Chapter 5 - HIDDEN STRENGTHS
Days turned into a grueling routine of physical therapy and secret communication.
Ethan was a fighter,
pushing himself until he was drenched in sweat and shaking with effort.
The therapist,
a man I had personally vetted,
was amazed at his progress.
“He shouldn't be recovering this fast,”
the therapist whispered to me in the hall.
“It’s like he’s fueled by pure spite.”
“It’s not spite,”
I said.
“It’s survival.”
During our quiet hours,
Ethan began to spell out more names and events.
He told me about the night of the accident,
the way the brakes on his car had felt soft and unresponsive.
He told me about a ledger Jason kept in the study,
hidden behind a row of law books.
“I need to find it,”
I told him.
He blinked once,
his eyes filled with warning.
That night,
I waited until the mansion was silent.
I slipped out of the room,
my heart hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird.
The hallways were cold,
the moonlight casting eerie,
skeletal shadows.
I reached the study and pushed the heavy door open.
The room smelled of old paper and expensive tobacco.
I found the law books and began to pull them back,
one by one.
Behind a thick volume on corporate law,
I felt a hollow space.
I pulled out a small,
black leather book.
Inside were pages of numbers,
dates,
and names.
It was a record of every cent Jason had stolen from the Thornton trust.
Millions of dollars,
funneled into offshore accounts and gambling debts.
I felt a cold shiver run down my spine.
Jason hadn't just wanted the company,
he needed it to cover his crimes.
If Ethan woke up and found this,
Jason would spend the rest of his life in prison.
Suddenly,
the light in the hallway flickered.
I froze,
clutching the ledger to my chest.
Footsteps approached,
slow and deliberate.
I ducked behind the large mahogany desk just as the door opened.
Jason walked in,
looking agitated.
He went straight to the shelf and saw the gap where the book had been.
“Where is it?”
he growled,
his voice filled with a dangerous edge.
He began to tear the books off the shelf,
hurling them across the room in a fit of rage.
I held my breath,
praying he wouldn't look behind the desk.
His phone rang,
distracting him.
“I told you,
it’s handled!”
he shouted into the receiver.
“The board meeting is on Friday.”
“She won't be a problem.”
“I'll deal with the wife.”
He stormed out of the room,
slamming the door behind him.
I waited for ten minutes,
my body trembling,
before I dared to move.
I ran back to Ethan’s room and locked the door.
“I found it,”
I whispered,
showing him the ledger.
His eyes widened,
and for the first time,
I saw a smile tug at the corner of his mouth.
May you like
It wasn't a kind smile,
it was the smile of a predator who had finally caught his prey.
