Chapter 6 - The Truth Ethan Was Trying To Hide
"Savannah, if you are watching this, it means they already found you..."
The video stopped.
Those words remained frozen on the screen.
My hands went cold.
I couldn't breathe.
Because even after everything I had learned, even after seeing the photograph, the documents, the messages...
Nothing prepared me for seeing Ethan's face again.
Alive.
Real.
Looking directly at me.
For three months, I had imagined this moment.
I imagined him knocking on my door.
I imagined him apologizing.
I imagined myself screaming at him for leaving me alone.
But this wasn't the man from my memories.
The man in the video looked exhausted.
Scared.
Like someone who had been running for his life.
Adrian stared at the screen.
His expression was unreadable.
"You know that video?"
I asked.
"No."
"But you know something."
He didn't deny it.
That was becoming the most terrifying thing about Adrian Cross.
He never lied.
He just didn't tell the whole truth.
"Play it again."
My voice shook.
Adrian pressed the screen.
The video restarted.
Ethan appeared again.
His face was partially covered by shadows.
His voice was low.
"Savannah, if you are watching this, it means they already found you."
He looked away from the camera.
Like he was checking if someone was nearby.
"I need you to listen carefully."
The video continued.
"The first thing you need to understand is that I didn't leave you."
My heart broke.
Those five words hurt more than anything else.
Because they were the words I had wanted to hear.
The words I had spent nights crying over.
"I didn't abandon you. I didn't stop loving you. I disappeared because someone found out about Noah."
I looked down at my son.
My heart stopped.
"Noah?"
Adrian stepped closer.
The video continued.
"They know about him. They know who he is connected to."
I frowned.
"What does that mean?"
Adrian didn't answer.
I looked at him.
"Who is Noah connected to?"
His silence told me everything.
I stood up.
"No."
Adrian looked at me.
"You knew."
"I suspected."
"You suspected my baby was the reason my husband disappeared?"
"I suspected someone was protecting something."
I shook my head.
"Something?"
My voice broke.
"He's not something. He's my son."
Adrian's expression changed.
"I know."
"Do you?"
I stepped closer.
"Because everyone keeps talking around me. Everyone knows something except me."
For the first time, Adrian looked ashamed.
That surprised me.
A man like Adrian Cross didn't look ashamed.
But he did.
The video continued.
Ethan's voice became more urgent.
"Savannah, there is something I should have told you before Noah was born."
I froze.
"Before he was born?"
The video showed Ethan taking a deep breath.
"Your pregnancy wasn't the only thing being monitored."
I felt a chill.
"What?"
"There were people watching us long before you knew."
I looked at Adrian.
He was listening carefully.
Ethan continued.
"I found documents. Medical records. Financial records. Everything."
His face tightened.
"Someone had been tracking our family for years."
My heart started racing.
"Why?"
Ethan looked directly into the camera.
"Because of my father."
The room went silent.
Adrian immediately looked up.
"His father?"
I turned toward him.
"You know about Ethan's father?"
Adrian's jaw tightened.
"Not everything."
The video continued.
"My father was involved with people who had power. Real power. The kind of people who don't forgive mistakes."
Ethan looked down.
"And before he died, he left something behind."
A pause.
"Something everyone wants."
The screen flickered.
Then Ethan said:
"Something that was hidden with Noah's birth."
I stopped breathing.
The warehouse suddenly felt smaller.
"What did he hide?"
Adrian walked closer to the screen.
"Keep watching."
Ethan continued.
"I tried to find it before they did."
His eyes became full of regret.
"But then they found out Savannah knew more than she realized."
I whispered:
"I didn't know anything."
Adrian looked at me.
"I believe you."
The answer surprised me.
Because I realized something.
Adrian wasn't investigating me anymore.
He was protecting me.
Ethan continued.
"That's why I left."
My eyes filled with tears.
"I left because if I stayed, they would use me to reach you."
His voice cracked.
"I thought disappearing would keep you safe."
I covered my mouth.
All those nights.
All those moments when I hated him.
When I believed he chose to abandon us.
He was trying to protect us.
But then the video changed.
Ethan looked terrified.
"If they tell you I died, don't believe them."
The words made my blood run cold.
"Because the person who arranged my disappearance..."
He paused.
"...is someone you trusted."
The screen went black.
The video ended.
Nobody spoke.
For several seconds, there was only silence.
Then I whispered:
"Who?"
Adrian looked at the empty screen.
"I don't know."
"You do."
"No."
His voice was firm.
"I don't."
I looked at him.
"Then find out."
He nodded.
"I will."
Before I could say anything else, one of Adrian's men rushed into the warehouse.
"Mr. Cross."
Adrian turned.
"What?"
The man looked nervous.
"There's a problem."
"What kind?"
The man glanced at me.
Then lowered his voice.
"Someone accessed the security cameras from your private network."
Adrian's face changed.
"Impossible."
"That's what we thought."
"Who?"
The man hesitated.
Then handed him a tablet.
Adrian looked at the screen.
A few seconds passed.
Then he gave it to me.
I looked.
The footage showed my apartment.
From earlier that night.
A person walking through my living room.
Looking around.
Searching.
Then the person turned toward the camera.
Even through the poor quality, I recognized the face.
My blood turned cold.
"No."
Adrian looked at me.
"You know him?"
I couldn't speak.
Because the person on the screen wasn't a stranger.
It was someone who had held Noah.
Someone who had cried with me.
Someone who had told me she was helping.
"My mother-in-law."
Adrian stared at me.
"The woman who changed Noah's birth record?"
I nodded slowly.
"But why?"
The footage continued.
The woman walked toward my bedroom.
She placed something inside the drawer.
Then she looked directly at the camera.
Like she knew someone was watching.
Like she wanted us to see.
The video froze.
Adrian looked at the timestamp.
His expression changed.
"What?"
He zoomed in.
The recording date.
It wasn't from tonight.
It was from three months ago.
The day Ethan disappeared.
I stepped back.
"She was in my apartment the night he left."
Adrian stared at the screen.
Then his phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
Nobody spoke.
Only breathing.
Then a woman's voice whispered.
"Adrian."
He froze.
I watched his face.
Because whoever it was...
Adrian knew her.
The woman continued:
"You should have stayed away from Savannah."
Adrian's grip tightened around the phone.
"Where is Ethan?"
A quiet laugh came from the other end.
Then:
"You still think Ethan is the person you need to find?"
Adrian looked at me.
The woman continued.
"The truth is closer than you think."
The call ended.
Immediately, a new message appeared on Adrian's phone.
One sentence.
One location.
May you like
And one name.
"Come alone. Your sister is waiting."
