Chapter 9 - Ruth's Warning
Ruth Ellis looked enough like Mara to make Ethan stop in the hospital doorway.
Same green eyes.
Same sharp cheekbones.
But Ruth was older, tougher, with a cut across her forehead and fury holding her together.
"You finally came," she said.
Ethan swallowed.
"I didn't know."
"That's what everyone says after the damage is done."
Claire stepped forward.
"Where is Emma?"
Ruth looked at her.
Something softened.
"You're Claire."
"Yes."
"Emma likes you."
Claire's throat tightened.
"She knows me?"
"She's watched you from the woods for months."
Ethan looked shocked.
Ruth explained.
After Mara died, Evelyn helped hide Emma at Blackwood Cottage and in a network of rental homes. Ruth moved her every few months. Vanessa knew pieces of the arrangement but not every location.
"Why didn't you tell Ethan?" Claire asked.
Ruth's eyes hardened.
"Because Richard Bennett had men following us until the day he died. And after he died, Mercer took over."
Ethan sat beside the bed.
"Mara wrote me."
"Dozens of times."
He looked physically ill.
"I got none of them."
"I know."
Ruth's voice softened just slightly.
"She figured that out before Emma was born."
Claire touched Ruth's hand.
"Who took Emma?"
"Mercer. He grabbed me outside the service gate. Emma ran. I told her to run toward the river trail because she knows those woods better than anyone."
"So he doesn't have her?" Ethan asked.
"Not when I last saw her."
Relief flashed across his face.
Then Ruth gripped Claire's wrist.
"Listen to me. Vanessa is dangerous, but Mercer is worse. Vanessa wants control. Mercer wants Emma gone."
Claire's stomach turned.
"Where would Emma go?"
Ruth looked at Ethan.
"To the one place Mara told her you'd eventually search."
"Where?"
"The old turbine station below the waterfall."
Ethan stood.
Ruth grabbed his sleeve.
"Wait. There's more."
She looked at Claire.
"Vanessa didn't start this because of money. Not at first."
"Then why?"
"Because Vanessa believed Ethan should have been hers."
Silence.
Ethan stared at Ruth.
Ruth continued.
"Mara discovered Vanessa had been intercepting letters even before Richard got involved. Vanessa told Richard about the pregnancy. That's when he turned a jealous obsession into a family cover-up."
Claire's anger became ice.
"So Vanessa helped bury a child because Ethan chose Mara."
Ruth nodded.
"And when Ethan married you, she started watching you the same way she watched Mara."
Ethan's phone buzzed.
A video message.
He opened it.
Emma sat in a dim concrete room, crying silently.
A man's voice spoke off camera.
"Bring the original birth certificate and Mara's letter to the turbine station. Come alone."
Then Vanessa stepped into frame.
May you like
Her hands were tied.
