Chapter 6 - The Cousin Who Didn't Exist
Lucas Reed had been searching for me too.
We found Lucas three days later.
Not in Arizona.
In Colorado.
He was twenty-four minutes from my house.
He worked at an independent body shop in Longmont.
When Logan called him, Lucas didn't believe him.
When Elena sent a photograph of the letter, he agreed to meet.
We met at a diner just after sunrise.
He arrived wearing black work clothes.
Grease stained his sleeves.
His hair was longer than mine.
His eyes were almost exactly like Ethan's.
I knew immediately.
“You're Willow.”
“Yes.”
He sat across from me.
“Your father finally told you?”
“No.”
I placed the letter on the table.
“Your father did.”
Lucas didn't touch it.
“My father?”
“My uncle.”
He looked down.
“You knew he existed?”
“I didn't.”
He laughed without humor.
“Neither did I.”
For the next hour, we compared fragments of the same broken family.
Lucas had grown up in foster care.
His mother had died when he was young.
Ethan disappeared before Lucas turned six.
Lucas was told that his father had abandoned him.
But years later, while searching through adoption records, he discovered the surname Carter.
He began investigating.
Eventually he found old restoration forum posts.
A user named CarterRestores.
Then Willow Carter.
He had followed my Charger build.
I stared at him.
“You knew about my car?”
“I thought you might be the daughter my father left behind.”
“Why?”
“Because of the way you worked.”
I didn't understand.
He smiled.
“Your welds.”
I blinked.
“What?”
“Your welds.”
He pulled up an old photograph on his phone.
A photograph of Ethan's workbench.
There were welding beads along a frame.
“They were his signature.”
I looked at my own hands.
“I learned from him.”
Lucas nodded.
“He taught me before he disappeared.”
The conversation changed after that.
We weren't strangers anymore.
We were evidence.
Elena asked about the company.
Lucas pulled out a folder.
“My father left these with my foster mother.”
There were invoices.
Stock certificates.
Partnership papers.
And a handwritten list of names.
At the bottom:
Willow Carter.
The same name.
The same ownership clause.
Only now there were numbers.
Fifty-one percent.
My heart pounded.
“Elena.”
She took the papers.
Her expression changed.
“This is significant.”
Lucas looked at me.
“What's happening?”
I told him everything.
The forged documents.
The loan.
The Charger.
Ava's lies.
He listened quietly.
Then said:
“They're trying to relaunch Carter Automotive using your ownership.”
“Yes.”
“And your car proves the brand has credibility.”
“Yes.”
He leaned back.
“Then we should let them think they still have a chance.”
I frowned.
“You sound like a mechanic.”
“I am.”
He smiled.
“I just don't fix engines.”
“What do you fix?”
“People's bad plans.”
For the first time in days, I laughed.
But the moment didn't last.
Elena received an email.
She read it.
Then looked at me.
“The gala.”
“What about it?”
“It's still happening.”
I frowned.
“Without my Charger?”
“No.”
She turned the screen toward me.
A promotional flyer.
HAYES FOUNDATION AUTOMOTIVE GALA
Featured centerpiece:
THE CARTER FAMILY 1972 DODGE CHARGER
My stomach dropped.
“That photograph.”
“Yes.”
“Where did they get it?”
“Your father.”
“They still think he owns it.”
“For now.”
Lucas leaned forward.
“When is the gala?”
“Six days.”
He looked at me.
“We should go.”
“To what?”
“The gala.”
I stared at him.
“They want the car.”
“They want the story.”
He tapped the flyer.
“Give them the story.”
I understood immediately.
“You want me to expose them publicly.”
“No.”
May you like
Lucas smiled.
“I want them to expose themselves.”
