Chapter 4 - ETHAN REMEMBERED SOMETHING I DIDN’TFor weeks after the attack, Ethan refused to sleep alone.
I didn’t force him.
We stayed at my sister Julia’s home near Cincinnati while our estate remained a crime scene.
One night, Ethan asked:
“Did Dad hate you?”
I put down my book.
“No.”
He looked confused.
“He tried to kill you.”
“I know.”
“Then how can he not hate you?”
I thought carefully.
“Sometimes people can care about someone and still choose something selfish and terrible.”
Ethan frowned.
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“No.”
“It doesn’t.”
That was the honest answer.
Then he asked:
“Did he hate me?”
My chest tightened.
“Why would you think that?”
“Because he hit me.”
I took his hand.
“He was trying to stop you from helping me.”
“Because I broke the freezer?”
“Yes.”
Ethan looked down.
Then whispered:
“Dad told me once not to touch Grandpa’s papers.”
I froze.
“What papers?”
“At the lake house.”
“When?”
“Last summer.”
I remembered that trip.
Ryan took Ethan to our family lake property while I attended a conference.
“What happened?”
Ethan said Ryan spent hours in Grandpa’s office.
He opened cabinets.
Took pictures.
Then asked Ethan:
“Did Grandpa ever tell you where he hid the real papers?”
My heartbeat changed.
“What did you say?”
“I said no.”
“Then?”
“He got mad.”
“How?”
“He said I was old enough to stop acting stupid.”
My hands curled.
“Did he ever ask again?”
“A lot.”
Why had Ethan never told me?
His answer was familiar.
“Dad said business things make you stressed.”
Ryan had isolated information again.
Using my supposed fragility.
Then Ethan remembered something else.
Grandpa once gave him a small wooden box.
“Where is it?”
“At home.”
“What’s inside?”
“I don’t know.”
“You never opened it?”
“Grandpa said when I’m old enough.”
“How old?”
Ethan thought.
“Maybe ten?”
He was nine.
We retrieved the box through police.
Inside was no money.
No secret stock certificate.
Just a letter.
To Ethan.
My father had written:
If your parents ever make money seem more important than kindness, remember that money is only a tool.
Then:
Nothing in this family is worth becoming cruel for.
Ethan read it slowly.
“Grandpa knew?”
“Maybe he worried.”
Then he asked:
“Did Dad become cruel because of money?”
I looked at him.
“Money didn’t make the choice.”
“Dad did.”
My son nodded.
That distinction mattered.
Because I did not want Ethan growing up believing wealth was cursed.
Or that he was responsible for what people did because he would inherit it.
May you like
Ryan chose greed.
The trust did not choose for him.
