Chapter 7 - ROOM 214
The facility was four hours away.
Police arrived before Ethan and Claire.
Richard Hawthorne was listed under another name.
Robert Hale.
Room 214.
Ethan stopped outside the door.
His hand shook.
Claire stayed beside him.
“You don’t have to go in alone.”
He looked at her.
“You shouldn’t have to be here at all.”
Claire understood what he meant.
After everything his family had done, she owed him nothing.
Still, she opened the door.
Richard Hawthorne sat beside a window.
He was sixty-eight.
Thin.
Gray-haired.
Much older than the man in Ethan’s memories.
He looked up.
His eyes locked on Ethan.
For several seconds, no one spoke.
Then Richard whispered.
“You grew up.”
Ethan broke.
He crossed the room.
“Dad?”
Richard stood.
His knees nearly failed.
Ethan caught him.
The two men held each other while Claire turned away.
Later, Richard told them what happened.
He discovered Eleanor had been moving assets from the Hawthorne Trust into companies she controlled.
He planned to expose her.
Before he could, he was injured in a staged boating accident.
Victor helped Eleanor hide him.
Richard survived.
But Eleanor obtained legal control of his medical care after doctors documented cognitive impairment.
For years, she moved him between facilities.
“Why didn’t you escape?”
Ethan asked.
Richard looked ashamed.
“Medication.”
“Isolation.”
“And eventually, I stopped believing anyone would listen.”
Claire understood that feeling.
Richard turned toward her.
“You are Claire.”
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
He looked at Ethan.
“Because Eleanor chose you.”
Claire felt cold again.
Richard continued.
“She chose every person she allowed close to Ethan.”
“Why me?”
Richard’s answer stunned them both.
“Because of your mother.”
Claire stared.
“My mother?”
May you like
Richard nodded.
“She knew where the Hawthorne money really came from.”
