Chapter 9 - The Man Charlotte Once Loved
Ethan Shaw had been part of Charlotte’s life since they were children.
Their fathers were friends.
They attended the same schools.
They spent summers at the same lake house.
At twenty-three, Ethan proposed.
Charlotte said no.
Not because she did not love him.
Because Eleanor asked her to wait.
At the time, Charlotte never understood why.
Now she did.
“Give me the page.”
Ethan looked devastated.
“Charlotte.”
“Now.”
He handed it over.
Charlotte unfolded the paper.
Her mother’s handwriting continued halfway down the page.
Samuel confronted the person he trusted most.
Richard.
Charlotte’s knees almost weakened.
Richard.
Her uncle.
Her father’s closest friend.
Her mother’s brother.
Eleanor had written the truth clearly.
Richard struck Samuel during an argument aboard the family boat.
Samuel fell unconscious.
Victor arrived afterward.
Instead of calling emergency services, Victor and Richard pushed Samuel into the water.
Together they created the accident.
Charlotte could barely see through her tears.
Ethan stepped closer.
“I’m sorry.”
She backed away.
“How long have you known?”
He did not answer.
That was answer enough.
“How long?”
“Six years.”
Charlotte slapped him.
The sound echoed between the trees.
Grant looked away.
Ethan accepted it without protest.
“My father found one of Eleanor’s files.”
“Your father?”
David Shaw had served as Solmere’s chief financial officer.
He died four years earlier.
Ethan continued.
“He told me Richard had been moving money for Victor.”
“And you stayed silent?”
“I tried to convince your mother to go to the FBI.”
“What did she say?”
“That Victor had people everywhere.”
Charlotte laughed bitterly.
“So everyone protected me by lying to me.”
Ethan’s voice broke.
“I thought I was keeping you alive.”
“You let me mourn an accident that never happened.”
“I know.”
“You stood beside Richard at my father’s memorial every year.”
“I know.”
“You held me at my mother’s funeral while knowing Richard killed my father.”
Ethan closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
Charlotte wanted to hate him.
Part of her did.
But there was something else.
“Why are you here now?”
Ethan looked toward the road.
“Because Richard knows about the documents.”
“How?”
“I told him.”
Grant moved forward angrily.
Charlotte stopped him.
Ethan continued quickly.
“I had to.”
“You betrayed me.”
“I made him believe I was still working for him.”
Still.
The word changed everything.
Charlotte stared at Ethan.
“You’ve been working for Richard?”
“For eighteen months.”
Lydia whispered.
“Oh my God.”
Ethan nodded.
“Your mother recruited me before she died.”
Charlotte’s anger faltered.
“She knew I could get close to Richard.”
He reached into his coat.
Charlotte tensed.
Ethan removed a small encrypted drive.
“Richard thinks I stole evidence from you.”
He held it out.
“But I’ve actually been stealing evidence from him.”
Charlotte took the drive.
“What’s on it?”
Ethan looked directly into her eyes.
“Proof your mother’s crash wasn’t meant to kill her.”
Charlotte frowned.
“Then what was it meant to do?”
May you like
Ethan’s face hardened.
“To make Charlotte Vale disappear.”
