Chapter 6 - ETHAN

Our son was born at 4:38 that afternoon.

For twelve hours, my family had been collapsing around me.

Then Ethan Carter entered the world screaming.

And suddenly nothing else existed.

Seven pounds, two ounces.

Dark hair.

Tiny clenched fists.

Angry at the universe.

Perfect.

When the nurse placed him against Anna’s chest, she sobbed.

I kissed both of them.

“I’m sorry.”

Anna looked up.

“For what?”

“For not seeing you.”

Her face softened.

“You see me now.”

It should have been the happiest moment of my life.

It almost was.

Then a hospital security officer entered.

“Mr. Carter?”

I stood.

“Yes?”

“A woman claiming to be the baby’s grandmother is downstairs demanding access.”

Anna went rigid.

“No.”

I answered before the officer could ask.

“She is not allowed anywhere near my wife or child.”

He nodded.

“We’ve already flagged the room.”

My mother called twenty-seven times that evening.

She left four voicemails.

The first was angry.

The second was crying.

The third blamed Anna.

The fourth terrified me.

“Nathan, you’re making decisions you don’t understand. There are things your father did that you know nothing about. If you keep digging, you’re going to destroy his memory too.”

I saved every message.

The next morning, Rebecca came to the hospital with the ledger.

Samuel came with her.

He looked exactly like I imagined someone who had spent decades auditing dishonest people would look.

Thin.

Gray.

Eyes that missed nothing.

He stood beside Ethan’s bassinet for a long moment.

“Daniel would’ve liked him.”

My throat tightened.

Samuel opened the ledger.

My father’s handwriting covered page after page.

Dates.

Amounts.

Initials.

Questions.

Near the end, the entries became frantic.

Samuel pointed to the payments connected to Dr. Klein.

“Evelyn wasn’t paying him directly.”

“Then what is this?”

“These are checks from one of the shell vendors.”

“What does that mean?”

“She controlled the vendor.”

“So indirectly, she paid him.”

“Yes.”

“For what?”

“That’s what Daniel wanted to know.”

Rebecca had searched public records.

Dr. Klein retired six years earlier.

He had also been investigated by the state medical board.

Not for my father.

For improper prescribing.

I leaned back.

Anna immediately saw where my mind had gone.

“Nathan.”

“I know.”

“No, you don’t.”

She reached across the bed.

“You’re about to convince yourself your mother killed your father.”

I said nothing.

“And maybe she did something terrible,” Anna continued. “But you need evidence. Not rage.”

She was right.

After everything my mother had done to her, Anna was still the calmest person in the room.

Samuel nodded.

“Your father taught you well when he wasn’t being stubborn.”

A knock came at the door.

Detective Morales entered.

He had news.

The tablets from Anna’s robe matched medication prescribed to my mother several months earlier.

My mother claimed Anna stole them.

Anna laughed for the first time since labor.

It wasn’t humor.

“She said I stole her pills?”

Morales nodded.

“She says you’ve been unstable throughout the pregnancy.”

I felt Anna shrink.

I stood.

Morales raised a hand.

“I’m not saying we believe her.”

“She’s doing exactly what she threatened.”

“I know.”

He had reviewed Anna’s recorded statement.

There was something else.

“Your mother filed a report this morning.”

“For what?”

“She claims several pieces of jewelry are missing from your home.”

I stared at him.

“Let me guess.”

“She believes your wife took them.”

Anna shut her eyes.

The trap was unfolding exactly as promised.

But my mother had made one mistake.

She was moving too fast.

Morales asked,

“Do you have interior cameras?”

“We did.”

“Footage?”

“The system stores online.”

I checked.

The cameras had been disconnected yesterday.

But the previous thirty days remained.

I gave Morales access.

He left.

Samuel looked at me.

“She’s trying to control the story.”

“She always has.”

“Then stop reacting to her version.”

“How?”

“Find the version she’s afraid of.”

That afternoon, I watched security footage.

Hours of nothing.

Hallways.

Doors.

My mother carrying laundry.

Anna moving through the house.

Then I found something.

Three nights earlier.

2:14 a.m.

My mother walked from her bedroom toward Anna’s purse.

She looked down the hallway.

Reached inside.

Removed something.

Then placed something else inside.

I zoomed in.

Jewelry.

A bracelet.

The same gold bracelet my mother had reported stolen.

I sent the video to Detective Morales.

Anna watched from the bed.

“She planted it.”

“Yes.”

Her eyes filled.

“She really meant it.”

“What?”

“When she said she could make you believe I was a thief.”

I took her hand.

“She underestimated one thing.”

“What?”

“You.”

Anna frowned.

“She spent months convincing you that you were powerless.”

I looked at Ethan sleeping beside us.

“She was wrong.”

My phone buzzed.

A message from Rebecca.

You need to see this.

Attached was a photograph.

It showed my father.

My mother.

And Dr. Klein.

Taken at a restaurant ten years earlier.

The date was written on the back.

But that wasn’t what Rebecca wanted me to notice.

Behind them, reflected in the restaurant mirror, was another man.

Samuel.

I looked across the hospital room.

At him.

He stared at the photograph.

His face changed.

“Samuel?”

He didn’t answer.

“Who is that man beside you?”

He sat down slowly.

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Then said,

“I was hoping you’d never have to ask me that.”