Chapter 8 - MY HUSBAND’S SECRET
I wanted to believe Ethan was the one person standing completely outside my family’s lies.
Then Detective Ruiz showed me the restaurant receipt.
Ethan had met my father fourteen days before the barbecue.
Two dinners.
One bottle of expensive wine.
Nearly three hours together.
Ethan had told me they met once.
The receipt proved they met twice.
I waited until we were alone.
“How many conversations did you have with him?”
Ethan didn’t lie this time.
“Four.”
I felt something inside me crack.
“You looked me in the face and let me believe you barely spoke to him.”
“I was recording him.”
That stopped me.
Ethan reached into his bag.
He removed a small digital recorder.
“Your father offered me money during the first meeting.”
“He wanted me to persuade you to sign the waiver.”
“I refused.”
“Then he increased the offer.”
“How much?”
“One million.”
I almost laughed.
Not because it was funny.
Because one million dollars for my signature sounded insane until I understood what they were hiding.
“Why keep meeting him?”
“I wanted him to tell me what he was afraid of.”
“And did he?”
Ethan’s eyes met mine.
“Eventually.”
He played the recording.
My father’s voice filled the room.
“You’re thinking about this emotionally.”
Ethan answered.
“She’s my wife.”
“She doesn’t understand what Eleanor did.”
“What did Eleanor do?”
My father paused.
Then said something that made my skin crawl.
“She put the company in the hands of a baby that doesn’t even exist yet.”
The recording continued.
“If Hannah gives birth before we fix this, everything becomes permanent.”
I stared at the recorder.
Permanent.
That was the word.
The same word my mother had used during the argument.
Ethan stopped the audio.
“There’s more.”
“Play it.”
He hesitated.
That hesitation made me afraid again.
“Play it.”
My father’s voice returned.
“If something happens naturally, the problem solves itself.”
Then Ethan spoke.
“And if it doesn’t happen naturally?”
Silence.
Five seconds.
Ten.
May you like
Finally my father answered.
“Families solve their own problems.”
