Vivian: “Temporarily.”
Rachel: “Without Ethan’s consent.”
Vivian: “Ethan signs whatever his legal team puts in front of him.”
Rachel: “That’s not consent.”
Vivian: “You think because you married my son you understand this family?”
Rachel: “I understand my child’s money is missing.”
Vivian: “Your child will inherit more money than he could spend in three lifetimes.”
Rachel: “That is not the point.”
Then silence.
Vivian’s voice became colder.
“You came into something that existed long before you.”
Rachel: “And Noah?”
“He is a Cole.”
“He is my son.”
“He is both.”
“Then why are you stealing from him?”
A sharp sound.
Perhaps Vivian striking the table.
Ethan watched his mother.
She was crying now.
Quietly.
The recording continued.
Vivian: “If you take this to Ethan, you will make him choose.”
Rachel: “Between his wife and someone stealing from his son?”
“Between you and his family.”
“I am his family.”
“Are you certain?”
Ethan stopped the recording.
He could not listen anymore.
His stomach hurt.
He wanted to throw the recorder.
Instead, he carefully set it down.
“Leave.”
Vivian looked up.
“Ethan.”
“Get out of my house.”
“We need to talk.”
“No.”
“What about Noah?”
Ethan laughed without humor.
“You don’t get to use him now.”
“I love that boy.”
“Rachel loved him too.”
Vivian’s face crumpled.
“That is not fair.”
“Nothing about this is fair.”
He walked to the front door.
Vivian followed slowly.
“Ethan, listen to me.”
He opened it.
“Leave.”
“You still don’t know everything.”
He stared.
“Is there something worse?”
Vivian looked toward the box.
“There may be.”
“What does that mean?”
She wiped her eyes.
“Rachel was not meeting Marcus the night she died.”
Ethan stopped.
“What?”
Vivian looked defeated.
“She was meeting someone else.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“It’s true.”
“How would you know?”
“Because Marcus called me afterward.”
Ethan’s pulse jumped.
“Marcus called you?”
“The morning after the crash.”
“Why?”
“He was looking for Rachel.”
“And you never told me?”
“He said she never arrived at their meeting the night before.”
Ethan stared.
Rachel’s accident occurred shortly after 10 p.m.
The police estimated she left the city around eight.
The crash site was almost forty miles west.
Marcus Dean’s office had been downtown.
“What meeting?”