.
"I know a place."
We drove to an old lakeside cabin owned by my parents.
No internet.
No cameras.
No neighbors nearby.
For the first time in days, silence surrounded us.
Samuel slept beside the fireplace.
Ethan sat on the floor.
Richard remained several feet away.
Then he said:
"Ethan."
My son looked up.
"I'm sorry."
Ethan didn't respond.
"I thought making you suffer would make you strong."
Ethan's jaw tightened.
"I didn't make you strong."
"I know."
"You made me afraid."
Richard closed his eyes.
"I know."
"And you made Mom afraid to stand up to you."
I looked away.
Richard nodded.
"I know."
Ethan stood.
"Then why?"
Richard looked at him.
"Because my father treated me the same way."
The room went silent.
"My father believed love was weakness."
Richard's voice cracked.
"When I was eighteen, he told me I was worthless unless I could survive without him."
Ethan stared.
"I hated him."
"Then why become him?"
Richard had no answer.
Tears filled his eyes.
"I didn't realize I was becoming him."
Ethan looked toward Samuel.
"Then don't."
That sentence broke Richard.
He began to cry.
Not loudly.
Just one quiet breath after another.
For the first time in twenty-three years, I saw my husband without the armor.
Not powerful.
Not respectable.
Just broken.
Later that night, Detective Bennett called.
"We found Charles."
"Where?"
"At the old Hale warehouse."
Richard stood.
"He's going to destroy the evidence."
The detective shook her head.
"Not anymore."
"What happened?"
"He called us."
I frowned.
"Why?"
"He wants immunity."
Richard's face hardened.
"He's lying."
"Probably."
The detective paused.
"But he gave us one piece of information."
"What?"
"Daniel Mercer isn't working alone."
I looked at Ethan.
"Who else?"
The detective's voice became quiet.
"Your husband's business partner."
Richard froze.
"Michael Grant?"
"Yes."
Richard sat down.
Michael had been his closest friend for twenty years.
He had attended our wedding.
He had held Ethan as a baby.
And now he was apparently part of the conspiracy.
Then Detective Bennett added:
"There's one more problem."
May you like
"What?"
"Michael knows where Samuel is."
