Ethan Begins to Investigate
Ethan stopped trusting family stories.
He hired a private investigator.
Her name was Claire Bennett.
She had spent twenty years investigating corporate fraud.
Ethan gave her everything.
The photographs.
The hospital bracelet.
The financial records.
The old video.
Claire studied the evidence for hours.
Finally, she looked at him.
“Your father isn't the villain.”
Ethan frowned.
“How can you know that?”
“Because villains don't usually spend twenty-eight years protecting the person they supposedly betrayed.”
“What are you saying?”
“Your father paid for Victor Hale's disappearance.”
Ethan stared.
“Why?”
“To keep him alive.”
“Why would he do that?”
Claire pointed to the hospital records.
“Because Victor was dying.”
Ethan looked confused.
“He had severe heart disease.”
Claire continued.
“He was hospitalized under a false identity.”
“And my mother?”
“Your mother was there because she discovered the truth.”
Ethan's mind raced.
“What truth?”
Claire opened another file.
“Victor wasn't the mastermind.”
Ethan froze.
“Who was?”
Claire looked at him.
“Someone inside your family.”
Ethan immediately thought of Robert.
But Claire shook her head.
“No.”
She placed another photograph on the table.
A woman stood beside Michael.
Ethan recognized her from the old photographs.
Margaret Harrison.
His grandmother.
“But she died before I was born.”
Claire nodded.
“Officially.”
Ethan stared at her.
“What does that mean?”
Claire opened a second file.
Margaret Harrison had not died in 1974.
She had disappeared.
Her estate had been transferred to Michael.
The official records had been falsified.
Ethan felt dizzy.
“My grandmother is alive?”
Claire didn't answer.
Instead, she said,
“Someone has been using her identity.”
“Who?”
Claire leaned forward.
“That's what we're going to find out.”
Ethan looked at the photograph.
May you like
For twenty-eight years, his family had been built on secrets.
And now those secrets were beginning to collapse.
