Chapter 7 - THE PERSON INSIDE THE HOUSE
“And someone inside Ethan's house is working for him.”
The words changed everything.
Ethan's hand tightened around the key.
“Who?”
My mother shook her head.
“I don't know.”
Brian looked toward the hallway.
“We need to move.”
Ethan nodded.
We left through a rear service entrance.
No gunshots followed.
No men appeared.
That frightened me more.
Ethan drove us to a safe property outside the city.
My mother remained beside me in the back seat.
For the first time in twenty-two years, I could hold her hand while the city passed outside.
I didn't want to let go.
At the safe house, Ethan secured every entrance.
Then he turned to Brian.
“Who has access to the estate?”
“Twenty-three people.”
“Who knows about Jane's movements?”
“Security. Household staff. My office.”
Ethan looked at me.
“Someone has been feeding Russo information.”
My mother spoke quietly.
“Not just about Jane.”
Ethan looked at her.
“What else?”
“About the old evidence.”
Brian's expression changed.
“The key.”
My mother nodded.
“Your father hid something at Harbor 19.”
“What?”
“The original shipping records.”
I stared.
“The ledger?”
“No.”
She touched my necklace.
“The photographs were only part of it.”
“What else?”
“The names.”
“Whose names?”
“Every person involved.”
Ethan understood.
“Politicians.”
“Judges.”
“Police.”
My mother nodded.
“People who would destroy anyone who exposed them.”
I looked at the key.
“So S-19 opens the evidence.”
“Yes.”
“Then why didn't my father use it?”
“He was afraid.”
“For himself?”
“For you.”
The answer surprised me.
My father had spent years manipulating me.
Yet somewhere inside that terrible man had still been a father trying to protect his daughter.
It didn't erase anything.
But it complicated everything.
Brian entered.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“I found the leak.”
Ethan's eyes sharpened.
“Who?”
Brian hesitated.
Then he placed a photograph on the table.
It showed a woman entering the Carter estate.
I recognized her.
“Mrs. Carter?”
My stomach dropped.
She was the woman who had managed the household since before my wedding.
“She's been with the family for eighteen years.”
Brian nodded.
“She was also the person who handled your father's private correspondence.”
I looked at Ethan.
“She's loyal.”
“Maybe.”
Brian placed another photograph beside the first.
The housekeeper was meeting a man.
Samuel Russo.
My chest tightened.
“When?”
“Three weeks ago.”
Ethan's expression hardened.
“Bring her in.”
Twenty minutes later, the woman sat across from us.
She was crying before anyone accused her.
Ethan remained standing.
“Why?”
She looked at me.
“My son.”
I frowned.
“Russo has my son.”
The words came out broken.
“He threatened to kill him if I stopped cooperating.”
My anger faded.
Not because she was innocent.
Because I understood.
Everyone seemed to be trapped inside somebody else's threats.
“What did you tell him?”
“Where you went.”
“Only that?”
She shook her head.
“Your husband's schedule.”
Ethan's jaw tightened.
“Did you tell him about Harbor 19?”
“No.”
“Then who did?”
She looked at the key.
“I don't know.”
Brian placed another photograph on the table.
A man stood outside the safe house.
Ethan stared.
I recognized him too.
Derek.
His cousin.
The man who had stood beside him on my wedding day.
“He knew,” I whispered.
Ethan's expression became cold.
Derek had been one of the few people who knew about the old family files.
He had also been one of the few people who had openly mocked me.
Ethan's voice was quiet.
“Where is he?”
Brian checked his phone.
“Gone.”
Then another discovery.
The housekeeper reached into her pocket.
“I found this in Derek's office.”
She handed Ethan a small envelope.
Inside was a train ticket.
Chicago to Detroit.
Departure: 11:45 p.m.
On the back, someone had written:
HARBOR 19.
Ethan looked at the clock.
11:12.
“He's going there.”
My mother shook her head.
“No.”
Ethan turned.
“Why?”
“Because Harbor 19 is not a place.”
Everyone stared.
“What?”
“It was the name of a shipping account.”
My mother took the ticket.
“Your father used it as a code.”
“For what?”
“The warehouse where he kept the evidence.”
Ethan's eyes narrowed.
“Which warehouse?”
My mother looked at me.
“Your father told me only once.”
“Where?”
She whispered:
“Under the old train depot.”
Ethan immediately stood.
“We're going.”
I rose.
“So am I.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Jane—”
“That evidence belongs to my mother.”
“And I don't want you anywhere near that place.”
I stepped closer.
“You've spent three months deciding what I'm allowed to know.”
He looked at me.
“I won't do it again.”
“Then let me come.”
Silence.
Finally, he nodded.
“Stay beside me.”
We reached the abandoned depot just before midnight.
The building was dark.
The old tracks were covered with weeds.
Ethan found a locked metal door.
I inserted the key.
It opened.
Inside was a small storage room.
No documents.
No boxes.
Just an old wooden chair.
A photograph sat on it.
My mother.
My father.
Ethan's father.
And Derek.
I stared.
“Derek was there?”
My mother had told me he wasn't involved.
Ethan looked at the photograph.
Then he turned it over.
There was a message.
THE TRAITOR IS NOT THE ONE YOU THINK.
A floorboard creaked.
Ethan reached for his weapon.
A man stepped from the darkness.
Derek.
He looked exhausted.
Not triumphant.
Terrified.
He raised both hands.
“Don't shoot.”
Ethan's voice was ice.
“You betrayed me.”
Derek shook his head.
“No.”
“You worked with Russo.”
“I did.”
“That's betrayal.”
Derek looked at me.
“I was trying to protect Jane.”
I stared.
“What?”
He reached into his coat.
Instead of a weapon, he pulled out an old photograph.
My father stood beside Samuel Russo.
And behind them was another man.
Ethan's father.
Derek pointed to him.
“Your husband's father wasn't protecting Jane.”
He looked at Ethan.
“He was protecting himself.”
Ethan froze.
Derek continued:
“Your father didn't start Harbor 19.”
He looked at me.
“Your father ended it.”
I stared.
“Then who started it?”
Derek's voice dropped.
“Your mother.”
Silence.
My heart stopped.
Derek placed the photograph in my hand.
“Because she discovered what the men were doing.”
He swallowed.
“She wasn't trying to escape them.”
“She was trying to expose all of them.”
Then he looked at Ethan.
“And your father helped her.”
Ethan stared at him.
“Why would you hide that?”
Derek's eyes filled.
“Because if Russo knew Ethan's father helped her, he'd kill Ethan.”
Then Derek handed me a second envelope.
Inside was a child's drawing.
A little girl.
A woman.
A man.
And a warehouse.
At the bottom, in my mother's handwriting:
Jane saw everything.
I stared at the drawing.
“I was two.”
May you like
Derek nodded.
“And that is why everyone has been so afraid of you remembering.”
