Chapter 10
The upstairs nursery had a second door.
Ethan had forgotten.
Claire used it when the girls were infants.
It connected to an old nanny suite.
Vanessa had sealed it behind a wardrobe months ago.
Thomas moved the furniture.
The door opened.
Inside—
no person.
But evidence someone had been living there.
Blankets.
Food wrappers.
A radio.
Three burner phones.
A black suit jacket.
And a Caldwell family pin.
Ethan looked at Victor.
“Who?”
Victor remained silent.
Malcolm picked up one phone.
“Recent.”
Thomas powered it on.
One contact.
V.
Incoming messages.
WAIT UNTIL MIDNIGHT.
ETHAN MUST HIT GRANT FIRST.
KEEP THE GIRLS OUT OF BALLROOM UNTIL SIGNAL.
Then one final message.
IF MALCOLM SEES THEM, CONTAIN HIM.
Malcolm laughed bitterly.
“Contain.”
Vanessa looked away.
Ethan stared at the empty room.
“Who lived here?”
Grant cracked first.
“Raymond.”
Victor’s face hardened.
“Shut up.”
Grant laughed.
“No.”
“He used us too.”
Vanessa turned.
“Who is Raymond?”
Grant stared at her.
“You don’t know?”
That frightened her.
Victor had kept secrets from everyone.
Ethan looked at him.
“Raymond who?”
Victor said nothing.
Malcolm answered.
“Raymond Caldwell.”
Silence.
Ethan knew no Raymond Caldwell alive.
Then Malcolm continued.
“Your father’s half-brother.”
Ethan stared.
Victor closed his eyes.
The old family secret surfaced.
Ethan’s grandfather had fathered another son.
Kept outside the main house.
Outside inheritance.
Outside family photographs.
Raymond had grown up close enough to know everything.
Never close enough to belong.
Malcolm continued.
“Your father paid him to stay away.”
Ethan’s jaw tightened.
“Why is he here?”
Victor finally spoke.
“Because he understands what you’re wasting.”
There it was.
Victor’s real ally.
Not Vanessa.
Not Grant.
Raymond.
“What does he want?”
Victor smiled faintly.
“Recognition.”
Malcolm scoffed.
“He wants revenge.”
Victor looked at him.
“Same thing sometimes.”
Ethan stared at the hidden room.
Raymond had been living fifteen feet from his daughters.
Listening.
Watching.
While Ethan remained overseas.
His voice became cold.
“Where is he?”
Nobody answered.
Then one burner phone rang.
Thomas looked at Ethan.
He nodded.
Thomas answered on speaker.
A man’s voice:
“Is Ethan angry yet?”
Silence.
Raymond.
Victor’s face changed.
The caller continued.
“Victor?”
No answer.
Then:
“If he hasn’t broken Grant’s neck, you waited too long.”
Ethan looked directly at his uncle.
Raymond had not simply expected violence.
May you like
He needed it.
And Victor had been following orders from a man Ethan had never met.
