Chapter 5: Behind the Door
Nobody moved.
The doorbell rang again.
A soft chime.
Almost polite.
Ethan stared at the front door.
Sophia grabbed his arm.
“Don't open it.””
He pulled away.
“Why?””
“Because you don't know who it is.””
“The camera showed my father.””
“That doesn't mean he's alone.””
Gloria stood behind them.
“Ethan.””
He looked at her.
“Stay here.””
She shook her head.
“No.””
“Mom—”
“I spent twelve years being afraid of that door.””
Another ring.
Gloria walked toward it.
Ethan caught her shoulder.
“I said stay here.””
Gloria looked at his hand.
Then at him.
“I am seventy-five years old. If someone wants to hurt me, they don't need a door.””
Sophia whispered, “Please don't.””
Gloria looked at her.
“You're frightened.””
“Yes.””
“Why?””
Sophia couldn't answer.
Ethan noticed.
He walked to the wall monitor and switched to the exterior camera.
The porch was empty.
“Where did he go?””
Sophia's face drained.
“I don't know.””
Ethan stared at the screen.
“Then why did you tell me not to open the door?””
“I just…”
The doorbell rang a third time.
Ethan approached.
He unlocked the deadbolt.
Sophia grabbed his sleeve.
“Ethan, don't.””
He looked down at her hand.
“Let go.””
She did.
Ethan opened the door.
Nobody stood outside.
A small brown envelope rested on the welcome mat.
Ethan stared at it.
Gloria came up behind him.
“Don't touch it.””
“Why?””
“Because whoever left it wanted us to find it.””
Ethan crouched.
He picked it up.
Sophia whispered, “No.””
Ethan looked at her.
“You know what's inside.””
“No.””
“You said no before you even saw it.””
Sophia backed away.
“I didn't mean—”
Ethan tore open the envelope.
A photograph fell into his hand.
He looked at it.
His face went blank.
Gloria reached for it.
“What is it?””
Ethan didn't answer.
She took the photograph.
Her knees nearly buckled.
It showed Marcus sitting at the same coffee table.
But he wasn't alone.
A teenage Ethan sat beside him.
Gloria stared.
“When was this?””
Ethan's voice was barely audible.
“I don't remember.””
Sophia covered her mouth.
Gloria turned the photograph over.
On the back, handwritten in black ink, were four words:
*HE NEVER LEFT YOU.*
Ethan looked at Sophia.
“What does that mean?””
Sophia shook her head.
“I don't know.””
“You're lying again.””
“No.””
“You knew about this.””
“I knew Marcus had been watching you.””
“Watching me?””
Sophia nodded.
“From a distance.””
“How long?””
“Years.””
Ethan stepped closer.
“Why?””
“He said he was protecting you.””
“From what?””
Sophia looked at Gloria.
Gloria whispered, “From himself.””
Ethan stared at his mother.
“What does that mean?””
Gloria walked back into the living room.
“Your father was not the man you remember.””
Ethan followed.
“Then who was he?””
“A man who could make promises and break them in the same breath.””
Sophia sat down.
“He also knew how to manipulate people.””
Ethan looked at her.
“You sound like him.””
Sophia's eyes lifted.
“I learned from him.””
Silence.
Ethan stopped.
“You learned from him?””
Sophia's voice cracked.
“Before I married you, Marcus trained me.””
Gloria closed her eyes.
Ethan looked stunned.
“For what?””
“To get close to you.””
His face tightened.
“What?””
Sophia started crying.
“I was supposed to become your wife.””
Ethan stared at her.
“You were assigned to me?””
“No.””
“Then what were you supposed to do?””
“Get you to sign.””
Ethan's eyes moved toward the monitor.
The document.
His forged signature.
The secret phone calls.
The staged attack.
Everything seemed to connect.
“You married me for a signature.””
Sophia shook her head.
“It changed.””
“When?””
“When I fell in love with you.””
Ethan laughed.
“You expect me to believe that?””
“I do love you.””
“You lied to me every day.””
“I was terrified.””
“Of Marcus?””
Sophia nodded.
“And of what would happen if I refused him.””
Gloria stepped forward.
“Then why did you keep working for him?””
Sophia looked at her.
“Because he had something worse than money.””
“What?””
Sophia wiped her tears.
“He had proof.””
Ethan's voice became cold.
“Proof of what?””
Sophia opened her purse.
She pulled out her phone.
“I saved the file.””
She tapped the screen.
A video appeared.
Marcus sat in a dark room.
His voice came through the speakers.
“If Ethan ever learns the truth, send him this.””
Sophia's thumb hovered over the screen.
Ethan leaned closer.
“Play it.””
Sophia pressed the button.
Marcus looked directly into the camera.
“Ethan, if you're watching this, your mother has finally told you about the money.””
He paused.
Then smiled.
“But she hasn't told you what she did to get it.””
Gloria's face went white.
Ethan turned slowly toward her.
“Mom?””
Marcus continued.
“She thinks she saved you twelve years ago.””
His smile disappeared.
“She didn't.””
The video stopped.
Ethan stared at Gloria.
“What did you do?””
Gloria's lips trembled.
“I made a deal.””
“With Dad?””
“No.””
She looked at the screen.
“With the people who came after him.””
Ethan stepped closer.
“What kind of deal?””
Gloria reached for the back of the sofa.
Before she could answer, Sophia's phone buzzed.
A new message appeared.
*THE SECOND SIGNATURE IS YOUR MOTHER'S.*
Sophia looked up.
Ethan read it over her shoulder.
Then the security monitor switched itself on.
A document filled the screen.
At the bottom were two signatures.
Ethan's.
And Gloria's.
Ethan whispered, “You signed it.””
Gloria looked at him.
“Yes.””
“Why?””
She opened her mouth.
Then the monitor displayed one final line beneath the signatures.
*BENEFICIARY: ETHAN CARTER.*
Ethan stared.
“My name?””
Sophia stood abruptly.
“That isn't possible.””
Gloria's expression changed.
“Unless…”
She stopped.
Ethan turned toward her.
“Unless what?””
May you like
Gloria looked at the door.
“Unless the money was never meant for me.””
