CHAPTER 7 — The Letter From Prison
Seven months after Rebecca's conviction, Ethan had finally begun to believe life was becoming ordinary again.
He and Lily lived in a modest cottage overlooking the South Carolina coast.
No marble floors.
No luxury cars.
No lies.
Every morning before school, Lily made pancakes while Ethan brewed coffee.
For the first time in years...
They laughed.
Real laughter.
Then one Thursday afternoon, everything changed.
A plain white envelope arrived with no return address.
Inside was a single sheet of paper.
Three typed sentences.
You think Rebecca was the mastermind.
She wasn't.
The man who financed everything is still free.
No signature.
No fingerprints.
Only one small symbol stamped in the corner.
A silver compass.
Ethan felt a chill run through him.
That symbol...
He had seen it before.
Years earlier.
Inside the financial office of the offshore company where he worked.
The company that handled every paycheck he had ever earned.
That night, Ethan drove to the state prison.
Rebecca looked thinner.
Older.
The confidence she once wore like expensive perfume had disappeared.
She smirked when she saw him.
"I knew you'd come."
Ethan placed the anonymous letter on the table.
Rebecca stopped smiling.
"Who sent this?"
"I don't know."
She stared at the compass symbol for several seconds.
Then her face drained of color.
"No..."
Ethan leaned forward.
"Tell me."
Rebecca shook her head violently.
"You don't understand."
"Then help me."
For nearly a minute, she said nothing.
Finally...
She whispered the name Ethan never expected.
"Your brother."
The room spun.
"My brother died twelve years ago."
Rebecca looked directly into his eyes.
"No."
May you like
"He disappeared."
"And he never stopped watching you."
