CHAP 5 — Ethan Comes Home
Marissa Hale was the first voice I heard.
“She’s really inside?”
Ethan’s answer was quiet.
“Of course she is.”
The front door opened.
Rain had begun again, soft at first, tapping against the stone entry. Ethan’s footsteps crossed the foyer with familiar confidence. Marissa’s heels followed.
I kept my body still on the kitchen floor.
My ribs pressed against marble.
My lungs burned from the earlier gas exposure, but the air was clean now. Fire investigators had confirmed it twice through the open window using portable meters while Leo and I stayed out of sight.
Still, fear made every breath taste dangerous.
Ethan stopped at the kitchen entrance.
For one long second, he did not speak.
Then he laughed softly.
“Clara?”
I did not answer.
Marissa whispered, “Is she dead?”
“Not yet.”
The two words scraped through me like metal.
Leo remained motionless in his wheelchair across the room.
Ethan stepped closer.
“I told you she’d go down first. Too trusting. Always running toward a mess she thinks she can fix.”
Marissa made a disgusted sound.
“And the boy?”
“Leave him. The official story needs him.”
My blood went cold.
Official story.
Ethan crouched beside me.
His fingers brushed my hair back from my face.
To anyone watching without sound, it might have looked tender.
“My sweet Clara,” he murmured. “You should have stayed simple.”
I wanted to open my eyes then.
I wanted to spit in his face.
Arthur’s voice in my ear was barely audible.
“Wait.”
Ethan stood and walked to the stove.
“What are you doing?” Marissa asked.
“The gas is off.”
Panic flickered in her voice.
“What?”
“She must have reached the valve before passing out.”
“Then we leave.”
“No.”
“Ethan—”
“No. We finish.”
He opened the lower cabinet. I heard metal shift. The screwdriver scraped against the clamp.
Leo’s fingers tightened almost imperceptibly on the wheelchair armrest.
Arthur whispered, “We have visual.”
Ethan cursed under his breath.
“Seal’s gone.”
“You said this would look accidental,” Marissa hissed.
“It will.”
“How?”
Ethan stood.
Silence.
Then the click of a lighter.
My body wanted to react.
Every instinct screamed.
But Arthur had told me the line was disabled at the exterior shutoff by investigators hidden outside. There was no active gas supply now. Ethan did not know that.
The lighter sparked once.
Twice.
Nothing happened.
Ethan’s breathing changed.
He flicked it again.
Still nothing.
Marissa backed away.
“This is wrong. Something’s wrong.”
That was when Leo spoke.
“Yes.”
The word froze the room.
Ethan turned slowly.
Leo lifted his head.
No towel.
No drool.
No blank stare.
He stood from the wheelchair.
Marissa screamed.
Ethan looked like the world had split open beneath his feet.
Leo’s voice was steady.
“You should have checked the outside shutoff.”
Ethan stared.
“You little—”
I opened my eyes.
“Careful, Ethan.”
He spun toward me.
I pushed myself up slowly, pain tearing through my skull. My hand gripped the island until I stood.
“You’re being recorded.”
Ethan’s face rearranged itself instantly.
Shock into grief.
Grief into concern.
“Clara,” he said, voice breaking. “You’re confused. Gas exposure can cause hallucinations. Leo, sit down before you hurt yourself.”
Leo did not move.
Marissa started crying.
“I didn’t know. I didn’t know he was going to—”
“Shut up,” Ethan snapped.
That order finished whatever loyalty she had left.
She stepped away from him.
The front windows flashed red and blue.
Ethan heard the sirens.
His eyes moved toward the door.
Arthur’s voice came from my phone speaker now, loud and clear.
“Ethan Miller, state fire investigators, insurance fraud agents, and police have live audio, live video, and exterior custody of the gas line. Put the lighter on the counter and keep your hands visible.”
For the first time since I had met him, Ethan had no prepared face.
Only rage.
He lunged toward Leo.
I moved before thinking.
So did the front door.
It burst open.
Agents flooded the foyer.
Ethan was tackled before he crossed the room.
The lighter skittered across the marble and stopped near my foot.
Marissa fell to her knees, sobbing.
Leo stood beside his empty wheelchair with both hands shaking.
I crossed the room and wrapped my arms around him.
May you like
At first, he went stiff.
Then he collapsed into me like a child finally allowed to become one.
