Chapter 6 - The Boy Who Heard Everything
My son recognized the baseball glove before I did.
"That's mine."
Ethan stood beside me, staring at the photograph on Martin's phone.
His voice sounded strangely flat.
"Dad has my glove."
I knelt beside him.
"Ethan, sweetheart—"
"He told me he'd keep it until we could play again."
My heart broke a little more.
Caleb had taken the glove the day he left.
Ethan had spent months asking when he would bring it back.
Now it was being displayed for reporters as though my ex-husband were some devoted father fighting for his children.
"Why is he doing that?" Ethan whispered.
I searched for an answer that wouldn't destroy what little innocence he had left.
"Sometimes grown-ups make selfish choices."
"He wants people to think he loves us."
I couldn't speak.
Ethan looked at me.
"But loving someone means showing up, right?"
Daniel knelt beside us.
"Yes, it does."
Ethan studied his face.
"Even when things are hard?"
"Especially then."
My son nodded slowly.
Then he walked away.
I wanted to follow him, but Daniel touched my arm.
"Give him a minute."
I turned toward him.
"Your uncle is going to use my children."
"He's already trying."
"And you're going to stop him?"
Daniel's expression hardened.
"We are."
That afternoon, Olivia filed a response to Caleb's public accusations.
She also obtained a court order requiring both parents to keep the children out of publicity connected with the custody dispute.
But the damage had begun.
Strangers posted comments about me online.
Gold digger.
Fake mother.
Billionaire hunter.
Some claimed I had deliberately stranded my children to attract Daniel's attention.
Others insisted I had invented our poverty.
They didn't know about Ava crying because we couldn't afford her medicine.
They didn't know about Ethan pretending not to be hungry.
They didn't know about the nights I stayed awake counting coins on the kitchen counter.
They only saw the wedding ring.
One evening, I found Daniel in his study reading the comments.
"Stop," I said.
He looked up.
"Sarah—"
"They don't know me."
"I know."
"Then don't waste your life trying to convince them."
He closed the laptop.
"You're stronger than I expected."
I folded my arms.
"That's what people say when they don't understand how exhausted you are."
His expression changed.
"I'm sorry."
For a moment, neither of us spoke.
Then he said, "My mother used to say something similar."
"What happened to her?"
Daniel looked toward an old photograph.
"She died when I was nineteen."
"I'm sorry."
"She believed my father cared more about the company than the people working for it."
"Was she right?"
Daniel gave a sad smile.
"Sometimes."
He opened a drawer.
Inside was an old newspaper clipping.
The headline described an electrical fire at a Hayes Meridian research facility.
Four workers had died.
One was Patrick Reed.
My father.
I took the clipping with trembling fingers.
"This is the accident."
Daniel nodded.
"My mother wanted an independent investigation."
"What happened?"
"Richard convinced my father the original report was accurate."
"And your mother?"
"She never believed it."
I looked at the photograph again.
My father had been smiling beside the building where he would later die.
I suddenly remembered something.
The week before his death, he had given me a small wooden music box.
He said it contained something important.
But after the funeral, I had never been able to make it play.
I hadn't thought about it in years.
"Daniel?"
"Yes?"
"My father left me a music box."
He leaned forward.
"Where is it?"
"I don't know."
I swallowed.
"The last time I saw it, Caleb had packed it with our things."
Daniel's expression darkened.
"Could he still have it?"
"I think so."
He reached for his phone.
Before he could dial, a faint voice came from the hallway.
Ethan.
"Mom?"
I turned.
My son stood in the doorway, holding his backpack.
His face was pale.
"What's wrong, baby?"
He looked from me to Daniel.
"Can I tell you something?"
"Of course."
He closed the door behind him.
Then he whispered.
"I heard two men talking by the garage."
Daniel went still.
"What men?"
"Mr. Victor and somebody on the phone."
My heart began pounding.
"What did they say?"
Ethan swallowed.
"They were talking about Ava."
I moved closer.
"Tell me exactly what you heard."
He gripped his backpack.
"Mr. Victor said the little girl was easier to move because she was younger."
The room seemed to lose all its air.
Daniel rose slowly.
"Anything else?"
Ethan nodded.
"He said they had to do it before the trust hearing."
I pulled Ethan into my arms.
Daniel pressed a button on his desk.
"Security. Lock down the property."
A sharp alarm sounded somewhere outside.
Then Ethan whispered one more thing.
"Mom, I didn't just hear them."
I looked down.
"What do you mean?"
He opened his backpack and took out an old phone with a cracked screen.
"I recorded it."
He touched the screen.
Victor's voice filled the study.
"Take the girl first. Once Sarah panics, she'll sign anything."
A second man answered.
May you like
And I knew that voice.
It belonged to Caleb.
