The question followed them everywhere.
Who was helping Victor?
The evidence suggested someone close.
Someone trusted.
Someone with access.
Daniel refused to believe the answer could be Ethan.
Even after everything.
“He made mistakes,” Daniel said.
“He lied.”
“Yes.”
“He worked with Victor.”
“Yes.”
“He hid documents.”
“Yes.”
Daniel looked at Claire.
“But he didn’t want us destroyed.”
Claire understood.
Her father was searching for a reason to believe his son was still somewhere inside the damage.
That was human.
But it was dangerous.
Because betrayal rarely came from strangers.
It came from people who knew exactly where the weak points were.
Ethan finally admitted there was something else.
“I didn’t tell you everything.”
Daniel looked tired.
“What now?”
Ethan reached into his bag.
He placed a small notebook on the table.
Claire recognized it.
Their mother’s handwriting.
“Where did you get that?”
Ethan swallowed.
“Mom gave it to me.”
Daniel froze.
“When?”
“Before she died.”
The room became silent.
Claire stared.
“You had something from Mom for three years?”
“I didn’t know what it was.”
“That’s not an answer.”
Ethan looked at his father.
“I was scared.”
Daniel’s voice lowered.
“Of what?”
“That she knew everything.”
Claire opened the notebook.
Most pages were notes.
Dates.
Names.
Questions.
Then she found a page addressed to Ethan.
Ethan,
If you are reading this, I need you to understand that I know what you did.
Ethan looked away.
Daniel read over Claire’s shoulder.
The letter did not accuse.
It warned.
Lydia wrote that she knew Ethan had taken money.
She knew he had met Victor.
But she also knew Ethan was being pushed toward a decision he did not fully understand.
She wrote:
Someone is making you believe this is your only choice.
Claire looked at Ethan.
“Why didn’t you show Dad?”
“Because I thought she hated me.”
Daniel looked hurt.
“She never hated you.”
“I knew I disappointed her.”
“That’s different.”
Ethan wiped his face.
“I thought if Dad knew, he’d never forgive me.”
Daniel looked away.
For a moment, Claire saw the father who had raised Ethan.
Not the betrayed man.
The father.
Then Ethan revealed the final secret.
“Mom told me to watch Mara.”
Daniel immediately looked up.
“Mara?”
“Yes.”
Claire felt the room shift.
“She suspected Mara?”
Ethan nodded.
“She said Mara was protecting someone.”
Daniel became quiet.
Because Mara had been the person who brought them answers.
The person who seemed guilty because she was afraid.
But fear and guilt were not always the same thing.
“What did Mom say exactly?” Claire asked.
Ethan opened another page.
Lydia’s handwriting appeared.
Mara knows more than she admits. But she is not the person controlling this.
Claire exhaled.
A new possibility emerged.
Mara was hiding something.
But she was not the mastermind.
Someone else was.
—
—
Click here to continue reading: PART 11: The Person Lydia Protected Was Finally Revealed, and the Truth Destroyed the Last Lie Holding the Family Together
My Sister Announced Our Father’s Death Before Sunrise, but the Man Eating Breakfast Across From Me Had Other Plans
Part 10 of 20
