Chapter 7 - THE HUSBAND WHO KNEW TOO MUCH
I turned toward Ethan.
He stood in the dining room doorway, his wedding jacket hanging loosely from one shoulder.
For a moment, I couldn't speak.
Then I asked the question that mattered.
“How long have you known my brother?”
Ethan looked at Agent Foster.
Foster stepped toward him.
“Mr. Caldwell, if you have information about Samuel Bennett's whereabouts, you need to disclose it.”
Ethan nodded.
“I understand.”
I stared at him.
“Tell me.”
He swallowed.
“Five years.”
The room went silent.
Five years.
The same five years I had spent building Claire Beaumont.
The same five years I had spent planning to enter the Caldwell family.
Ethan had known my brother was alive the entire time.
“Where did you meet him?”
“At a scholarship event in Wisconsin.”
I felt my hands begin to shake.
“What scholarship event?”
“The Caldwell Foundation paid for his college expenses.”
I stared at him.
“You funded my brother's education?”
Ethan nodded.
“He was studying mechanical engineering. He wanted to work with heavy equipment.”
I almost smiled.
Samuel had loved bulldozers when he was little.
He used to line his toy trucks along our kitchen windowsill and tell Dad he was going to build a bridge bigger than the one over the Mississippi.
“He didn't know who I was at first,” Ethan continued. “He only knew me as one of the foundation sponsors.”
“And then?”
“He started asking questions about his childhood.”
I gripped the table.
“What questions?”
“About his father. About the accident. About why he remembered a construction office when everyone told him his father died at home.”
I looked at Agent Foster.
He was listening carefully.
Ethan continued.
“Samuel showed me a photograph of Daniel Harper.”
My breath caught.
“I recognized him.”
“From the family records?”
Ethan nodded.
“I'd seen the photographs. I knew there had been a dispute between our families.”
“And you didn't tell Samuel?”
“I didn't know what was true.”
I laughed bitterly.
“So you did nothing.”
Ethan looked ashamed.
“At first.”
I studied him.
“What changed?”
“Samuel found an old article about your mother. It mentioned you.”
My heart pounded.
“He knew about me?”
“He knew you existed.”
“Did he try to find me?”
Ethan looked away.
I stepped closer.
“Answer me.”
“Yes.”
The word struck like a blow.
My brother had searched for me.
Ethan had known.
And I had spent five years sleeping beside a man who could have told me the truth.
“Why didn't you tell me?” I whispered.
“Because I didn't know Claire Beaumont was Elizabeth Harper.”
I stopped.
For one terrible moment, I wanted to believe him.
Then I remembered something.
Three months before our wedding, Ethan had taken me to Lake Geneva.
He had suggested a restaurant overlooking the water.
The same lake where our father used to take Samuel and me fishing.
I had thought it was coincidence.
Now I wasn't sure.
“Did you know who I was before our wedding?”
Ethan hesitated.
And that hesitation destroyed the last fragile piece of trust between us.
“When?” I asked.
“Three weeks ago.”
My stomach turned.
Three weeks.
Three weeks before our wedding, Ethan had discovered my true identity.
And he had still married me.
He had still brought me to his mansion.
He had still thrown that filthy rag in my face.
I stared at him.
“Why?”
His voice cracked.
“Because Richard had already found out.”
I looked toward Agent Foster.
Ethan continued.
“Richard told me you were investigating the family. He said the marriage would help us discover what evidence you had.”
I stepped backward.
“You used me.”
“Yes.”
“Even after knowing what happened to my family?”
“I didn't know the full truth.”
“But you knew enough.”
He lowered his head.
“Yes.”
For a long moment, I couldn't look at him.
I had expected Ethan to betray me.
That had been part of the plan.
But I hadn't expected him to betray a brother I had been mourning for ten years.
Agent Foster cleared his throat.
“Mr. Caldwell, when did you last see Samuel?”
Ethan looked up.
“Two weeks ago.”
“Where?”
“At his apartment near Milwaukee.”
“What did he tell you?”
Ethan hesitated.
“He said he had found something in his mother's old notebook.”
My heart stopped.
“My mother's notebook?”
Ethan nodded.
“Samuel had a copy of some pages.”
I remembered the scans in the secondary archive.
The missing pages.
The entries about the red bicycle.
“What did he find?”
Ethan looked at me.
“He said your mother left him a message explaining why she couldn't bring him home.”
I closed my eyes.
Samuel had finally learned that our mother had not abandoned him.
I hoped he understood.
I hoped somebody had been there when he read it.
Ethan continued.
“He also said he had found the original recording your father made.”
The room went still.
Agent Foster stepped forward.
“Where is it?”
Ethan shook his head.
“He wouldn't tell me.”
“Did he describe what was on it?”
“Yes.”
I watched Ethan's face change.
“He said the recording proved Daniel Harper was being forced to sign fraudulent documents.”
My eyes burned.
My father.
The man everyone called a thief.
He had been fighting them.
Ethan continued.
“But Samuel said the recording contained something else.”
“What?”
“He said someone in the room had been secretly helping Daniel.”
I frowned.
“Who?”
Ethan shook his head.
“He wouldn't tell me until he was sure.”
Agent Foster wrote something in his notebook.
Then he looked at Ethan.
“Why did you continue with the wedding if you knew your family was involved?”
Ethan stared at his hands.
“Because I thought I could keep Elizabeth close enough to protect her.”
I laughed.
“By humiliating me?”
His face tightened.
“Richard was watching.”
“You could have refused.”
“I know.”
“You could have stood beside me.”
“I know.”
“You could have told me my brother was alive.”
He looked at me.
And for the first time, I saw tears in his eyes.
“I know.”
I wanted to hate him completely.
It would have been easier.
But there was something unbearable about watching a man realize that the choices he made to preserve his comfortable life had destroyed the very thing he claimed to love.
I removed my wedding ring.
Ethan stared at it.
I placed it on the table between us.
“This marriage was a trap,” I said. “For both of us.”
He didn't reach for the ring.
“I understand.”
“No, Ethan. You don't.”
I looked him in the eye.
“You still think the worst thing that happened tonight was losing me.”
He said nothing.
“The worst thing is that Samuel might be in danger because you were too afraid to tell the truth.”
Agent Foster's phone vibrated.
He checked the screen.
His expression changed.
“Ms. Harper.”
I turned.
“We've located Dr. Mercer's vehicle.”
My heart leaped.
“Where?”
“At a private rehabilitation center near the Wisconsin state line.”
“Is Samuel there?”
“We're confirming that.”
Foster stepped into the hallway and spoke briefly to another agent.
When he returned, his expression was grim.
“The center confirms that Samuel Bennett was admitted yesterday.”
I reached for my clutch.
“I'm going.”
Foster held up one hand.
“There's something else.”
I stopped.
“The clinic administrator says Samuel arrived voluntarily.”
I stared at him.
“Voluntarily?”
Foster nodded.
“And he left instructions that his sister should not be told where he was.”
The room seemed to spin.
I looked at Ethan.
Then at Foster.
After everything Samuel had endured, why would he hide from me?
Foster continued.
“Apparently, Samuel believes you are working with the Caldwell family.”
My heart broke.
Then Foster handed me a copy of the message Samuel had left.
May you like
Five words were written in my brother's handwriting.
DON'T TRUST ELIZABETH. SHE KNOWS.
