CHAPTER 10 The Person Who Started Everything
The words from the phone call haunted Bethany all night.
The video was only the beginning.
She sat alone in her apartment, staring at the city lights outside her window.
Usually, the view made her feel powerful.
The tall buildings.
The expensive cars below.
The world moving beneath her.
She had always believed she was above ordinary problems.
Above consequences.
Above everyone who judged her.
But tonight, the glass window in front of her felt less like a symbol of success…
And more like a prison.
Someone knew something.
Something bigger.
Something she could not control.
Her phone remained on the table.
She looked at it every few seconds.
Waiting.
Hoping.
Fearing.
Then it rang.
A message.
Not a call.
A picture.
Bethany opened it.
Her face immediately changed.
It was a photograph of an old document.
A document she recognized.
A document she had never expected anyone else to see.
Below the image was one sentence.
You were never the only one with secrets.
Bethany dropped the phone.
For the first time in years…
She felt completely powerless.
Meanwhile, Ethan sat in Laura’s office reviewing the financial records.
The twenty-thousand-dollar payment stared back at him.
A transfer from Bethany’s account.
Three days before Rosie’s birthday.
“Who received the money?”
Laura looked at the file.
“The account is hidden.”
“Can you trace it?”
“We’re trying.”
Ethan leaned back.
His mind was moving faster than ever.
A payment.
A hidden recording.
A secret person contacting them.
Everything connected.
But how?
Daniel sat quietly nearby.
Then he spoke.
“Ethan.”
“Yes?”
“What if Bethany wasn’t trying to hurt Rosie?”
Ethan looked at him.
“What do you mean?”
“What if she was trying to scare someone else?”
The room became silent.
Laura looked at Daniel.
“Explain.”
Daniel hesitated.
“Bethany always cared about control.”
“Yes.”
“But hurting Rosie publicly…”
He shook his head.
“It doesn’t fit her usual behavior.”
Ethan frowned.
“She was cruel.”
“Yes.”
Daniel nodded.
“But she was usually careful.”
That sentence bothered Ethan.
Because it was true.
Bethany was many things.
Angry.
Proud.
Manipulative.
But careless?
Rarely.
She always planned.
Always calculated.
Laura looked at the evidence.
“So you’re saying someone pushed her?”
Daniel nodded.
“I think someone wanted this to happen.”
Ethan stared at the documents.
A terrible thought entered his mind.
“What if Bethany was also being used?”
That evening, Ethan visited Bethany.
Not because he forgave her.
Not because he trusted her.
Because he needed answers.
She opened the door immediately.
She looked exhausted.
For once, she didn’t look like the confident woman everyone knew.
She looked afraid.
“You came.”
Ethan stepped inside.
“We need to talk.”
Bethany closed the door.
“I know.”
Ethan studied her.
“You received a message.”
Her eyes widened slightly.
“How do you know?”
“Because someone has been sending me messages too.”
Bethany looked shocked.
“Who?”
“That’s what I’m trying to find out.”
For a moment, they simply looked at each other.
Brother and sister.
Two people who had spent years fighting.
Now standing on the same side of a mystery.
Ethan spoke first.
“The twenty thousand dollars.”
Bethany froze.
“What about it?”
“You paid someone.”
Her expression changed.
“I didn’t.”
“Don’t lie.”
She looked away.
A long silence followed.
Then she whispered:
“I paid someone to investigate.”
Ethan frowned.
“Who?”
Bethany hesitated.
“My father.”
Ethan froze.
“What?”
She looked at him.
“I found out Dad had been hiding something.”
The room became colder.
“What kind of something?”
Bethany swallowed.
“A long time ago, before you were married…”
She stopped.
“Before Rosie was born.”
Ethan stared.
“Bethany.”
She looked down.
“Our family was not as perfect as everyone thought.”
The next morning, Richard received an unexpected visitor.
A man in his fifties.
Wearing a dark suit.
Richard immediately recognized him.
His expression changed.
“You.”
The man smiled.
“Hello, Richard.”
Richard’s voice became cold.
“I thought you disappeared.”
“I tried.”
The man stepped inside.
“But some secrets have a way of returning.”
Richard closed the door.
“What do you want?”
The man placed a folder on the table.
“The truth.”
Richard stared at it.
“What truth?”
“The truth about your family.”
Richard did not touch the folder.
“You have no right.”
The man laughed softly.
“Rights are interesting.”
He tapped the folder.
“Especially when people spend years hiding things.”
Richard’s face tightened.
“Leave.”
The man turned toward the door.
Then stopped.
“One question.”
Richard said nothing.
“Do you think Ethan knows everything?”
The silence answered for him.
The man smiled.
“That’s what I thought.”
After he left, Richard slowly opened the folder.
Inside was a photograph.
An old photograph.
A photograph from twenty years ago.
His face went pale.
Because the person standing beside him…
Was someone Ethan had never known existed.
At Ethan’s house, Rosie was drawing again.
This time, she was drawing three people.
Ethan noticed.
“Who is that?”
She pointed.
“That’s me.”
“And this?”
“Daddy.”
“And this?”
Rosie looked at the drawing.
Then said:
“Grandpa.”
Ethan paused.
“You want Grandpa in your picture?”
Rosie nodded.
“He said sorry.”
Ethan smiled slightly.
Children were strange.
Adults remembered pain.
Children remembered moments.
Sometimes one honest apology meant something.
Sometimes.
Then his phone rang.
Laura.
He answered immediately.
“Ethan.”
“Yes?”
“We found the person who received Bethany’s payment.”
Ethan stood.
“Who?”
A pause.
“Someone connected to your father.”
His heart sank.
“Who?”
Laura’s voice became quiet.
“His name is Marcus Vale.”
Ethan frowned.
“I don’t know that name.”
“You should.”
“Why?”
Because the next words changed everything.
“Marcus Vale is your father’s former business partner.”
Ethan became still.
“Former?”
“Yes.”
Laura continued.
“And according to our records…”
A pause.
“He disappeared twenty years ago.”
Ethan looked out the window.
Twenty years.
A hidden partner.
A forgotten secret.
A payment.
A family built on silence.
Then Laura said one final thing.
“Ethan…”
“Yes?”
“We found another file.”
“What file?”
“A birth record.”
His expression changed.
“For who?”
Laura was silent.
Then:
“For a child.”
Ethan’s breathing stopped.
“A child?”
“Yes.”
A pause.
“A child connected to your family.”
The call ended.
Ethan stood motionless.
Because suddenly, the mystery was no longer about Rosie.
It was about the secret his family had buried for twenty years.
And whatever was coming next…
May you like
Would destroy the Carter family completely.
End of Chapter 10
