Chapter 14 - THE TRUTH ABOUT ETHANThey put handcuffs on me.
Juniper screamed.
“Daddy!”
I fought the panic.
“I'm innocent.”
The officer showed me a file.
Photos.
Fingerprints.
Bank transfers.
A recorded confession.
Everything pointed to me.
My father stood in the corner.
Calm.
Almost peaceful.
I looked at him.
“You planned this.”
He smiled.
“Yes.”
Claire stepped forward.
“He didn't do anything.”
The officer stopped her.
“We have evidence.”
Willa shouted.
“It's fabricated.”
The officer looked at her.
“Then prove it.”
I was taken downstairs.
My father's house had become a maze of secrets.
Before they put me into the police car, Tabitha appeared.
Her hands were free.
She ran toward me.
“I have something.”
She shoved a small envelope into my hand.
“What is it?”
“Your birth certificate.”
I stared.
“My birth certificate?”
“The real one.”
The officer tried to take it.
Tabitha stepped between us.
“Read it.”
I opened it.
The name of my mother was different.
The father's name was blank.
My entire identity had been rewritten.
Then I saw a hospital stamp.
The same hospital where Juniper had been born.
My heart hammered.
I turned the paper over.
A handwritten note was attached.
Ethan was transferred to Orson Whitmore through an illegal private adoption.
I looked at Tabitha.
“Why?”
“Because your father couldn't have a biological heir.”
“What does that have to do with Juniper?”
“Everything.”
She whispered.
“Your grandfather knew your father wasn't his biological son.”
“And?”
“He adopted you.”
My mind raced.
“He chose me because…”
“Because you carried the bloodline he needed.”
I stared.
“Then Juniper?”
Tabitha nodded.
“She inherited it from you.”
My father hadn't been trying to control a random trust.
He had been trying to control a bloodline.
A bloodline he never possessed.
The officer opened the car door.
Then Willa ran toward us.
“Wait!”
She held up the flash drive.
“I decrypted the last file.”
Everyone stopped.
She plugged it into her phone.
One video appeared.
It was my grandfather.
Old.
Weak.
But alive.
He looked into the camera.
“If you're watching this, Orson has failed.”
My chest tightened.
He continued.
“I knew he would.”
Then he said the words none of us expected.
“Ethan, you are my grandson.”
I froze.
“Your father is not.”
My father appeared in the video behind him.
Young.
Angry.
My grandfather continued.
“I protected you by hiding your identity.”
Then:
“Your biological mother is alive.”
I couldn't breathe.
My father had lied about everything.
Claire stepped closer.
“Who is she?”
The video ended.
The screen flashed one final file.
BIOLOGICAL MOTHER.
A photograph appeared.
An older woman.
Standing outside a clinic.
I knew her face.
I had seen it my entire life.
Not in photographs.
In dreams.
Because the woman was the nurse who had treated Juniper after her asthma attack.
She looked directly into the camera.
Then the video played her voice.
“Ethan, I'm sorry.”
She paused.
“I am your mother.”
Behind her stood my grandfather's former lawyer.
And in his hands was another red box.
The same symbol.
He said:
“Your father isn't the only person who has been hiding the truth.”
The screen went black.
Then the police officer received a message.
He read it.
His face changed.
“What?”
May you like
He looked at me.
“The hospital has just reported that Juniper is missing.”
