Chapter 10 - Mrs. Green opened the door before Ethan knocked.As if she'd been waiting.
“I wondered when you'd come.”
Ethan froze.
Sarah stood behind him.
Daniel remained near the car.
Lily held Ethan's hand.
Mrs. Green looked at her.
“Come in, sweetheart.”
Lily smiled.
“You know me?”
“I've known you since you were born.”
Ethan stepped inside.
The old woman's house smelled of lavender.
Photographs covered the walls.
Children.
Graduations.
Weddings.
Neighborhood parties.
Then Ethan noticed one photograph.
His father.
Daniel.
Mrs. Green.
And Marcus.
Taken twenty years earlier.
“You knew them.”
Mrs. Green sighed.
“I knew too much.”
She went to a cabinet.
Removed a wooden box.
Inside was a notebook.
“My husband kept records.”
“Of what?”
“Everything.”
She opened it.
Names.
Dates.
Bank transfers.
Meetings.
Secret deliveries.
Then Ethan saw a familiar date.
The night his father died.
Beneath it:
Daniel survived.
Ethan stared.
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you tell anyone?”
“Because Marcus threatened my family.”
“You could have gone to the police.”
Mrs. Green laughed bitterly.
“Which police?”
Ethan said nothing.
Mrs. Green closed the notebook.
“Your father came here that night.”
“He was wounded.”
“He gave me something.”
“What?”
She looked at Lily.
“Something meant for her.”
From behind a painting, she removed a tiny black box.
Silver lock.
Exactly as Lily described.
Ethan stared at it.
Daniel stepped forward.
“That's the ledger?”
Mrs. Green nodded.
“No.”
Daniel frowned.
“Then what is it?”
“A key.”
“To what?”
Mrs. Green looked at Ethan.
“To the place your father hid the truth.”
Ethan opened the box.
Inside was a second key.
And a photograph.
A photograph of Ethan as a child.
Standing beside his father.
On the back was written:
One day, my son will choose between money and family.
Ethan swallowed.
Then a gunshot shattered the window.
Mrs. Green fell.
“Mrs. Green!”
Blood spread across her blouse.
Lily screamed.
Daniel dragged Ethan toward the floor.
Another shot.
Then silence.
Ethan crawled toward Mrs. Green.
She grabbed his sleeve.
“Don't let them take her.”
“Who?”
Her eyes moved toward Lily.
“They're coming for the child.”
She pushed the key into Ethan's hand.
Then whispered:
“Your father left you a message.”
“What message?”
“He knew you would become just like him.”
Ethan froze.
Mrs. Green smiled faintly.
“Cold.”
“Ambitious.”
“Alone.”
Her eyes closed.
“But he hoped one day you'd choose differently.”
Then she died.
Lily sobbed.
Ethan held her.
Outside, tires screamed away.
Daniel stared through the broken window.
“They know where we are.”
Ethan closed his hand around the key.
“What does it open?”
Daniel looked at the photograph.
Then at Ethan.
“Your father's grave.”
Ethan frowned.
“That makes no sense.”
May you like
Daniel shook his head.
“Your father wasn't buried alone.”
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