PART 3
“He’s the person your husband paid to make sure you never came home from work tomorrow night.”
For several seconds, I couldn’t move.
The phone remained pressed against my ear, but Lauren’s words seemed to come from somewhere far away.
Behind her, the stranger stood beneath the porch light with his hands visible at his sides.
He looked to be in his early forties. Tall. Broad-shouldered. Dark jacket. A thin scar ran from his left temple to his jaw.
The kind of man people noticed only after he had already left the room.
Mr. Sterling reached for his phone.
Lauren saw him through the window.
“Don’t,” she said sharply. “Not yet.”
“You don’t get to give orders from my porch,” I replied.
“If the police arrive with sirens, another person will know I came here.”
“Who?”
“I’ll explain inside.”
“You’re not coming inside.”
Lauren glanced toward the neighboring houses.
“Sarah, I have my baby in the car.”
I looked past her.
A small face was visible through the rear window of the SUV.
Her two-year-old son, Noah, was strapped into his car seat, asleep beneath a blue blanket.
My anger sharpened.
“You brought your child here?”
“I didn’t have anyone else I could trust.”
“You left him in my living room earlier without asking.”
“Because I needed an excuse to get into your house.”
I went still.
Mr. Sterling heard her through the phone.
“Why did you need access to the house?” he asked.
Lauren’s eyes shifted toward him.
“To remove something before my mother found it.”
“What?”
She lifted the metal case.
“The reason she planned to kill Sarah.”
The word kill made my stomach turn.
Not hurt.
Not frighten.
Kill.
Mr. Sterling ended his call before it connected.
Then he looked at me.
“We let them into the foyer. No farther. I keep the door open. You stay behind me.”
“I’m not leaving Ethan upstairs alone.”
“You won’t. Call him down.”
I turned toward the staircase.
“Ethan?”
No answer.
My heart jumped.
“Ethan!”
A small voice came from above.
“I’m here.”
He appeared at the top of the stairs, rubbing one eye and clutching his stuffed dinosaur.
“Come sit in the living room where I can see you.”
He slowly descended.
I wrapped a blanket around his shoulders and placed him on the sofa.
“Is Grandma coming back?” he whispered.
“No.”
It was the answer he needed.
Even though I no longer knew whether it was true.
Mr. Sterling unlocked the front door but kept the security chain in place.
“Put the case down,” he ordered.
Lauren lowered it onto the porch.
“And tell your friend to step away.”
The stranger moved back several feet.
“Who are you?” Mr. Sterling asked him.
The man took a wallet from his jacket and held it open.
“Elias Grant.”
I could not see the identification clearly.
“What do you do?” I asked.
He looked directly at me.
“Whatever people pay me to do.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“It is the only honest answer I have.”
Lauren crouched and slid the case toward the door.
Mr. Sterling opened it just wide enough to pull the case inside.
Then he closed and locked the door again.
Lauren remained on the porch.
“What is the combination?” he asked.
“Six-two-one-nine.”
“Why that number?”
“My father died on June twenty-first, 2019.”
Mark’s father.
The man whose estate Barbara had stolen.
Mr. Sterling entered the combination.
The locks clicked.
He lifted the lid.
Inside were three burner phones.
A stack of photographs.
Several hospital identification badges.
Two small bottles of clear liquid.
A black flash drive.
Copies of my work schedule.
And a folded map of the route I drove from the hospital to my home.
Red ink marked the quietest intersections.
The places without traffic cameras.
The stretches of road bordered by abandoned warehouses.
My knees weakened.
Elias had not exaggerated.
Someone had studied my life.
Mr. Sterling picked up one of the photographs.
It showed me leaving the hospital parking garage.
Another showed me buying groceries.
Another showed Ethan and me walking into his school.
The final photograph had been taken through our living-room window.
I was asleep on the sofa.
Ethan was curled beside me.
On the back, someone had written two words.
ACCIDENT NIGHT.
I pressed my hand over my mouth.
“Let them in,” I said.
Mr. Sterling looked at me.
“Sarah—”
“Let them in.”
He removed the chain.
Lauren rushed to the SUV first, lifted Noah from his car seat, and carried him inside.
Elias followed but remained near the door.
I stared at him.
“How much did my husband pay you?”
“Fifteen thousand dollars.”
Mr. Sterling’s eyes narrowed.
“To kill her?”
“To disable her vehicle.”
“That could have killed her.”
“Yes.”
Elias did not attempt to soften it.
He did not apologize.
That made him more frightening.
Lauren laid Noah on the opposite end of the sofa and covered him with the blanket.
Ethan watched her.
“Is he sick?”
“No,” Lauren said. “He’s just tired.”
“Why is everyone scared?”
Lauren looked at me.
I hated that my son had to ask that question.
“Because some adults made terrible choices,” I said. “But Mr. Sterling and I are fixing them.”
Ethan held his dinosaur tighter.
“Did Dad make bad choices?”
I knelt beside him.
“Yes.”
“Is he a bad person?”
The question hurt more than anything else that night.
“I think your father chose to do bad things. What kind of person he becomes after that is up to him.”
Ethan nodded as if he understood.
Maybe he understood more than I wanted him to.
Mr. Sterling motioned toward the dining room.
“Lauren. Elias. We talk in there.”
“I’m staying with Mom,” Ethan said.
“You can see me from the sofa,” I promised.
We moved to the table.
The black folder still lay open where Mark had dropped it.
The proof of our marriage’s collapse was spread beside the evidence of a planned murder.
Mr. Sterling placed his phone in the center of the table and started recording.
“State your full names.”
Lauren obeyed.
Elias hesitated.
“You said no police.”
“I said no sirens. I didn’t say this conversation wouldn’t be documented.”
Elias gave his name.
“Who hired you?” Mr. Sterling asked.
“Mark Whitmore contacted me through an encrypted messaging service.”
My hands curled into fists.
“Did you speak to him directly?”
“Twice.”
“You heard his voice?”
“Yes.”
“Did he say my name?”
“Yes.”
“What exactly did he ask you to do?”
Elias looked at me.
“He said his wife drove home alone every Tuesday and Thursday night. He wanted her car to fail near the industrial bridge.”
“Fail how?”
“Brake fluid line.”
Lauren closed her eyes.
I forced myself to remain still.
“And then?” Mr. Sterling asked.
“He wanted a second vehicle to force her through the guardrail.”
A cold wave moved through my body.
The industrial bridge crossed a deep section of the Chicago River.
At night, that road was nearly empty.
My death would have looked like an accident caused by brake failure.
The hospital would have mourned me.
Mark would have collected the insurance money.
Barbara would have received my house.
Ethan would have lost his mother.
“What made you change your mind?” I asked.
Elias looked toward the living room.
At Ethan.
“I was told there would be no child involved.”
“I don’t take Ethan to work.”
“No. But your husband’s instructions changed yesterday.”
My heart stopped.
“How?”
“He said the boy might be in the car.”
Lauren covered her mouth.
Mr. Sterling leaned forward.
“And you still came here instead of going directly to the police?”
Elias’s face hardened.
“People who hire me don’t work alone. I needed proof that I wasn’t walking into a trap.”
“You accepted fifteen thousand dollars.”
“I accepted three thousand. The remainder was due afterward.”
“That does not make you innocent.”
“I know.”
His answer was immediate.
Lauren wiped tears from her face.
“My brother wasn’t supposed to agree to that.”
I turned on her.
“What does that mean?”
“My mother told him you were planning to take Ethan and disappear.”
“And he believed her?”
“She showed him documents.”
Mr. Sterling picked up the forged quitclaim deed.
“Like this?”
Lauren nodded.
“She told Mark you had transferred the house to a man from the hospital. She said you were moving money overseas. She said you planned to file false abuse claims and make sure he never saw Ethan again.”
“So Mark decided to murder me?”
“No!”
Lauren’s voice rose.
Ethan looked toward us.
She lowered it.
“No. At first, Mark thought they were paying someone to follow you.”
Elias shook his head.
“That is not what he said during our calls.”
Lauren looked at him.
“You told me the messages came from Mark’s account.”
“They did.”
“That doesn’t prove Mark sent all of them.”
I looked between them.
“What are you hiding?”
Lauren reached inside her coat and removed another phone.
Unlike the burners in the case, this one had a cracked pink cover.
“My mother’s phone.”
“How did you get it?”
“She left it in my car this afternoon.”
Mr. Sterling held out his hand.
Lauren gave it to him.
“The passcode is Noah’s birthday.”
He unlocked the screen.
There were hundreds of unread messages.
Many were between Barbara and someone saved only as M.
Mr. Sterling opened the thread.
The first message he read made his expression change.
“What?” I asked.
He turned the screen toward me.
M: MARK IS GETTING NERVOUS.
BARBARA: THEN REMIND HIM WHAT HAPPENS IF SARAH FINDS OUT ABOUT THE LOANS.
M: HE THINKS THE DRIVER IS ONLY SUPPOSED TO SCARE HER.
BARBARA: HE DOESN’T NEED TO KNOW EVERYTHING.
The room went silent.
Lauren pointed at the messages.
“That’s what I’m trying to tell you. Mark is guilty of stealing your identity. He helped with the credit cards. He agreed to have you followed and terrorized. But I don’t think he knew they intended to kill you.”
I felt no relief.
Mark had still agreed to have a stranger tamper with my life.
Perhaps with my car.
Perhaps with my home.
He had crossed a line so far behind us that motive no longer mattered.
“Who is M?” I asked.
Lauren looked at Elias.
He looked back at her.
Neither answered.
Mr. Sterling slammed his palm onto the table.
“Who is M?”
Lauren whispered the name.
“Michael Patel.”
My blood turned to ice.
“Dr. Patel?”
She nodded.
The physician whose name appeared on the sedative bottle.
The doctor who had worked beside me for four years.
The man who brought cupcakes to Ethan’s birthday when Mark claimed he had a business meeting.
The man who knew my schedule.
My medications.
My medical history.
My emergency contacts.
I remembered every friendly smile.
Every time he offered to walk me to my car after a late shift.
Every time he asked whether Mark and I had solved our “money problems.”
“He forged the prescription,” I said.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Lauren stared at the table.
“Because he believed the house should have belonged to his family.”
I blinked.
“What family?”
“Barbara’s.”
“That makes no sense.”
Lauren’s voice became unsteady.
“My mother and Dr. Patel have known each other for years.”
“How many?”
“More than thirty.”
Mr. Sterling looked at her sharply.
“From where?”
“They grew up together.”
“Barbara grew up in Ohio.”
“That’s what she told Mark.”
“Where did she actually grow up?”
Lauren’s eyes met mine.
“Near Chicago.”
The pieces began shifting.
Barbara’s knowledge of hospital systems.
The forged prescriptions.
The estate documents.
The secret property company.
“Were they having an affair?” I asked.
Lauren shook her head.
“No.”
“Then why would he help her?”
“Because he’s her son.”
The air left my lungs.
Even Mr. Sterling looked stunned.
“Dr. Patel is Barbara’s son?”
“Her oldest.”
“Mark has a brother?”
“Half brother.”
“Does Mark know?”
“No.”
Lauren’s eyes filled again.
“My mother had Michael when she was seventeen. Her parents forced her to give him to another family. Years later, she found him.”
“And they decided to steal my house together?”
“It started with my father’s estate.”
Lauren looked at the documents on the table.
“Michael helped her forge the medical expenses. He created false invoices so she could hide the estate money during probate.”
“And the apartment?”
“She bought it for him.”
I remembered the apartment address.
It was close to my hospital.
Less than ten minutes away.
“Does he live there?”
“No. He uses it.”
“For what?”
“I don’t know.”
Elias finally spoke.
“It’s a staging location.”
We all turned toward him.
“How do you know?” Mr. Sterling asked.
“That is where I met the client.”
“Mark?”
“No.”
“Barbara?”
“No.”
Elias pointed toward the phone.
“Dr. Patel.”
My hands began to tremble.
“You met him?”
“Once. He gave me your work schedule and the first payment.”
“Then why did you say Mark hired you?”
“Because Patel played recordings of Mark’s voice. He showed me messages from Mark’s account. He said Mark couldn’t meet because he was being watched.”
Lauren looked horrified.
“So Michael used Mark.”
“He used all of you.”
Mr. Sterling picked up one of the burner phones from the case.
“Can you prove Patel was involved?”
“The phone contains audio from our meeting.”
“Why did you record him?”
“Insurance.”
Mr. Sterling handed me the black flash drive.
“What is on this?”
Elias answered.
“Copies of everything.”
I stared at it.
“All the messages?”
“Messages. Audio. Payment transfers. Photographs. Instructions.”
“Why give it to Lauren?”
“She found me first.”
Lauren looked ashamed.
“I followed Mom to the apartment this morning. I saw Elias leaving. I thought he was her boyfriend.”
Under any other circumstances, the thought might have been absurd.
Tonight, nothing was absurd.
“I confronted him,” Lauren continued. “He told me enough to make me realize something terrible was happening.”
“And then you left Noah here?”
“I needed to search your office.”
My anger returned instantly.
“What did you take?”
Lauren opened her purse.
She removed a small black device.
It looked like a phone charger.
Elias picked it up carefully.
“Audio transmitter.”
I stared at Lauren.
“Where was it?”
“Under the desk in the room where you keep your financial records.”
Mark’s office.
Except Mark never used it.
He called it his office because his gaming computer sat there.
The files, bank statements, insurance records, and tax documents were mine.
“Who planted it?” Mr. Sterling asked.
“I don’t know.”
Elias examined the device.
“It transmits over cellular networks. Whoever installed it could listen from anywhere.”
I thought of the conversations I had held in that room.
Calls with my accountant.
Discussions with Mr. Sterling.
The afternoon I told him I had discovered the fraudulent credit card.
They had heard everything.
“That’s why Barbara knew about the divorce,” I said.
Lauren nodded.
“And why they rushed the plan.”
Mr. Sterling’s phone rang.
He looked at the screen.
“It’s the police.”
He answered and stepped away.
Lauren sat across from me.
“I’m sorry.”
I stared at her.
“You were part of the company taking my house.”
Her face crumpled.
“I didn’t know what it was.”
“You owned fifty percent.”
“Mom made me sign papers after Noah was born. She said she was creating a family trust.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“No.”
Her answer surprised me.
“I don’t expect you to believe anything I say. I spent years treating you like you were an outsider because my mother told me you thought you were better than us.”
“I worked while you left your child in my house without permission.”
“I know.”
“You asked me for money every month.”
“I know.”
“You watched your brother use me.”
“I know.”
Her voice broke.
“I told myself it wasn’t my problem because admitting the truth would mean admitting my mother raised us to use people.”
I looked toward Noah.
He was still asleep.
“Why are you helping me now?”
Lauren followed my gaze.
“Because yesterday I heard her talking about Ethan.”
My pulse quickened.
“What did she say?”
“She said once you were gone, Mark would be arrested for the credit card fraud.”
I frowned.
“She planned for him to be arrested?”
“She needed him out of the way.”
Mr. Sterling ended his call and returned.
“The officers who arrested Mark and Barbara are bringing detectives here. They’re also contacting the hospital.”
Lauren continued before I could speak.
“Mom planned to petition for custody of Ethan.”
“On what grounds?”
“She was going to say Mark was a criminal and you were dead.”
“She would never get custody.”
“She didn’t need permanent custody. Only temporary guardianship long enough to access his trust and move him out of state.”
The trust Barbara had already stolen from once.
Mr. Sterling looked at the estate paperwork.
“Unless there was another trust.”
Lauren nodded.
“Your parents.”
I froze.
My parents had created a college fund for Ethan.
But it was nowhere near enough to justify murder.
“How much does she think they left him?”
“Five million dollars.”
I stared at her.
“My parents are alive.”
“She knows.”
“Then what is she talking about?”
Lauren pulled a folded letter from her purse.
“I found this in Mom’s apartment.”
She slid it across the table.
The envelope bore my father’s name.
It had been addressed to me but never mailed.
The letter inside was dated eight months earlier.
Sarah,
Your mother and I have completed the estate plan we discussed. Ethan’s trust is fully funded. If anything happens to us, the assets will transfer immediately. Mark is not permitted to act as trustee under any circumstances.
I read the lines twice.
Then a third time.
I had never seen the letter.
“My father didn’t send this.”
“No,” Lauren said. “Michael intercepted it.”
“How?”
“Your father mailed it to the hospital because he didn’t trust Mark to see it at home.”
My father had always disliked Mark.
Not loudly.
Not cruelly.
But he saw things I refused to see.
The letter never reached me because Dr. Patel had access to internal mail.
“They thought my parents were dead?” I asked.
Lauren’s silence frightened me.
“Lauren.”
She looked at me.
“Your parents were supposed to be on the same bridge tomorrow.”
My entire body went numb.
“What?”
“Your mother called Mark two weeks ago and said they planned to surprise you after your shift.”
I remembered.
Mom had mentioned coming to Chicago, but she had not given me a date.
I thought the surprise was a dinner.
“They were going to meet me at the hospital.”
Lauren nodded.
“Michael changed your work calendar so you would leave early. He planned to send your parents a message from your phone telling them to follow you home.”
A staged accident.
Three deaths.
One grieving family.
One grandmother requesting emergency custody.
I grabbed my phone.
“I’m calling my parents.”
It rang once.
Twice.
No answer.
I called my father.
Voicemail.
My mother again.
Voicemail.
“They may be asleep,” Mr. Sterling said.
“It’s not that late.”
I called the hotel they usually used in Chicago.
The front desk searched their records.
“No reservation under that name,” the clerk said.
My throat tightened.
I called my parents’ neighbor.
She answered on the fourth ring.
“Sarah? Is everything all right?”
“Have you seen Mom and Dad?”
“Not since this morning.”
“Did they leave town?”
“Yes. Your father loaded the suitcases before lunch. They said they were driving to surprise you.”
I could barely breathe.
“What time did they leave?”
“Around noon.”
They should have reached Chicago hours ago.
“Did they say where they were staying?”
“No. But your mother was so excited. She said someone from your hospital helped arrange everything.”
I closed my eyes.
Dr. Patel.
I ended the call.
Mr. Sterling was already speaking to the police.
Elias unfolded the road map from the metal case.
“There are two routes into Chicago from her parents’ town.”
He pointed at a red circle near a rural exit.
“This location was marked as a secondary site.”
“What is there?” I asked.
“An abandoned clinic.”
Lauren looked at the burner phone.
“Mom sent Michael a message about a clinic.”
Mr. Sterling took the phone.
He searched the conversation.
Then he read aloud.
BARBARA: THE OLD PEOPLE ARRIVE FIRST.
MICHAEL: I’LL KEEP THEM COMFORTABLE UNTIL TOMORROW.
BARBARA: NO MISTAKES.
MICHAEL: THERE WON’T BE ANYONE LEFT TO QUESTION US.
I could not feel my hands.
“My parents are alive.”
It was not a question.
It was a command.
Elias studied the time stamp.
“This was sent three hours ago.”
“Then they’re alive.”
He did not answer.
I grabbed my coat.
Mr. Sterling blocked me.
“You are not going anywhere.”
“They have my parents.”
“The police will handle it.”
“They don’t know the location.”
Elias pointed to the map.
“I do.”
Mr. Sterling turned to him.
“You were hired for the bridge.”
“I was also shown the clinic in case the first plan failed.”
“Why?”
“Because it has a garage, medical equipment, and no nearby houses.”
My stomach twisted.
I headed for the door.
Mr. Sterling caught my arm.
“Sarah, think about Ethan.”
“I am thinking about him. Those are his grandparents.”
“You cannot bring him.”
“I’m not leaving him here.”
Lauren stood.
“I’ll stay with him.”
“No.”
“You don’t trust me.”
“Correct.”
“That’s fair.”
Her face was pale, but her voice remained steady.
“Then take Noah as collateral.”
I stared at her.
“What?”
“My son stays with you. Ethan stays with me. If you believe I would hurt him, keep Noah beside you.”
“I’m not using a child as collateral.”
“I’m trying to prove that I will protect Ethan with my life.”
Before I could respond, a loud electronic chirp came from the living room.
Ethan looked toward the ceiling.
“What was that?”
My security panel flashed red.
BACK DOOR OPEN.
Every adult froze.
Mr. Sterling reached beneath his jacket.
Elias moved toward the hallway.
“Stay here,” he said.
“This is my house.”
“And someone just entered it.”
The kitchen lights went out.
Then the dining room.
Then the living room.
The house fell into darkness.
Noah woke and began to cry.
“Ethan!” I shouted.
“I’m here!”
I moved toward his voice.
A hand grabbed my shoulder.
I swung blindly.
“It’s Sterling,” Mr. Sterling whispered. “Get down.”
Glass shattered upstairs.
Ethan screamed.
I tore away from Mr. Sterling and ran toward the staircase.
“Ethan!”
The front door slammed shut behind us.
Elias cursed.
“Someone cut the exterior power.”
Lauren grabbed Noah from the sofa.
The glow of our phones cast weak light across the room.
I reached Ethan and pulled him against me.
“Are you hurt?”
He shook his head.
“Something broke upstairs.”
Mr. Sterling called the detectives.
“Possible intruder at the residence. Power is down. Send units now.”
Elias took one of the burner phones from the case.
Its screen had lit up.
INCOMING CALL.
He looked at me.
“No one should have this number.”
“Answer it.”
He put the call on speaker.
At first, there was only breathing.
Then a man’s voice filled the room.
Calm.
Educated.
Familiar.
“Good evening, Sarah.”
Dr. Patel.
My blood froze.
“You have my parents.”
“I have many things that belong to you.”
“Let them go.”
“You always were direct. That’s what I admired about you.”
“Where are they?”
“Safe for now.”
Police sirens sounded faintly in the distance.
Dr. Patel laughed.
“Calling the police was predictable.”
“You planned to murder my family.”
“I planned to correct an injustice.”
“What injustice?”
“That house was purchased with money your husband’s father stole from my mother.”
I looked at Lauren.
She shook her head.
“He’s lying,” she whispered.
Dr. Patel continued.
“Your mother-in-law was promised a future. Instead, she was abandoned with two children and nothing but shame.”
“Mark’s father didn’t even know about you.”
“He knew.”
“Then why didn’t Barbara tell Mark?”
“Because Mark was useful when he was obedient.”
The words were so cold that even Lauren flinched.
“You used him too,” I said.
“Mark was never intelligent enough to understand the larger plan.”
“And Ethan?”
“He is innocent.”
“Then stay away from him.”
“I intended to.”
The way he said it made my body tense.
“Intended?”
A sound came from upstairs.
Not glass this time.
A floorboard.
Elias looked toward the ceiling.
Someone was still inside the house.
Dr. Patel’s voice lowered.
“Unfortunately, Barbara became emotional after her arrest.”
“What did she do?”
“She activated a contingency.”
Lauren began crying.
“What contingency?” I demanded.
“You should check Ethan’s bedroom.”
I looked down.
My son was still wrapped around me.
For one second, relief flooded through me.
Then Ethan lifted his stuffed dinosaur.
A tiny red light blinked inside one plastic eye.
Elias snatched it from his hands.
He tore open the seam along its back.
A tracking device fell onto the floor.
Beside it was a small speaker.
Dr. Patel’s voice came through the toy as well as the phone.
“We have been listening for months.”
I grabbed Ethan.
“You will never touch my son.”
“I don’t need to touch him.”
A sharp crack echoed from upstairs.
The ceiling above us groaned.
Dust fell over the dining table.
Mr. Sterling pulled us toward the front door.
“Everybody out!”
We rushed onto the porch as police vehicles turned onto our street.
Elias remained inside for three more seconds.
Then he emerged carrying the metal case and the burner phone.
Smoke began leaking from an upstairs window.
“My house!” I shouted.
“Fire!” Mr. Sterling yelled toward the officers.
Flames appeared behind the curtains of the room where I kept my financial records.
The evidence.
The original documents.
Everything Barbara and Mark might have wanted destroyed.
Firefighters were called.
Police surrounded the property.
Dr. Patel remained on the phone.
“You can save the house,” he said, “or you can save your parents.”
“Tell me where they are.”
“I will send the location.”
The call ended.
A message arrived on my phone.
It contained coordinates.
And a photograph.
My mother and father sat tied to metal chairs inside a dark room.
My father had blood on his forehead.
My mother’s eyes were open.
She was holding something in her bound hands.
A small wooden sign.
Three words had been painted across it.
BRING ETHAN ALONE.
My knees almost gave way.
Elias took the phone from me.
“He doesn’t want Ethan.”
“Then why demand him?”
“Because he knows you will never agree.”
Mr. Sterling studied the photograph.
“He’s forcing you to choose an impossible condition so he can control the negotiation.”
Lauren looked at the burning window.
“No.”
We turned toward her.
Her face had gone white.
“He does want Ethan.”
“What aren’t you telling me?” I asked.
Tears ran down her cheeks.
“Michael isn’t trying to steal Ethan’s trust.”
“Then what does he want?”
“He wants Ethan himself.”
I stared at her.
“Why?”
Lauren’s mouth trembled.
“Because Barbara told him Ethan is his son.”
The sirens, shouting officers, and crackling fire vanished beneath the roar in my ears.
“That’s impossible.”
Lauren looked at the front door as flames spread across the second floor.
“Mom found a paternity report in your office.”
“I never ordered one.”
“She did.”
“Mark is Ethan’s father.”
“I thought so too.”
“Lauren.”
She grabbed my hand.
“I saw the report.”
“And?”
She swallowed hard.
“Mark isn’t Ethan’s biological father.”
I pulled away from her.
“That’s a lie.”
“I wish it were.”
“I have never been with Dr. Patel.”
“I know.”
“Then how could he—”
The truth struck before I finished.
The fertility treatments.
Nine years earlier.
The clinic where Dr. Patel had referred me after Mark’s test results showed a low sperm count.
The anonymous donor sample.
The pregnancy that followed.
Dr. Patel had handled every referral.
Every record.
Every sealed result.
Lauren’s voice broke.
“He switched the donor sample.”
I looked at Ethan.
My son stood beneath the flashing red lights, wrapped in a blanket while my home burned behind him.
His small face was filled with fear.
He reached for me.
“Mom?”
I pulled him into my arms.
My phone rang again.
This time it was a video call.
Dr. Patel’s face appeared on the screen.
Behind him, my parents remained tied to the chairs.
He smiled.
“Now you understand.”
“You are not his father.”
“Biology disagrees.”
“Fatherhood is more than biology.”
“On that point, Sarah, we agree.”
His smile disappeared.
“That is why I am giving you one hour to bring me my son.”
The screen went black.
Then a timer appeared.
59:59.
59:58.
59:57.
And beneath it, one final message.
WHEN THE CLOCK REACHES ZERO, ETHAN LOSES HIS GRANDPARENTS……………..
PART 4…
TO BE CONTINUED IN PART 4…
