Chapter 8 - ETHAN’S CHOICE
Ethan stared at the frozen image of his younger face.
He had been twenty-two years old when the footage was recorded.
Emma waited for him to explain.
“I followed Vanessa,” he said.
“Why?”
“She called me from the road.”
“What did she say?”
“She said she had hit something.”
Maria covered her mouth.
Detective Ruiz moved closer.
“What happened after you left the estate?” she asked.
Ethan sat heavily in the chair.
“I found her car near Blackwood Bridge.”
“Was Claire Mercer’s husband there?”
“Yes.”
“Was he alive?”
Ethan’s eyes filled with shame.
“He was lying beside the road.”
Emma could barely breathe.
“Did you call an ambulance?”
“I reached for my phone.”
“What stopped you?”
“My mother arrived.”
The room fell silent.
Eleanor had ordered Ethan to take Vanessa home.
She claimed her own security team would handle the accident.
Ethan was young, frightened, and accustomed to obeying her.
He left.
The next morning, the newspapers reported that Claire’s husband had died after losing control of his vehicle.
“What about my father?” Emma asked.
“Owen arrived before my mother.”
“How do you know?”
“I saw his car near the bridge.”
Ethan had never told the police.
Eleanor warned him that Owen had caused the accident while trying to blackmail the family.
She said Vanessa had only witnessed it.
Ethan believed her.
Days later, Owen was arrested for stealing from the foundation.
“I was a coward,” Ethan said.
“You knew a man was dying.”
“I was twenty-two.”
“You were old enough to call for help.”
His face collapsed.
“I know.”
Emma looked toward the window.
For years, she had loved Ethan because he seemed different from his family.
Now she understood that silence had made him part of their crimes.
Detective Ruiz asked Ethan to give a formal statement.
He agreed.
His phone rang before they left the room.
The caller was Eleanor.
Ethan answered.
His mother’s voice was calm.
“If you speak to the police, you lose everything.”
Ethan glanced at Emma.
“I already have.”
He ended the call.
Two hours later, Ethan signed his statement.
By evening, the district attorney issued a warrant for Vanessa’s arrest in connection with evidence tampering and Emma’s fall.
Police arrived at the Hawthorne mansion.
Vanessa was gone.
Her passport remained inside the safe.
Her car remained in the garage.
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On her bed, investigators found a photograph of Emma leaving the hospital.
A red circle had been drawn around her pregnant belly.
