Chapter 10 - Ethan Is GoneI don't remember leaving the room.
I only remember running.
Officer Daniels followed me to the school.
My hands shook so badly I could barely hold the steering wheel.
When we arrived, the principal was waiting.
“She showed ID,” he said.
“Whose?”
“Vanessa's.”
“Where is my son?”
“We're trying to locate the vehicle.”
“Trying?”
His face tightened.
“She signed him out.”
My heart stopped.
Ethan was missing.
For fifteen minutes.
But every minute felt like a year.
Officer Daniels ordered a statewide alert.
Vanessa's SUV was entered into the system.
Her phone was tracked.
Nothing.
Then a call came.
Unknown number.
“Hello?”
A man's voice.
“You wanted proof.”
I froze.
“Where is my son?”
“Safe.”
“Let me speak to him.”
“Not yet.”
Officer Daniels gestured to me.
Speaker.
I put the phone down.
“What do you want?”
“The evidence.”
“You have to return Ethan.”
“No.”
My voice broke.
“I swear to God, if you hurt him…”
“You're not listening.”
“Who are you?”
“Someone cleaning up your father's mess.”
Richard.
It had to be him.
“Where is my son?”
“You'll find out when you've surrendered the files.”
“What files?”
“The ones your father left.”
Officer Daniels typed silently.
“Why should I trust you?”
“You shouldn't.”
The call ended.
I stood frozen.
Then my phone buzzed again.
A photograph.
Ethan sitting in the back seat of a vehicle.
He wasn't crying.
He looked confused.
In the corner of the image was a pink suitcase.
My mother's.
Officer Daniels stared at it.
“She isn't helping him.”
“What?”
“Look at the background.”
I zoomed in.
A yellow wall.
A framed painting.
Then I recognized the room.
“My mother's house.”
Police surrounded the property.
They found the house empty.
But they found something else.
A hidden room.
Behind a wardrobe in my mother's bedroom.
Inside were folders.
Photos.
Bank records.
And a wall covered with names.
Mine was in the center.
Beside it was a photograph of Ethan.
Underneath, someone had written:
Pressure point.
I felt sick.
Officer Daniels looked at me.
“This family has been tracking you for years.”
Then one officer shouted from the hallway.
“We found a basement door.”
They opened it.
The stairs led to a hidden office.
On the desk was a laptop.
And on the screen was a live video feed.
Ethan.
I rushed toward it.
He was sitting in a room.
Alive.
Safe.
Then the camera turned.
Vanessa walked into the frame.
She looked terrified.
She whispered:
“Amanda, listen to me.”
I stared at the screen.
“Where are you?”
Vanessa swallowed.
“Mom doesn't know I took him.”
“What?”
“I brought him here because I had to hide him.”
“From who?”
Vanessa looked behind her.
Then she whispered:
“From Paul.”
My blood ran cold.
“What did Paul do?”
She leaned toward the camera.
“He found the original trust.”
“Where?”
“In your house.”
I stared at her.
“What?”
She shook her head.
“You don't understand.”
“Then explain!”
Vanessa's voice cracked.
“The trust isn't about money.”
“What is it about?”
May you like
She looked directly into the camera.
“It has the name of the person who ordered your father's death.”
