Chapter 15 - THE SON TAKEN FOR THE FATHER
The courthouse locked down immediately.
Every exit was checked.
Security footage showed Ethan being pushed into a service corridor during the evacuation.
A man wearing a court employee badge followed him.
Another camera showed the same man guiding Ethan toward a loading area.
Ethan appeared conscious.
But he moved strangely.
Brooks slowed the footage.
“He may have been disoriented.”
Richard stared.
“How?”
“We don’t know.”
A dark van left the loading area six minutes later.
The plate was stolen.
Richard stood motionless.
His son had disappeared while standing beside him.
Grace grabbed his arm.
“Dad.”
Richard did not respond.
Samuel approached.
“This is Thomas.”
Richard turned.
“You don’t know that.”
“Yes, I do.”
“How?”
Samuel’s eyes hardened.
“Because this is what people like him do.”
Richard almost shouted.
“You don’t know my brother.”
Samuel stared back.
“Neither do you.”
The words landed.
Richard had not seen Thomas in almost forty years.
Whatever brother he remembered no longer existed.
Sophia was still in the courthouse.
Brooks ordered her questioned immediately.
Richard entered the interview room before anyone could stop him.
Sophia stared at him.
“Where is Ethan?”
Richard’s voice was terrifyingly calm.
“You tell me.”
Her face changed.
“I don’t know.”
“Thomas took him.”
Sophia stood.
“What?”
Richard watched her carefully.
The fear looked real.
“He threatened Ethan yesterday.”
“I didn’t know he would actually—”
She stopped.
Richard stepped closer.
“You knew he threatened him.”
Sophia looked away.
“Where is Thomas?”
“I don’t know.”
Richard slammed both hands on the table.
Sophia jumped.
“WHERE IS MY SON?”
Brooks entered.
“Richard.”
He stepped back.
Sophia started crying.
This time Richard did not care whether the tears were genuine.
“He has places.”
Brooks sat.
“What places?”
“I don’t know all of them.”
“Give me the ones you know.”
Sophia listed three properties.
Police searched them.
Empty.
Then she remembered one more.
An old rural property once owned by Thomas’s father.
Richard recognized it.
“The orchard.”
Sophia nodded.
Police moved immediately.
Richard insisted on going.
Brooks refused to argue this time.
The farmhouse stood abandoned among dead apple trees.
Officers entered first.
They found no Thomas.
No Ethan.
But one room had been prepared.
A chair stood beneath a camera.
A printed confession rested on a table.
Richard read it.
It was written in Ethan’s name.
I, Ethan Whitmore, knowingly authorized transfers from the Whitmore Family Trust.
Richard’s face hardened.
The statement continued.
I acted under instructions from my father, Richard Whitmore.
Grace whispered.
“He wants Ethan to frame you.”
Samuel shook his head.
“No.”
Richard looked at him.
Samuel pointed toward the final paragraph.
In exchange for my cooperation, control of Whitmore Holdings will transfer to Thomas Whitmore.
“This isn’t a confession.”
Samuel continued.
“It’s leverage.”
Richard nodded.
Thomas wanted the company.
Again.
Brooks’s phone rang.
She answered.
Then held it toward Richard.
“It’s Ethan.”
Richard grabbed the phone.
“Ethan?”
His son sounded weak.
“Dad.”
Richard closed his eyes.
“Where are you?”
“I don’t know.”
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
A voice interrupted.
Thomas.
“Hello, brother.”
Richard’s expression changed.
“Let him go.”
Thomas laughed.
“You always begin with demands.”
“What do you want?”
“What I always wanted.”
“The company.”
“No.”
Grace stared at him.
Samuel watched.
Thomas laughed.
“You didn’t even hesitate.”
Richard answered.
“If I give you the company, you still have my son.”
“True.”
“So give me a reason to trust you.”
Silence.
Thomas sounded almost amused.
“You’ve changed.”
Richard looked toward Samuel.
“People keep saying that.”
Thomas continued.
“Then here is the arrangement.”
“You sign over voting control.”
“Ethan comes home.”
Richard replied.
“No.”
Grace whispered.
“Dad.”
Richard raised a hand.
Thomas’s voice cooled.
“Think carefully.”
“I am.”
Richard looked toward the unsigned confession.
“You have spent forty years believing I took something from you.”
“You did.”
“Our father took it.”
“You accepted it.”
“Yes.”
Richard surprised everyone.
“I did.”
Thomas went silent.
Richard continued.
“I accepted the company because I thought you were irresponsible.”
“You were.”
“I accepted Father’s version because it benefited me.”
Silence.
Richard’s eyes filled.
“I never looked for you.”
Thomas’s breathing changed.
Richard continued.
“I never asked whether you were alive.”
“I never questioned the story.”
“I failed you as a brother.”
Grace stared.
Samuel looked away.
Richard’s voice hardened.
“But none of that gives you my son.”
Thomas remained silent.
Richard continued.
“You want me?”
“Take me.”
“Dad.”
Grace whispered.
Richard ignored her.
Thomas laughed softly.
“And what would I do with a seventy-five-year-old man?”
Richard looked toward the camera in the farmhouse.
“You’ve been trying to destroy me for months.”
“Come finish it.”
Thomas stayed quiet.
Then Ethan’s voice came through.
“No.”
Richard closed his eyes.
Ethan sounded stronger.
“Dad, don’t.”
Thomas laughed.
“Your son learned loyalty late.”
Ethan continued.
“I’m sorry.”
Richard’s face crumpled slightly.
Ethan spoke quickly.
“I’m sorry I hit you.”
“I’m sorry I believed her.”
“I’m sorry I ever thought you could do what she said.”
Richard could not answer.
Thomas interrupted.
“Touching.”
Ethan’s voice sharpened.
“Go to hell.”
A sound followed.
Then silence.
Richard shouted.
“ETHAN!”
Thomas returned.
“Tomorrow morning.”
“Ten o’clock.”
“You bring the signed shares.”
“Where?”
“I’ll tell you.”
The call ended.
Richard stood frozen.
Grace touched his shoulder.
Brooks immediately began tracing the call.
Samuel examined the farmhouse.
Then he noticed something.
A camera in the corner still showed a red recording light.
The same red light that had exposed Sophia.
Samuel pointed.
“Thomas likes cameras.”
Richard stared.
Brooks checked the device.
It was transmitting.
Not merely recording.
Thomas had been watching them.
Richard stepped toward the camera.
He looked directly into it.
“Thomas.”
Everyone stopped.
Richard continued.
“You want the company?”
He pulled the unsigned transfer papers from his coat.
Then he tore them in half.
Grace stared.
Richard tore them again.
“You’re not getting it.”
He dropped the pieces.
“You can kill me.”
“You can hate me.”
“You can expose every mistake I ever made.”
“But you will not buy my son with my fear.”
Silence.
Then the camera speaker crackled.
Thomas’s voice answered.
“I was hoping you’d say that.”
Richard’s face changed.
Thomas continued.
“Because Ethan just became unnecessary.”
A loud bang sounded through the speaker.
Then the feed went dead.
Richard stopped breathing.
Grace screamed Ethan’s name.
Brooks grabbed the camera.
Samuel stared at the blank screen.
Richard remained motionless for three seconds.
Then his knees nearly gave way.
But before anyone could assume the worst, another device in the room beeped.
A printer beside the wall began feeding out a page.
One line appeared.
RICHARD WHITMORE, YOU HAVE SIX HOURS TO FIND YOUR SON BEFORE THE BUILDING HE IS IN IS DEMOLISHED.
Beneath it were GPS coordinates.
May you like
And beneath those coordinates was a photograph of Ethan chained inside a condemned Whitmore warehouse scheduled for implosion that evening.
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