Chapter 7: The Man at the Door
“It's your husband.””
Sarah's face collapsed.
Ethan stared at the bedroom doorway.
Marcus moved first.
He stepped into the hall and raised one hand.
“Stay upstairs.””
Ethan shook his head.
“No.””
“Ethan, listen to me.””
“No more.””
Another knock struck the front door.
Hard.
The glass in the entryway rattled.
“Sarah!””
Ethan walked downstairs.
Sarah grabbed his wrist.
“Don't.””
He turned.
“You said he was dead.””
“I thought he was.””
“You buried an empty coffin.””
“I didn't know it was empty.””
“Then why are you scared?””
Sarah couldn't answer.
Marcus followed them.
Vanessa came last, clutching her phone.
Ethan reached the bottom step.
The front door stood three feet away.
A shadow moved behind the frosted glass.
Ethan whispered,
“Daniel?””
The shadow stopped.
Then the voice came again.
“Son.””
Sarah made a broken sound.
Ethan reached for the handle.
Marcus grabbed his arm.
“Don't.””
Ethan ripped free.
“You don't control me.””
“I’m trying to keep you alive.””
“Then tell me why.””
Marcus stared at the door.
“Because Daniel didn't come here to talk.””
The shadow shifted.
Then a man's voice said quietly,
“Marcus, you have ten seconds to move away from my family.””
Marcus went pale.
Ethan looked at him.
“How does he know you're here?””
Marcus didn't answer.
Vanessa's phone buzzed.
She glanced down.
A message.
Her face tightened.
Ethan noticed.
“What?””
She turned the screen toward him.
*HE KNOWS ABOUT THE SECOND REPORT.*
Ethan looked at Marcus.
“What second report?””
Marcus exhaled.
“I told you there was another test.””
“You said it was about Daniel.””
“It was.””
“Then tell me the result.””
Marcus hesitated.
Sarah whispered,
“Ethan, please.””
“No.””
He looked toward the door.
“Open it.””
Marcus stepped forward.
“Ethan—”
“Open it.””
Sarah reached for the lock.
Marcus grabbed her hand.
“Sarah, don't.””
She looked at him.
“I've spent eighteen years being afraid of that door.””
Her eyes filled.
“I don't want my son to spend the next eighteen doing the same thing.””
She unlocked it.
The door opened three inches.
A hand appeared.
Black, older, trembling slightly.
Then a man stepped inside.
Daniel Carter looked nothing like the photograph.
He was thinner.
His face was lined.
A long scar ran from his right temple toward his cheek.
But his eyes were unmistakable.
The same eyes Ethan had seen every morning in the mirror.
Ethan couldn't speak.
Daniel looked at him.
His mouth trembled.
“You're taller than I imagined.””
Ethan's voice finally came.
“You're alive.””
Daniel nodded.
“Yes.””
Sarah backed away.
Daniel looked at her.
“You really never told him.””
Sarah shook her head.
“I didn't know you were alive.””
“You knew enough to hide him.””
“I was trying to protect him.””
Daniel's gaze hardened.
“You were protecting yourself.””
Marcus stepped between them.
“Daniel.””
Daniel looked at him.
“You.””
Marcus said nothing.
Daniel laughed without humor.
“Still standing between me and my son.””
“He's not a possession.””
“I know.””
Daniel looked at Ethan.
“He's a person.””
Ethan stepped forward.
“Then stop talking about me like I'm not here.””
Daniel nodded.
“Fair.””
He reached inside his coat.
Marcus immediately moved.
Daniel froze.
“Relax.””
He pulled out a folded document.
He handed it to Ethan.
“Read it.””
Ethan unfolded the paper.
It was a hospital record.
*PATIENT: SARAH CARTER*
*DATE: JUNE 14*
His eyes dropped lower.
*INFANT: MALE*
*FATHER: DANIEL CARTER*
Ethan looked up.
“This says you're my father.””
Daniel nodded.
“That's what the hospital recorded.””
Ethan's voice shook.
“But the DNA says Marcus.””
“Yes.””
“Then which one is true?””
Daniel looked at Sarah.
“That's what I've spent eighteen years trying to answer.””
Marcus's jaw tightened.
“You already know.””
Daniel turned.
“I know what I was told.””
“What does that mean?””
Daniel's eyes returned to Ethan.
“It means the DNA report you saw today isn't the original report.””
Ethan's stomach dropped.
“What?””
Vanessa stepped forward.
“Daniel…”
He looked at her.
“You helped them falsify it.””
Vanessa shook her head.
“I didn't falsify anything.””
“You changed the sample.””
“I was trying to protect Ethan.””
“You were trying to protect the family.””
Ethan looked at Vanessa.
“What did you do?””
She lowered her head.
“I sent Marcus a sample.””
“Whose?””
She didn't answer.
Ethan's face hardened.
“Whose sample?””
Daniel said,
“Mine.””
Silence.
Ethan stared.
“You tested Daniel's DNA against mine?””
“No,” Daniel said.
“They tested mine against yours without telling me.””
Marcus interrupted.
“Because you disappeared.””
“I was hiding.””
“From who?””
Daniel looked toward the window.
“From the man who tried to kill me.””
Ethan's breathing quickened.
“Who?””
Daniel looked directly at him.
“Your grandfather.””
Sarah's eyes widened.
“Daniel.””
“He was the one who wanted you gone.””
Ethan looked at Sarah.
“My grandfather?””
Daniel nodded.
“He knew I wasn't your biological father.””
Ethan's voice became barely audible.
“So Marcus is?””
Daniel looked at Marcus.
Marcus didn't move.
Daniel finally said,
“Yes.””
Sarah began crying.
Ethan took a step backward.
Everything he'd believed had been stripped away.
His father wasn't his father.
His mother had hidden letters.
Marcus was his biological father.
And someone had tried to kill Daniel.
But then Ethan noticed the document in his hand.
There was something written on the back.
A handwritten sentence.
He turned it over.
*If Ethan ever learns the truth, tell him why Marcus disappeared.*
Ethan looked up.
“Why did you disappear?””
Marcus closed his eyes.
Daniel said nothing.
Sarah whispered,
“Because he took the blame for my crime.””
Ethan stared at her.
“What crime?””
May you like
Before Sarah could answer, every light in the house went out.
And from somewhere upstairs came the sound of a drawer slamming shut.
