Chapter 5
The rest of the recording lasted nine minutes.
Rachel listened to all of it.
Daniel:
“Once Ethan is upstairs, Jason starts.”
Jason:
“And if Rachel doesn’t hit me?”
“Mention the boy.”
“How?”
Daniel hesitated.
Then:
“Say he isn’t really Carter material.”
Jason laughed.
“I say that anyway.”
Rachel paused.
Jason didn’t look ashamed.
He looked annoyed the plan had been discovered.
She resumed.
Daniel:
“If she still stays calm, take something Ethan made.”
Jason:
“The plane.”
“Fine.”
Jason:
“What if he’s there?”
Daniel:
“He won’t be.”
The recording ended.
Rachel stared at her husband.
“You moved the timing forward.”
Jason shrugged.
“He annoyed me.”
Rachel looked at him.
“Ethan?”
“He kept touching my controllers.”
Alyssa snapped:
“He’s three.”
Jason turned.
“You always take his side.”
“No.”
She stared at him.
“I just know he’s three.”
Jason laughed.
“Same thing.”
Rachel picked up the broken propeller.
A small pencil mark ran along one edge.
E + MOM.
Ethan had written the E himself.
Backwards.
Rachel remembered helping him.
Daniel saw her expression.
“It’s a toy.”
She looked up.
“No.”
“What?”
“It was bait.”
Silence.
She stepped closer.
“You turned something my child loved into bait because you needed footage.”
Daniel’s voice hardened.
“I needed the family to understand.”
“What?”
“That you’re not stable enough to keep control.”
There it was.
Power.
Not marriage.
Rachel secretly led the Carter organization.
Daniel held a respected public role.
But senior men came to Rachel for final decisions.
Daniel had tolerated it until tolerating became resentment.
Jason smiled.
“Dad should lead.”
Rachel looked at him.
“Why?”
“He’s a man.”
Alyssa whispered:
“Jason.”
He shrugged.
“What? Everyone thinks it.”
Rachel almost smiled.
“Everyone?”
Jason looked toward Daniel.
Daniel said nothing.
Rachel’s bodyguard entered.
“Boss.”
Daniel stiffened at the word.
Jason noticed.
So did Alyssa.
The guard continued:
“Three capos are already outside.”
Rachel checked the time.
8:11.
The dinner was scheduled for nine.
“Why early?”
He looked at Daniel.
“They said Mr. Carter told them to come before you returned.”
May you like
Daniel’s face lost color.
And Rachel understood the family dinner was never meant to include her at all.
