Chapter 1 - THE VIDEO HE NEVER MEANT US TO SEE
Ethan Mercer had never seen his younger brother look afraid of a phone before.
Logan had just taken a punch to the face.
He had just crashed against the stair railing.
He had just fallen hard onto the polished floor in front of nearly twenty relatives.
But none of that frightened him as much as the black smartphone in sixteen-year-old Owen Carter’s trembling hand.
Owen stood behind the guests with his shoulders hunched and his face completely drained of color.
“Uncle Ethan.”
His voice barely came out.
“He recorded everything.”
Logan’s eyes widened.
“No.”
Owen flinched.
Ethan slowly turned toward him.
“What do you mean, everything?”
Logan pushed himself up on one elbow.
“Owen, give me my phone.”
Owen immediately stepped backward.
“No.”
Harold Mercer, Ethan and Logan’s father, finally stopped laughing.
For the first time since Natalie had fallen down the stairs, Harold’s expression changed.
“Boy.”
Harold pointed at Owen.
“That doesn’t belong to you.”
Owen swallowed.
“I found it on the table.”
“Then put it back.”
“It was recording.”
Nobody spoke.
Natalie remained on the floor at the bottom of the staircase.
One of Ethan’s arms supported her shoulders.
Her other hand rested over the curve of her eight-month pregnant belly.
She was shaking.
Not dramatically.
Not loudly.
She was simply trembling so badly that Ethan could feel it through her dress.
“Ethan.”
Natalie’s voice was weak.
“Don’t let them take that phone.”
Something in her tone made every person in the room look at Logan.
Logan suddenly climbed to his feet.
“I said give it to me.”
He rushed toward Owen.
Ethan moved before anyone else could.
He stepped directly between them.
“Try it.”
Logan stopped.
His nose had begun to swell from Ethan’s punch.
One side of his face was already turning red.
“You hit me.”
“You pushed my pregnant wife down a staircase.”
“She slipped.”
Ethan’s voice dropped.
“You keep saying that.”
Logan pointed toward Natalie.
“Because it’s true.”
Owen looked at the screen.
“No, it isn’t.”
Logan froze again.
Owen’s thumb hovered over the video gallery.
“There’s a recording.”
Harold came forward.
“Ethan, everyone needs to calm down.”
Ethan looked at his father.
“You were laughing while my wife was lying on the floor.”
Harold’s face hardened.
“I thought she was exaggerating.”
“She fell down eleven stairs.”
“She has always been dramatic.”
Natalie closed her eyes.
Ethan felt the movement immediately.
“Natalie?”
“I’m okay.”
“No, you’re not.”
Ethan reached for his own phone.
“I’m calling an ambulance.”
Harold shook his head.
“That is unnecessary.”
Ethan stared at him.
“You don’t get to decide that.”
He dialed emergency services.
Logan tried again.
“Owen, the phone.”
Owen stepped beside Ethan.
“I already sent the video to myself.”
The room went silent.
Logan’s face changed.
It was not anger anymore.
It was panic.
“Delete it.”
Owen shook his head.
“I’m not deleting anything.”
Harold moved closer.
“Owen, you’re a child.”
“I’m sixteen.”
“You have no idea what you’re interfering with.”
Owen looked down at Natalie.
“I know what I saw.”
Ethan’s call connected.
He gave the dispatcher the address.
Natalie’s fingers tightened over his wrist.
“Ethan.”
“What?”
“The baby moved.”
Relief flashed across his face.
Then Natalie winced.
Hard.
Her body folded slightly forward.
Ethan’s relief disappeared.
“What happened?”
“My stomach.”
Another wave of pain crossed her face.
Ethan turned pale.
He spoke more urgently into the phone.
“She’s eight months pregnant.”
He looked at the staircase.
“She was pushed.”
Logan shouted from behind him.
“I did not push her.”
Natalie opened her eyes.
She looked directly at Logan.
“Yes, you did.”
Logan stared at her.
“You’re lying.”
Owen lifted the phone.
“The video isn’t.”
That sentence changed the entire room.
Several relatives quietly moved away from Logan.
His aunt Martha put a hand over her mouth.
His cousin Rachel stared at him as if she no longer recognized him.
Even Diane Mercer, Ethan and Logan’s mother, had gone still beside the dining-room doorway.
Diane had not said a word since the fall.
Now she looked at Harold.
Harold looked back at her.
The exchange lasted less than a second.
But Ethan noticed it.
So did Natalie.
Something passed between them.
Recognition.
Fear.
Maybe both.
Sirens became audible in the distance.
Harold’s attention snapped back to Owen.
“Give me that phone.”
“No.”
“I’m not asking.”
Ethan stood.
He left Natalie supported by Aunt Martha and moved toward his father.
“You come near that phone and I will personally stop you.”
Harold stared at his older son.
“You would threaten your father?”
“I just watched you laugh while my wife curled around our unborn child.”
Ethan took another step.
“You stopped being my concern the moment you did that.”
Harold’s nostrils flared.
“This family does not turn on itself.”
Natalie spoke from the floor.
“Apparently it does.”
Everyone looked at her.
She was pale.
Her breathing had become shallow.
But her eyes were focused.
“Logan turned on me at the top of those stairs.”
Logan rubbed his jaw.
“You were blocking the staircase.”
“I was walking down.”
“You stopped in front of me.”
“Because you were arguing with me.”
“I touched your back.”
“You shoved me.”
“Enough.”
Harold’s voice cracked through the room.
Ethan turned slowly.
“No.”
Harold blinked.
“No?”
“For once, Dad, you do not get to say when this conversation ends.”
Red and blue emergency lights appeared through the front windows.
Paramedics entered moments later.
Two police officers followed.
The atmosphere changed instantly.
Relatives began talking all at once.
One officer raised his voice.
“Everyone stay where you are.”
The paramedics went directly to Natalie.
Ethan knelt beside her again.
One of them asked what happened.
Natalie answered without looking at Logan.
“I was pushed from behind.”
The room went quiet again.
The officer looked toward Ethan.
“By whom?”
Natalie pointed.
“My husband’s brother.”
Logan’s face hardened.
“This is insane.”
The officer approached him.
“Sir, stay where you are.”
“I barely touched her.”
The officer paused.
“You just said you touched her.”
Logan’s mouth opened.
Harold cut in.
“My son is upset.”
The officer looked at Harold.
“Are you an attorney?”
“No.”
“Then I’m speaking to your son.”
Harold went silent.
Owen suddenly raised the smartphone.
“I have a video.”
Every head turned.
The second officer walked over.
“Whose phone?”
“His.”
Owen pointed toward Logan.
“I found it unlocked and recording from the upstairs table.”
Logan stepped forward.
“That is my property.”
The officer held up a hand.
“Do not move.”
Logan stopped.
Owen handed the phone over.
“It was already recording before she fell.”
Ethan looked at him.
“Before?”
Owen nodded.
“How long before?”
“I don’t know.”
Owen swallowed.
“But when I opened the recording, I saw something from before Natalie came upstairs.”
Harold’s face lost a little color.
Ethan noticed.
“What did you see?”
Owen hesitated.
Logan stared at him with raw warning in his eyes.
“Owen.”
The teenager ignored him.
“Uncle Logan was talking to Grandpa.”
Nobody moved.
Ethan slowly looked at Harold.
“What were they talking about?”
Owen’s voice became quieter.
“Aunt Natalie.”
Harold immediately stepped forward.
“That is enough.”
The officer moved between them.
“Sir.”
Harold stopped.
Owen continued.
“Grandpa told Logan she had to be taught a lesson before she ruined everything.”
Natalie stared at Harold.
Ethan felt as if the floor had shifted beneath him.
“What?”
Harold’s face became rigid.
“That boy is confused.”
Owen shook his head.
“I heard you.”
“No, you heard part of a private conversation.”
“You said she was getting too close.”
Harold said nothing.
Owen looked at Ethan.
“And Logan said he could scare her.”
Diane suddenly sat down.
Her knees seemed to give out beneath her.
Ethan looked from his mother to his father.
“What was Natalie getting too close to?”
Harold’s jaw tightened.
“I’m not discussing family business in front of police.”
The officer looked at him.
“You may want to rethink that sentence.”
Natalie made another sound of pain.
The paramedics immediately lifted her onto a stretcher.
Ethan followed.
As they wheeled her toward the front door, Natalie caught his sleeve.
“Ethan.”
“I’m here.”
“There’s something I didn’t tell you.”
His chest tightened.
“What?”
Her eyes moved toward Harold.
Then Logan.
Then back to Ethan.
“I found something in your father’s company accounts last week.”
Harold’s face went white.
Ethan stared at his wife.
“What did you find?”
Natalie whispered the words.
“Three point eight million dollars is missing.”
Nobody in the room moved.
Then Harold spoke.
His voice was terrifyingly calm.
“Ethan, do not listen to her.”
Natalie kept her eyes on her husband.
“I have copies.”
Harold took one step toward the stretcher.
The officer blocked him.
Natalie’s fingers tightened around Ethan’s hand.
“And that isn’t the worst part.”
Ethan stared down at her.
“What could possibly be worse?”
Natalie looked toward Logan’s phone in the officer’s hand.
“The missing money was transferred into an account opened in your name.”
Ethan stopped breathing.
Behind him, Harold said nothing.
May you like
And suddenly Ethan understood why his father no longer looked angry.
Harold looked trapped.
