Chapter 4 - The Stranger at the DoorMaya could hear her own heartbeat.
The voice downstairs came again.
“Maya? I know you’re up there.”
Tara moved first.
She rushed toward the bedroom door and pushed it almost shut.
Marcus caught her wrist.
“Don’t.”
She looked at him.
“Let go.”
“Who is that?”
Tara’s lips trembled.
“You need to listen to me.”
“No.”
Marcus released her.
“Not another lie.”
From the hallway downstairs came the scrape of shoes against hardwood.
The man was coming closer.
Maya stepped toward the door.
“Dad…”
Marcus raised a hand.
“Stay here.”
But Maya shook her head.
“No.”
She walked past him.
Tara grabbed her arm.
“Please.”
Maya turned sharply.
“Why?”
Tara’s fingers loosened.
“Because you don’t know him.”
The voice came from the staircase.
“I can hear you.”
Maya pulled free.
Then she opened the door.
A man stood at the bottom of the stairs.
He was older than the photograph in Maya’s hand.
His dark hair was streaked with gray. There was a scar along his jaw, disappearing beneath the collar of his coat. He looked thinner than the man Maya had seen beside Tara years earlier, but the eyes were unmistakable.
Marcus appeared behind her.
The man looked up.
For several seconds, neither brother moved.
Then Marcus whispered the name.
“Ethan.”
The man gave a tired smile.
“Hello, Marcus.”
Marcus gripped the railing.
“No.”
Ethan’s expression softened.
“You always did hate surprises.”
“You’re dead.”
“I know.”
“You’re dead.”
“I’ve been called worse.”
Marcus descended three steps.
“Where have you been?”
Ethan’s eyes moved toward Tara.
“That depends on who you ask.”
Tara looked away.
Marcus noticed.
“You knew he was coming.”
Tara said nothing.
Ethan laughed quietly.
“She knew.”
Marcus turned toward her.
“You knew he was coming here?”
Tara swallowed.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I asked him to come.”
Maya stared at her.
“You asked him?”
Tara looked at her.
“I was running out of choices.”
Ethan slowly removed his coat.
“Your stepmother is right about one thing.”
Maya frowned.
“Which thing?”
“She’s been running out of choices.”
Marcus came all the way downstairs.
“What happened to you?”
Ethan looked at him for a long moment.
“Do you really want that answer?”
“Yes.”
Ethan leaned against the wall.
“Then you need to stop asking about where I’ve been and start asking why I disappeared.”
Marcus’s face tightened.
“Who made you disappear?”
Ethan didn’t answer.
Maya stepped forward.
“My mother?”
Ethan looked at her.
And the expression on his face nearly broke her.
“You have her eyes.”
Maya swallowed.
“You knew my mother.”
“Yes.”
“Did she leave us?”
Ethan shook his head.
“No.”
Maya’s breath caught.
Tara closed her eyes.
Marcus stared at his brother.
“Then why did she disappear?”
Ethan looked at Marcus.
“She didn’t.”
Nobody moved.
Maya barely managed to speak.
“What do you mean?”
Ethan looked directly at her.
“Your mother never walked out on you.”
The room became unbearably still.
Maya felt tears filling her eyes.
“Then where is she?”
Ethan’s gaze fell.
“I’m sorry.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“I know.”
“Where is she?”
Ethan took a slow breath.
“She was taken from you.”
Marcus shook his head.
“Taken by whom?”
Ethan looked at Tara.
Maya followed his gaze.
Tara looked terrified.
“Don’t,” Tara whispered.
Ethan ignored her.
“By people who believed your mother had something they needed.”
“What did she have?”
“A record.”
Marcus frowned.
“Of what?”
“Payments.”
Maya remembered the papers.
“The money.”
Ethan nodded.
“Money moving through accounts. Hundreds of transactions. Some legitimate. Some not.”
Marcus stared at him.
“Whose money?”
Ethan hesitated.
“Yours.”
Marcus’s expression changed.
“What?”
“Not just yours.”
He looked at Maya.
“Your mother discovered that someone had been moving money out of your father’s estate.”
Maya went still.
“My grandfather?”
“Yes.”
“That doesn’t make sense. Grandpa left Dad the house.”
“He left your father much more than the house.”
Ethan reached into his coat and pulled out a small black notebook.
Maya recognized it instantly.
The same kind of notebook she had found in the attic.
Her voice dropped.
“Where did you get that?”
“It belonged to Elena.”
Tara suddenly stepped forward.
“Ethan, give it to me.”
“No.”
“You promised.”
“I promised I would protect you.”
Tara stared at him.
“Then protect me.”
Ethan shook his head.
“I’m done protecting people who refuse to tell the truth.”
Marcus looked at Tara.
“What does he mean?”
Tara’s eyes filled with tears.
Marcus stepped closer.
“Tara.”
She backed away.
“I didn’t know how to tell you.”
“Tell me what?”
“The truth.”
“Which truth?”
Tara looked at Maya.
“That your mother trusted me.”
Maya’s face hardened.
“She trusted you?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because she thought I could help her.”
“Help her with what?”
Tara wiped her cheek.
“She was afraid.”
“Of what?”
“Of someone inside the family.”
Marcus stopped.
“Who?”
Tara shook her head.
“I never knew for sure.”
Maya looked at Ethan.
“Do you?”
Ethan opened the notebook.
“I knew enough.”
He flipped through several pages.
Names.
Dates.
Amounts.
Account numbers.
Maya saw her father’s name.
Then her grandfather’s.
Then another name.
One she had never expected to see.
Tara.
Maya stared.
“Why is her name in there?”
Marcus took the notebook.
“What is this?”
Ethan pointed to a page.
“Payments made to Tara.”
Marcus looked at his wife.
Tara’s face went white.
“You told me that was reimbursement.”
“It was.”
“For what?”
Tara swallowed.
“For helping Elena.”
Marcus looked at Ethan.
“Helping her do what?”
Ethan’s jaw tightened.
“Escape.”
Maya stared at him.
“Escape from who?”
Ethan looked at Tara.
Tara whispered:
“Your mother was supposed to leave the country.”
Maya felt as though the floor had disappeared beneath her.
“She was going to leave?”
“Yes.”
“Without me?”
Tara began crying.
“No.”
Maya’s voice broke.
“Then why didn’t she take me?”
Tara looked at her.
“She tried.”
Marcus stared.
“What?”
Tara nodded.
“The night she disappeared, Elena came to me.”
Maya could barely breathe.
“What did she say?”
“She said someone had found out what she knew.”
“Who?”
“She didn’t know.”
“Where was she going?”
“Canada.”
Maya covered her mouth.
Tara continued.
“She had arranged everything. Documents. Money. A car. A safe place.”
“Then what happened?”
Tara’s voice became barely audible.
“Someone arrived before she could leave.”
Marcus’s expression darkened.
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I’m telling you the truth.”
“You lied to me for years!”
“I was trying to keep you alive.”
Marcus stepped backward.
The words hung in the room.
Maya looked at Ethan.
“You disappeared because of this?”
He nodded.
“I helped Elena arrange the escape.”
“And then?”
“She found out someone inside your father’s business was watching her.”
“Who?”
Ethan closed the notebook.
“That’s the problem.”
Maya stared at him.
“You know.”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
Ethan looked at Marcus.
Marcus stepped closer.
“Tell me.”
Ethan hesitated.
Then he reached into his pocket and pulled out an old photograph.
He handed it to Maya.
She looked down.
It showed her mother standing outside a building she recognized.
Their house.
But Elena wasn’t alone.
A man stood beside her.
Maya stared at the photograph.
The man’s face had been partially turned away, but she could recognize the coat.
The watch.
The posture.
Her voice disappeared.
Marcus leaned over her shoulder.
Then he froze.
“No.”
Tara began to cry.
Marcus took the photograph from Maya.
His hand shook.
“I know this picture.”
Ethan said nothing.
Marcus stared at the man beside Elena.
“Why is he here?”
Maya looked between them.
“Who is it?”
Marcus didn’t answer.
Ethan did.
“The person who signed the document.”
Maya looked down at the photograph again.
Then at the forged property papers.
A terrible realization began forming.
“This person owns the house?”
Ethan shook his head.
“No.”
“Then what does he want?”
Ethan looked at Maya.
“He wants what your mother left behind.”
Maya’s eyes widened.
“What did she leave?”
Before Ethan could answer, the front door downstairs slammed shut.
Everyone turned.
Footsteps crossed the living room.
Slow.
Deliberate.
Someone else was inside.
Marcus moved toward the stairs.
“Who’s there?”
No answer.
Then a man’s voice came from the darkness below.
“You should have burned that notebook, Ethan.”
Tara screamed.
Maya backed toward the bedroom door.
Ethan’s face went pale.
Marcus whispered, “You know him.”
Ethan looked toward the staircase.
“Yes.”
“Who is he?”
Ethan slowly closed the notebook.
“The man who made sure your mother disappeared.”
May you like
The hallway light flickered.
And the man below began climbing the stairs.
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