Chapter 8
Ethan Cole lived in a small apartment outside Chicago.
Detective Ruiz warned me not to contact him during the investigation, but he contacted me first.
I received his email two days after Mom’s arrest.
I think we’re brothers. I didn’t know where the money came from. Please let me explain.
My first instinct was anger.
Then I remembered how easily innocent children became targets for their parents’ sins.
I would not do to Ethan what Mom had done to me.
We met in the lobby of Samuel’s office.
Ethan was tall, nervous, and younger than his photograph suggested. He had Patrick’s dark hair and Mom’s sharp green eyes.
“I found out about you yesterday,” he said.
“So did I.”
He sat across from me, twisting his hands.
“Dad told me Mom died when I was a baby.”
“She has experience killing mothers who are still alive.”
He winced.
“That was unfair,” I said. “You didn’t cause this.”
“I benefited from it.”
“So did Olivia. The difference is whether you knew.”
“I thought Dad sent the money.”
Samuel joined us with documents showing that Evelyn had created a fake scholarship foundation. Payments from my trust passed through the foundation before reaching Ethan.
“I earned an academic scholarship,” Ethan said.
“You may have earned one,” Samuel replied. “But that wasn’t the source of these funds.”
Ethan covered his face.
“College. My apartment. Medical school applications. All of it?”
“Most of it,” Samuel said.
“I’ll pay it back.”
I studied him.
He looked ashamed in a way Olivia never had.
“What did Patrick tell you about your mother?”
“That she was kind. That she died in an accident.”
“He was protecting himself.”
Ethan nodded.
“I know.”
He reached into his backpack and removed a small external drive.
“I found this in Dad’s safe after the arrests. I think you need it.”
The drive contained financial records, photographs, and years of messages between Patrick and Mom.
One conversation was dated before Dad’s death.
Evelyn: Robert plans to expose the accounts.
Patrick: Then stop him.
Evelyn: I may need your help afterward.
Another was sent forty-six minutes after Dad fell.
Evelyn: He is still breathing.
Patrick: Wait until I arrive.
The evidence destroyed Patrick’s claim that he believed Dad was dead.
But another folder caught my attention.
It was labeled DANIEL.
Inside were reports from private investigators.
Mom had monitored me for years.
She knew where I worked, who I dated, how much I earned, and when my marriage ended.
“She wasn’t worried about me,” I said. “She was watching the trust.”
Samuel opened the final report.
It contained photographs of my ex-wife, Rachel, meeting Olivia at a restaurant.
The meeting had happened one week before Rachel asked for a divorce.
I felt sick.
Rachel had claimed she no longer loved me.
She said I was too guarded and too damaged by my family.
Maybe that part had been true.
But why had she secretly met Olivia?
I called Rachel.
She answered after the fourth ring.
“Daniel?”
“I found a photograph of you and Olivia.”
Silence.
“When?”
“Before our divorce.”
Rachel exhaled slowly.
“I wanted to tell you.”
“Tell me what?”
“Olivia showed me documents claiming you had hidden debt. She said criminals were using your business accounts. She warned me I could be arrested as your wife.”
“And you believed her?”
“She had bank statements.”
“Forged statements.”
“I know that now.”
My anger softened, but the hurt remained.
“Why didn’t you ask me?”
“Because she also showed me messages that appeared to be from you. Messages saying you married me to look respectable while waiting for your trust.”
I sat down.
“I never wrote that.”
“I realized it months later. By then, I was ashamed.”
“You could have called.”
“So could you.”
She was right.
After the divorce, I had accepted another loss without fighting because part of me believed everyone eventually discovered I was not worth keeping.
That belief had been Mom’s greatest theft.
Before ending the call, Rachel said something unexpected.
“There’s more, Daniel. Your mother visited me after the divorce.”
“What did she want?”
“She paid me to stay away.”
“How much?”
“I didn’t accept it. But I recorded the conversation because she frightened me.”
Rachel emailed the recording.
Mom’s voice was clear.
If you return to Daniel, he may discover what Olivia did with the company accounts. He cannot learn the truth before we move the trust.
Then Rachel asked, “What happens after you move it?”
Mom answered without hesitation.
“Daniel becomes unnecessary.”
Ruiz listened to the recording that evening.
“This suggests a larger plan,” she said. “Your forged death certificate may not have been merely paperwork.”
“You think they planned to kill me?”
“We found a life insurance policy Olivia purchased six months ago.”
My name was listed as the insured person.
Olivia was the beneficiary.
The policy paid two million dollars for an accidental death.
Ruiz placed another document on the table.
It was a reservation from a mountain resort.
Olivia had invited me there the following weekend, claiming she wanted to repair our relationship.
May you like
Attached was a message she had sent Patrick.
The cliff road has no cameras. Make sure the brakes fail after he arrives.
