Chapter 8 - The Night the Twins Vanished
Thomas Hale looked older than Ethan remembered.
But he had the same eyes.
Ethan stood inside the gate without moving.
Twenty-one years of anger rose at once.
“You left us.”
Thomas nodded.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I was a coward.”
The answer surprised Ethan.
No excuses.
Thomas explained everything.
Daniel had embezzled millions through early Hale investments.
Thomas discovered it.
Richard Sloan helped Daniel hide it.
When Thomas threatened exposure, they manufactured evidence against him.
Thomas believed disappearing would keep Ethan and his mother safe.
He had spent years gathering proof.
Claire eventually found him.
She wanted answers about Margaret.
Thomas helped her.
Then Claire became pregnant.
Daniel learned she had found Thomas.
The threats began.
“What about her doctor?” Ethan asked.
The man beside Thomas introduced himself as Dr. Aaron Mills.
He had treated Claire during the first months of pregnancy.
He had also discovered someone repeatedly requesting her records.
Richard Sloan.
Mills had warned Claire.
She changed doctors.
But the harassment continued.
“Did anyone cause her death?” Ethan asked.
Mills shook his head.
“No. Her hemorrhage was a medical tragedy. I reviewed everything afterward. There is no evidence anyone caused it.”
Ethan needed that truth.
Claire had been threatened.
Manipulated.
Terrified.
But her death hadn't been murder.
Some tragedies didn't have villains.
That evening Thomas met his grandsons.
He cried when Noah wrapped tiny fingers around his thumb.
Ethan watched from across the nursery.
Part of him wanted to forgive his father.
Another part still remembered being twelve years old, watching his mother wait beside a telephone that never rang.
Forgiveness would not come cheaply.
But perhaps it could come slowly.
Then the nursery alarm sounded.
The power failed.
Emergency lights flickered.
Hannah ran toward the bassinets.
Empty.
Again.
“No!”
Ethan's heart stopped.
But this time there was no Brooke.
No Daniel.
Caleb checked the hallway.
A service door stood open.
Thomas swore.
“Richard.”
They followed the emergency exit toward the garage.
A vehicle was leaving.
Ethan jumped into Caleb's SUV.
They chased it down the estate road.
Snow blurred beneath the headlights.
The fleeing vehicle turned toward the old mountain highway.
Ethan's phone rang.
Richard Sloan.
“You should have stayed unconscious,” Richard said.
“Where are my sons?”
“Safe for the moment.”
“What do you want?”
“The original evidence.”
“Daniel already tried that.”
“Daniel was sentimental.”
Ethan almost laughed.
“You kidnapped newborns.”
“No, Ethan. I rescued leverage.”
Hannah, sitting beside Ethan, looked sick.
Richard continued.
“Claire never understood what she found. Neither does your father. This isn't about old theft anymore.”
“What is it about?”
“Hale Harbor.”
Ethan frowned.
“You built a billion-dollar company on land acquisitions arranged through funds Daniel stole decades ago. If everything becomes public, lenders panic. Partners sue. Projects freeze. Thousands of jobs become vulnerable.”
“So you buried crimes to protect the company?”
“I protected what you built.”
“You threatened Claire.”
“I frightened her. Daniel escalated it.”
“And Brooke?”
“A useful idiot.”
The vehicle ahead suddenly stopped.
Caleb braked.
Its doors were open.
Nobody inside.
Only two empty infant car seats.
Hannah screamed Noah's name.
Ethan searched the roadside.
Then he noticed footprints.
They led toward an old mountain lodge.
The same lodge where Ethan and Brooke had planned to hold their wedding reception.
The front door stood open.
Inside, a baby began crying.
Ethan ran toward the sound.
Then a second cry came from upstairs.
May you like
The twins were in different rooms.
And somewhere in the darkness, Richard Sloan chambered a round.
