Chapter 8 - THE CHILD THAT CONNECTED THEMClaire couldn't move.
The teenager watched her carefully.
“Mom?”
Amelia looked at him.
“It's okay.”
Claire sat down.
“What did my father do?”
“He helped Ethan's family.”
“How?”
“He forged records.”
“Why?”
“Money.”
Claire looked at the boy.
“Who is his father?”
Amelia hesitated.
“That's the part nobody wants you to know.”
The boy stood.
“I know.”
Claire looked at him.
He walked toward her.
“My father is Ethan Carter.”
Claire's face went pale.
“That can't be.”
“He is.”
“But you said—”
Amelia interrupted.
“I lied.”
Claire stared.
“Why?”
“Because if they knew where he was, they would kill him.”
The boy looked at Claire.
“They already tried.”
Ethan arrived in Montana that night.
He found the house empty.
The front door was open.
The kitchen table overturned.
A broken lamp lay on the floor.
He shouted:
“Amelia!”
Nothing.
Then he found blood.
Not much.
But enough.
His phone rang.
A distorted voice spoke.
“You keep looking in the wrong places.”
“Where are they?”
“You should have stayed at your wedding.”
Ethan clenched his fists.
“What do you want?”
“The ledger.”
“I don't have it.”
“Claire does.”
Ethan froze.
“How do you know?”
The caller laughed.
“Because we have been watching her.”
The line ended.
Ethan ran outside.
Snow covered the road.
A black SUV disappeared into the distance.
He called the police.
Then Daniel, his former security chief.
“Find Claire.”
“I can't.”
“Why?”
“Her phone was turned off.”
Ethan stared at the mountains.
Then he noticed something.
A metallic gold smartphone lying beneath the porch.
Claire's phone.
He picked it up.
The screen lit.
May you like
One message.
COME ALONE.
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