Chapter 9 - THE WOMAN WHO SHOULD HAVE BEEN DEAD
They escaped through the basement tunnel.
The passage opened into the woods behind the mansion.
Ethan and Mara emerged into the cold morning air.
For several seconds, neither spoke.
Then Mara turned toward him.
“Your mother is alive?”
Ethan shook his head.
“She died when I was ten.”
“That's what you were told.”
He stared at her.
Mara's voice softened.
“I'm sorry.”
Ethan laughed without humor.
“Everyone keeps telling me things about my family that I don't know.”
He looked back toward the mansion.
“Maybe she is dead.”
“Victor knew her.”
“Victor also shot a man in front of us.”
“He didn't shoot him.”
Ethan looked at her.
Mara continued:
“The shooter came from the passage.”
Ethan froze.
She was right.
Victor had been shot from behind.
Someone else had been in the tunnel.
Someone who wanted Victor dead.
Someone who had followed them into the house.
Ethan's phone rang.
Sheriff Cole.
“Mr. Whitmore, where are you?”
“Outside the house.”
“Stay there.”
“What happened?”
“Caleb escaped.”
Ethan's eyes narrowed.
“How?”
“He was being transferred.”
“Who helped him?”
“We don't know.”
Ethan looked at Mara.
The pieces were moving too quickly.
Caleb had escaped.
Victor had appeared.
Someone had tried to kill Victor.
And the babies were still in danger.
Then a black SUV appeared at the edge of the road.
Ethan reached for his weapon.
The vehicle stopped.
The door opened.
An elderly woman stepped out.
She wore a long dark coat.
Her hair was silver.
Her face was pale.
Ethan stared.
He knew that face.
He had seen it in photographs.
In childhood memories.
In dreams.
His mother.
Alive.
The woman looked at him.
“Ethan.”
He couldn't move.
Mara stood beside him.
The woman took one step forward.
“I know you have questions.”
Ethan's voice was barely audible.
“You're dead.”
“No.”
“You died.”
“I disappeared.”
“Why?”
The woman looked toward the mansion.
“Because your father wanted me dead.”
Ethan laughed bitterly.
“Everyone wants someone dead.”
His mother looked at Mara.
“And you must be Thomas Bennett's daughter.”
Mara stiffened.
“How do you know me?”
“I knew your father.”
“You killed him.”
The woman's expression changed.
“No.”
“Then who did?”
She looked at Ethan.
“Your father.”
Ethan's face went cold.
His mother continued.
“Your father discovered that Thomas had helped me expose the financial crimes inside the family.”
“Then why did he say Thomas stole money?”
“Because he needed a scapegoat.”
Mara's eyes filled with tears.
“Where is my father?”
The woman looked away.
“Dead.”
Mara's breathing shook.
“Why did you let me believe he abandoned me?”
“Because the people who killed him were watching you.”
Mara stared at her.
“Who?”
The woman looked toward the mansion.
“Caleb Rourke.”
Ethan froze.
“Caleb?”
“He was working for your father.”
Mara shook her head.
“He said he was trying to protect the babies.”
“He was.”
Ethan stared at his mother.
“What are you talking about?”
She stepped closer.
“Caleb was trying to stop the poisoning.”
“Then why did he take the children?”
“To move them before the attack.”
Ethan's expression hardened.
“He put them in a locked storage room.”
“Because the nursery was compromised.”
“He didn't tell me.”
“Because he knew there was a traitor in your security team.”
Ethan's mind raced.
The hidden cameras.
The hospital kidnapping.
The messages.
The threats.
His mother continued:
“Caleb has spent years trying to dismantle the organization your father created.”
Ethan stared.
“What organization?”
She looked directly at him.
“The Whitmore Trust.”
He knew the name.
It was the family investment structure that controlled billions.
His mother whispered:
“Your father used it to control politicians, businesses, judges, and law enforcement.”
Ethan shook his head.
“No.”
“Your wife discovered the truth.”
“Caroline?”
“She found the records.”
“Then why didn't she tell me?”
“Because she was trying to protect you.”
Ethan's voice broke.
“From what?”
His mother looked at the mansion.
“From becoming the next head of the organization.”
Ethan stood frozen.
His mother reached into her coat and handed him a sealed envelope.
“Caroline left this for you.”
Ethan took it.
His hands trembled.
The envelope contained a letter.
He recognized Caroline's handwriting immediately.
My love,
If you are reading this, then I failed to tell you the truth.
Ethan's eyes blurred.
He continued reading.
The person who poisoned me is someone you trust.
He stopped.
Mara looked at him.
“What does it say?”
Ethan read the next line.
Then his face changed.
It isn't Caleb.
The wind moved through the trees.
Ethan stared at the final sentence.
The person you must never trust is the one who has been standing beside you since the night I died.
Ethan slowly looked toward the road.
Sheriff Cole's vehicle had just arrived.
The sheriff stepped out.
He looked at Ethan.
Then at Mara.
Then at Ethan's mother.
And for one brief second, the sheriff's expression revealed something Ethan had never seen before.
Fear.
Ethan folded the letter.
“Sheriff Cole.”
“Yes?”
“Where were you the night my wife died?”
The sheriff stopped.
No one moved.
Then, behind them, the mansion windows exploded.
A fireball erupted from the basement.
The hidden room disappeared in flames.
Ethan's mother grabbed his arm.
“Run!”
But Ethan stood staring at the burning house.
Because inside that house was the truth about his wife.
His father.
Mara's father.
And the person who had been standing beside him all along.
The fire spread across the roof.
And somewhere in the smoke, Ethan heard a child's cry.
May you like
One of the triplets was still inside.
TO BE CONTINUED…
