16. SOPHIA
16
SOPHIA
Ethan drops me off at home, telling me I’ll be alright for now.
Fortunately, Mom and Dad are back from their trip.
I try to trust him, but obviously, I’m shaken.
This is not anything I’m accustomed to.
When I dated bad boy Dax, it was all an act, but this—this is real.
I don’t understand any of it.
Lena is in a bad situation, but we’re there to “help” her, aren’t we? All we have to do is get her to agree to the adoption and then make sure that custody eventually goes to Harrison Whitmore. Everything is hunky-dory, at least as far as we’re concerned.
But it’s not, is it? It’s definitely not what was sold to us.
I know nothing about Ethan’s interactions with the lawyer, Rodney Pierce. Had he let something slip that Pierce then communicated to Whitmore?
Was that why we were being watched?
I have no way of knowing, but I don’t think Ethan’s that stupid. His survival skills are well-honed.
I’m almost afraid to go outside, unsure of who might be watching.
Liam shows up for dinner. I haven’t seen him in a while, and he looks tired.
“Hey, sis, Tom said he saw you and Ethan talking outside the house yesterday.” Tom was another old high school friend of his and Ethan’s, still living in the neighborhood.
“Oh, yeah, he was here for a little while.”
“I thought you two didn’t get along.”
I had to think fast.
“Yeah, well, we buried the hatchet, so to speak, when I drove him home the other night. He came by to let me know about a potential marketing opportunity opening up with his Navy buddy who’s starting his own company.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah, but I don’t think it’s right for me. It’s stuff that’s not really in my area of expertise.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, I know you must be disappointed. But hey, I’m glad you two are getting along now.”
Getting along?
I guess he could say that. If only he knew.
We have dinner out on the back deck.
I feel safer with Liam around, even though he has no clue what’s happening. Even if he did, he wouldn’t be much help.
Liam is not much of a fighter and never has been. That’s another odd thing about his friendship with Ethan. But then, that might be the key after all.
There’s never any competition between the two of them. Liam has his place, and Ethan has his; they fit together perfectly, each with his own strengths.
I ask Liam about this game he’s developing, more to keep my mind distracted than anything else.
“Well, you’re familiar with Grand Theft Auto, right?”
Unfortunately, I was. Dax loved that game. Sometimes, he’d play all night, leaving me alone and bored.
“It’s sort of like that,” he continues. “The player goes through several scenarios, being chased by cartel baddies whom he double-crosses. It’s very realistic.”
“The graphics are tremendous. One of the things developers have struggled with for years in first-person shooters is getting explosions to look realistic, but I think we solved that problem. We have some excellent graphics guys.”
I’m sorry I asked.
While I’m doing dishes my phone pings.
I see it’s Ethan and take it in the other room.
“What are you doing?” he asks.
“Cleaning up after dinner. Liam came by and ....”
“No time. Listen, can you get out without being noticed?”
It had begun to rain, and I saw Liam involved in a conversation with Mom and Dad in the living room.
“I think so.”
“Good, meet me outside in ten and don’t say anything to anyone.”
“But ...” I begin, but he’d already hung up
“Get in,” Ethan shouts over the rain drumming on the old silver Ford Taurus roof.
I don’t get it. Why is he driving this car? Where are we going?
Reluctantly, I dash over to the passenger side and get in.
We roar off before Ethan says a word.
“You’re scaring me,” I say, genuinely terrified by this turn of events.
“I have some unsettling information, but you have to promise me you won’t freak out.”
“No!” I practically yell at him. “I’m not going to promise any such thing. This is going sideways and I don’t know why. You’re going to tell me everything you know and think, even if it doesn’t mean anything right now.”
“I’m your partner now, dammit, like it or not. I refuse to walk around in the dark anymore. Then I’ll decide whether to freak out or not!”
I sit there steaming, waiting for him to explain.
“Alright.”
“You know who Whitmore is, a big, powerful guy. He is very rich, but not a lot about him is public. The rumor is that he has a fondness for young women, which we now know is true.”
“So, I asked my friend, Graham, to look into this guy. He does this for a living. He’s sort of a combo private eye/security expert. Top notch.”
He looks over to ensure that I’m following. I know I must appear to be in shock, but I’m at least capable of processing what he’s saying.
“Well, it appears that not only does he have a thing for, uh, girls really, some of them that he has taken interest in have disappeared.”
“Wait,” I stop him. “How is that even possible? Why hasn’t this been investigated?”
“Does the name Jeffrey Epstein mean anything to you?”
He does have a point: how long did that predator get away with his behavior, and no one seemed to care? Is he saying that Epstein wasn’t a one-off?
“You remember I told you that some of the things I know about the rich and horrible would shock you? Well, that’s one of them.”
“These guys—and quite a few—operate in a world without rules. They abuse little girls and boys, and they get away with it. That’s what I suspected when I was first pulled into this: Whitmore had knocked this girl up and was planning something; to not take care of her baby but to keep it quiet. I just didn’t know it for sure.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’d guess he’s planning to wait until the baby is born, take custody of him or her without any record of it ever taking place, and then get rid of both Lena and the baby.”
“You can’t be serious?”
“Think about it. You already know that questions are beginning to be raised about what happened to these other girls, so you don’t want to have another girl go missing, especially one who’s pregnant. So, you let her be, while keeping an eye on her to ensure she doesn’t blab.”
“Then, when things cool down and no one has seen her for a while, you quietly get rid of her. Then it’s a matter of doing the same with the kid. He’s got people working for him who would be happy to do those jobs for him.”
“Jesus,” was all I could squeak out.
“And, of course, that leaves two loose ends to tie up. The only other people who might know what happened.”
I can almost feel myself turn white.
“But your parents ...,” I begin.
“They probably don’t know. They think this is all going to work out fine. They get paid, and their son is now a ‘made’ man. They don’t know what Whitmore is planning.”
“If something happens to me, it may mean war between Whitmore and the Blackwoods, but it’s too late for us at that point.”
“So, what’s the plan?”
“The plan is to contact Yiva Sarkisian and tell her I have a story for her.”
He leans over, opening the glove compartment.
“Do you have your phone with you,” he asks.
I nod.
“Turn it off and remove your sim card. There are two burner phones in the glove box. Take one and leave the other. That’s how we’ll get in touch. Do not turn your cell phone back on. It’s too easy to track.”
I do as he demands. I trust he knows what he’s doing, and I will follow his instructions to the letter.
“I figure we can drive down to North Carolina. It’s better to be out of the state. Many small towns are along the coast, or we can move further inland. I like staying near the coast since I’m more familiar with the highways.”
“If we move toward the interior, I’m not sure about the lay of the land. We can move around and stay at different motels until this all blows over.”
As I sit there in silence, it suddenly hits me. I’m in love with Ethan.
It’s strange to have such thoughts, but I guess you don’t really get to choose when it happens.
This side of him, despite the danger we are in, is something I find incredibly attractive. I’ve been waiting to see his concern for my safety, his protective nature, his ability to take command and focus on the task at hand, and most importantly, his deciding to do the right thing once he has it figured out.
Why then does it feel as if my nightmare has only just begun?