Chapter 3 - “Ethan.”He didn't answer.

Ava held the photograph between trembling fingers.

“Who is he?”

Ethan looked at the floor.

“Ethan.”

He finally raised his eyes.

“I don't know.”

“You're lying.”

“I swear.”

Detective Rowan took the photograph.

“Where was this taken?”

Ethan stared.

“Years ago.”

“You recognize the location?”

“My father's estate.”

Ava's chest tightened.

“My father hated Margaret.”

Ethan nodded.

“They fought constantly.”

“About what?”

“I never knew.”

Rowan looked between them.

“Maybe it's time you did.”

He connected his tablet to the hospital television.

Security footage appeared.

A black SUV outside the rehabilitation center.

A person exited.

Ava watched.

The figure wore a hood.

They entered through a side door.

Rowan paused the footage.

“Look.”

He zoomed in.

The person's hand.

A distinctive silver ring.

Ava gasped.

“I know that ring.”

Ethan turned.

“Who wears it?”

“My father.”

“Impossible.”

Ava pointed.

“My father had one exactly like that.”

Rowan shook his head.

“This belongs to the man we're looking for.”

Ava stared.

“Then he stole my father's ring.”

“Maybe.”

Rowan enlarged the image.

The ring bore an emblem.

A tiny black compass.

Ethan stepped backward.

“That symbol…”

Ava looked at him.

“You know it?”

He nodded slowly.

“My father had the same symbol.”

“Why?”

“I don't know.”

Rowan looked at him.

“You've seen it before.”

“Yes.”

“Where?”

Ethan's voice dropped.

“On my mother's safe.”

Everyone went silent.

The detective's eyes sharpened.

“Your mother has a safe?”

“It's hidden behind a painting.”

“Where?”

“At the estate.”

Within an hour, police were searching the mansion.

Margaret watched from the hallway.

She looked calm.

Too calm.

Then Rowan entered the library.

The painting was removed.

Behind it was a steel door.

Margaret finally spoke.

“You don't know what you're opening.”

Rowan turned.

“That's why we're opening it.”

The safe required a six-digit code.

Ethan tried his birthday.

Wrong.

Ava's birthday.

Wrong.

His father's birthday.

Wrong.

Margaret's birthday.

Wrong.

Ava whispered:

“Try Claire.”

Ethan hesitated.

He typed the date of Ava's sister's death.

The safe clicked.

Margaret's face changed.

Inside were dozens of folders.

Passports.

Photographs.

Bank records.

And a list of names.

Ava approached.

Her eyes locked on one name.

CLAIRE HART.

Below it:

STATUS: DECEASED

Then another line.

REPLACEMENT: PROJECT A-17

Ava's hands began shaking.

“What is Project A-17?”

No one answered.

Ethan opened another file.

Inside was a photograph of Ava as a child.

Then another.

Then one taken only two weeks before the crash.

Ava stared.

“Why did they photograph me?”

Rowan opened a final folder.

His face hardened.

“Because they were tracking you.”

Ava looked at him.

“For how long?”

“Since you were twelve.”

She felt dizzy.

Twenty years.

Someone had been watching her for two decades.

Then Ethan found a contract.

He read it silently.

His face drained of color.

“What?”

He handed it to Rowan.

The detective read the document.

Then slowly looked at Ethan.

“What?”

Ava demanded.

Rowan answered:

“Your husband signed something six months ago.”

Ava turned toward Ethan.

“What did you sign?”

Ethan looked broken.

“It was a medical authorization.”

“For what?”

“I thought it was a power-of-attorney document.”

“You thought?”

“I didn't read the entire thing.”

Ava's voice became colder.

“What does it say?”

Rowan answered for him.

“It gives Margaret authority to make medical decisions if Ava becomes incapacitated.”

Ava stared at Ethan.

“But why?”

Ethan's eyes filled with guilt.

“My mother said you were getting worse.”

“And you believed her.”

“Yes.”

Ava shook her head.

“You handed her control of my life.”

“I was trying to protect you.”

“No.”

Ava wiped a tear from her cheek.

“You were trying to protect yourself from admitting you were wrong.”

Ethan couldn't answer.

Then Rowan's phone rang.

He listened.

His expression changed.

“What happened?”

He looked at Ethan.

“Margaret disappeared.”

“What?”

“She was under surveillance.”

“Where is she?”

Rowan's face went pale.

“She wasn't alone.”

He turned the phone around.

A security camera image showed Margaret entering an underground parking garage.

Another man waited for her.

Ava stared at the blurry figure.

Then she recognized the posture.

The coat.

The ring.

Her breathing stopped.

“That man…”

Ethan looked.

“What?”

Ava whispered:

“He was standing beside my father's grave.”

Rowan zoomed the image.

The man's face became visible.

Ava's blood ran cold.

Because the man everyone had been searching for wasn't a stranger.

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It was Ethan's father.

A man who was supposed to have been dead for fourteen years.