My Childhood Crush Knocked on My Door After 15 Years… She Was Holding a Letter With My Name On It.
Chapter 3
The letter was only three pages long.
But Ethan needed nearly an hour to finish it.
Claire had written it on August 19, fifteen years earlier.
The night before her family left Chicago.
She explained that her father had discovered how close she and Ethan had become.
At first, he had forbidden her from seeing Ethan.
When Claire refused, Robert had threatened to send her away to boarding school.
Then he had told her something worse.
He claimed Ethan’s father was planning to move the family to California.
Claire believed him.
She believed Ethan would leave regardless of what she did.
So she decided to write one final letter.
She planned to meet Ethan outside the old train station at 9 p.m.
She would give him the letter.
Then she would say goodbye.
But she never arrived.
Her father had found the letter.
He had locked Claire in her room until the family left.
The next morning, they drove to Boston.
Claire wrote that she had begged to call Ethan.
Her father refused.
Then he took her phone.
For years, Claire tried to find a way back.
But Robert controlled her life.
College.
Her finances.
Her social circle.
Even her correspondence.
When Claire finally became independent, she discovered that Ethan had changed his phone number.
She searched online.
She found an old newspaper article about Ethan winning an architecture award.
She found photographs.
She learned that he had become an architect.
But she never contacted him.
Not because she didn’t want to.
Because her father had left her with a warning.
If Claire ever returned to Chicago, he would make sure Ethan’s family suffered.
Ethan lowered the letter.
His hands were shaking.
“He threatened my family?”
Claire nodded.
“Your father knew?”
“My father knew everything.”
Ethan stood and walked toward the window.
Outside, headlights blurred across the wet street.
“So all these years…”
“I thought you hated me,” Claire whispered.
Ethan turned around.
“I thought you hated me.”
Claire looked down.
“I waited for you that night.”
“So did I.”
“I waited until midnight.”
“I stayed until almost two.”
Her eyes widened.
“You did?”
“Yes.”
They stared at each other.
Two teenagers who had spent fifteen years believing the other had chosen to walk away.
Ethan felt anger rising.
Not at Claire.
At Robert.
At the years that had been stolen.
At every birthday.
Every Christmas.
Every milestone.
Every relationship that might have been different if he hadn’t spent years carrying the belief that Claire had abandoned him.
“Why come now?”
Claire took a slow breath.
“Because my father is dead.”
Ethan said nothing.
“He died last year,” she continued. “And after my mother died, I found the letter.”
She looked at the floor.
“There was something else in the box.”
“What?”
“A photograph.”
She pulled a small picture from her purse.
Ethan took it.
It showed three teenagers standing outside a summer house.
Claire was in the middle.
Ethan recognized the boy beside her.
His stomach dropped.
“Who is that?”
Claire’s expression changed.
“That’s Daniel.”
“Daniel who?”
“Daniel Parker.”
Ethan stared at the photograph.
Daniel Parker.
His older brother.
His brother who had died in a car accident when Ethan was twelve.
“What does my brother have to do with this?”
Claire hesitated.
“Everything.”
Ethan’s face went pale.
Claire continued.
“Your brother knew my father.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Daniel discovered something about him.”
“What?”
Claire’s voice barely rose above a whisper.
“He discovered that your father didn’t leave Chicago voluntarily.”
Ethan stopped breathing.
“What are you saying?”
Claire looked at him.
“Your father was forced out of his company.”
“By whom?”
“My father.”
The room suddenly felt too small.
Ethan stared at the photograph.
His brother’s face.
His childhood.
His family.
All connected to the woman who had just walked back into his life.
Claire reached into her purse again.
This time, she pulled out a small brass key.
“I found this with the letter.”
She placed it on the table.
“It belonged to your brother.”
Ethan stared at the key.
“What does it open?”
Claire shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
Then she added quietly,
“But I think your brother left something for you.”
