Chapter 18 - The Brother at the Door
Three weeks passed.
Sarah repaired the broken window.
Claire filed for divorce.
Noah stopped answering Julian’s calls.
Mercer Development appointed an interim CEO.
Federal auditors began tracing nearly thirty-eight million dollars in missing funds.
Julian’s attorneys claimed he had been manipulated by Raymond.
Sarah didn’t care.
Manipulated men still made choices.
Victoria provided investigators with years of emails.
Her cooperation reduced some of the charges she faced.
But it didn’t erase what she had done.
Sarah visited her once.
Victoria sat in a guarded hospital room.
Her arm was in a sling.
She looked at Sarah’s hair.
“I’m sorry.”
Sarah’s expression didn’t change.
“For which part?”
Victoria looked down.
“All of it.”
Sarah nodded.
“Then tell the truth.”
Victoria did.
She admitted Julian had ordered her to frighten Sarah into signing the house transfer.
The clippers had been Victoria’s idea.
She had wanted Sarah humiliated.
Powerless.
Smaller.
Sarah listened without interrupting.
When Victoria finished, Sarah stood.
“You mistook restraint for weakness.”
Victoria whispered.
“I know.”
“No.”
Sarah walked toward the door.
“You know now.”
On February second, police still had not found David.
Sarah finally allowed herself to host dinner again.
Only Claire.
Noah.
Martin.
Rebecca Cole.
And Ellen.
They sat around the same dining table.
Thomas’s chair remained empty.
Sarah’s chair stood at the opposite end.
No one touched it.
At 8:11 p.m., the doorbell rang.
Noah checked the camera.
His face changed.
“Grandma.”
Sarah looked.
David stood on the porch.
Alone.
No coat.
Snow on his shoulders.
His hands raised.
Sarah called Detective Brooks.
Then she opened the intercom.
“What do you want?”
David looked directly into the camera.
“To tell you why Thomas lied.”
Sarah’s jaw tightened.
“You have five seconds.”
“Raymond didn’t kill Nathan.”
Sarah stopped.
David continued.
“Julian didn’t either.”
“Then who did?”
David looked behind him.
Fear crossed his face.
“I’ll only tell you inside.”
Sarah almost refused.
May you like
Then David said the one sentence she couldn’t ignore.
“Because Nathan Cole is alive.”
