Chapter 9
We spent the rest of the day preparing.
Ethan went to his storage unit.
Came back with three boxes of evidence.
Bank records.
Emails.
Text messages.
Voicemails.
Everything he’d saved over the last three years.
Every threat.
Every demand.
Every clue.
Danielle and I sorted through it.
Organized it.
Made three separate packets.
One for Linda.
One for Richard.
One for Madison.
By nine o’clock that night, we were ready.
We sat at the kitchen table.
Three glasses of wine.
Three exhausted people.
The kids asleep upstairs.
“Tomorrow at nine,” I said. “All three get their packets at the same time. Certified mail. Email. Hand-delivered by the courier service I hired. No way any of them can claim they didn’t get it.”
Danielle nodded.
“Then at nine thirty, we call each of them. Give them twenty-four hours to stop all contact with Ethan. To return every penny they’ve taken. To sign full legal releases promising never to bother any of us again. If they don’t… we release everything. To the police. To the press. To everyone.”
She looked at Ethan.
“And you’re sure about turning yourself in? After this is over?”
He nodded.
“I’ve been running for three years. I’m tired. Whatever happens… happens. At least this way, the kids will know I didn’t run. That I stood up and took what was coming to me.”
He looked at me.
“There’s something else. Something I need to give you. Both of you.”
He reached into his pocket.
Pulled out two envelopes.
Handed one to me.
One to Danielle.
I opened mine.
Inside was a deed.
To this house.
Signed over to me.
Free and clear.
No mortgage.
He’d paid it off six months ago.
With embezzled money.
But it was mine now.
No strings.
No way for anyone to take it.
Noah would always have a home.
I looked up.
Tears in my eyes.
“When did you do this?”
“After the kidnapping threat. I realized nothing was safe. Nothing was permanent. Except this house. I wanted you and Noah to have something solid. Something nobody could take away. No matter what happened to me.”
Danielle opened her envelope.
Inside was a bank statement.
A savings account.
Five hundred thousand dollars.
In her name.
For Emily.
“Ethan…” she whispered.
“I know it’s not enough,” he said. “Not for three years of lies. Not for everything you’ve been through. But it’s a start. It’s all I could get together without the blackmailers finding out. It’s in an account only you can access. For Emily’s college. For a house. For whatever you need.”
He leaned back in his chair.
“Whatever happens tomorrow… whatever happens to me… you two and the kids are taken care of. That’s all that matters.”
For the first time in three years, I looked at Ethan.
Really looked at him.
And I saw the man I’d fallen in love with.
Buried under all the lies and fear and bad choices.
He was still there.
Somewhere.
“Thank you,” I said.
“Thank you,” Danielle echoed.
“Don’t thank me yet,” he said. “Tomorrow’s going to be the hardest day of all of our lives. These people aren’t going to go quietly. Especially not when they realize we have the power to destroy them.”
He was right.
Linda, Richard, Madison.
Three people who were used to getting what they wanted.
Three people who had spent their whole lives stepping on anyone who got in their way.
They wouldn’t just roll over.
They’d fight.
Dirty.
Hard.
With everything they had.
At eleven o’clock, we went our separate ways.
Danielle went home.
Ethan went to a hotel nearby.
I locked the doors.
Set the alarm.
Checked on the kids one more time.
Then I lay in bed.
Staring at the ceiling.
Waiting for morning.
Nine o’clock came too fast.
The courier had delivered all three packets by eight forty-five.
At nine o’clock sharp, my phone rang.
Linda.
I put it on speaker.
Danielle and Ethan were on the line too.
“What is the meaning of this?” Linda screamed. “How dare you send these lies to my bridge club? To my pastor? I will have you arrested for defamation, Sarah Carter. Mark my words.”
“Good morning, Linda,” I said. “I’m glad you got the packet. Now, let’s be clear. None of it is lies. You’ve been stealing from your father’s trust since 2004. Five hundred and eighteen thousand, two hundred and forty-seven dollars. Every transaction is there. Every forged signature. Every fake receipt. Your brother and sister have copies too. By now, they’ve probably already called their lawyers.”
Linda’s voice faltered.
“Ethan put you up to this. He’s always been a weak boy. Easily led.”
“Ethan had nothing to do with it,” I said. “I’ve known for months. I was just waiting for the right time to strike. You have twenty-four hours, Linda. Return every penny you’ve taken from Ethan. Sign the papers releasing all of us from any claim. And if you ever, ever contact any of us again—directly or indirectly—I send everything to the district attorney. You’ll spend your eightieth birthday in a maximum-security prison. Do we understand each other?”
Silence.
Then a small, broken sound.
“I understand.”
“Good. Now, tell Richard and Madison the deal’s off. Their little blackmail club is done. If they want to keep playing, they answer to me.”
I hung up.
My hands were shaking.
“Nice,” Danielle said. “Very nice.”
Next was Richard Voss.
He didn’t yell.
He didn’t scream.
He was quiet.
Cold.
Dangerous.
“You think you’ve won, Sarah,” he said. “You think a few pieces of paper are enough to take down Richard Voss? I have the best lawyers money can buy. I’ll tie this up in court for twenty years. I’ll be dead before they ever convict me of anything.”
“Maybe,” I said. “But the packet I sent to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution won’t wait twenty years. It goes live at ten o’clock tomorrow morning. Front page. Business section. Every detail. Every number. Every name. Your company’s stock will drop fifty percent in an hour. Your board will fire you by lunch. Your wife will file for divorce by dinner. And then the SEC and the FBI will show up. And they don’t care how good your lawyers are. They care about fifteen million dollars in missing money.”
I paused.
Let it sink in.
“Twenty-four hours, Richard. Return everything. Resign. Sign the releases. And you get to retire quietly. With your dignity. With most of your money. With your family intact. Refuse… and you lose everything. Which is it going to be?”
A long silence.
Then a sigh.
“Twenty-four hours.”
He hung up.
Last was Madison.
She didn’t answer the first call.
Or the second.
On the third try, she picked up.
Sounded like she’d been crying.
Or drinking.
Or both.
“You ruined my wedding,” she said. “You ruined my life. What more do you want from me?”
“I want the two hundred and seventy thousand dollars Ethan paid you over the last six months,” I said. “I want you to sign the releases. And I want you to leave this state and never come back. If I ever see you within a hundred miles of Atlanta again… I send the proof that you conspired with Linda and Richard to blackmail Ethan to the police. Conspiracy to commit extortion carries a minimum five-year sentence in Georgia. Do you want to spend your twenties in a prison cell, Madison? Because that’s exactly what’s going to happen if you don’t do exactly what I say.”
Madison sobbed.
“I didn’t know it would get this bad. I just wanted him to love me. I just wanted the wedding.”
“Love isn’t something you blackmail people into, Madison. You learned that the hard way. Now learn this. Twenty-four hours. The money. The releases. Gone. Otherwise… prison. Your choice.”
She hung up.
Silence on the line.
Then Ethan spoke.
His voice was full of awe.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been more attracted to you than I am right now.”
“Shut up, Ethan,” Danielle and I said at the same time.
We all laughed.
A real laugh.
The first one in days.
It was over.
Finally.
We’d won.
Or so we thought.
Because at that exact moment, my front door burst open.
Two men in police uniforms ran in.
Guns drawn.
“Sarah Carter? Ethan Carter? Danielle Bennett? You’re all under arrest. For conspiracy to commit extortion. And for the murder of Linda Carter.”
The world stopped.
Murder?
Linda was dead?
One of the officers stepped forward.
May you like
Handcuffs in his hand.
“Linda Carter was found dead in her home an hour ago. Poisoned. And we have three text messages sent from your phone, Ms. Carter, threatening her life. Sent… ten minutes ago.”
