She Was Hired to Finish the Book—But the Last Chapter Was a Confession
CHAPTER 6
Mara closed the laptop.
Ethan didn’t move.
“You’ve been investigating my family.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because someone is lying.”
“Everyone lies.”
“Not everyone kills.”
His expression changed.
For a moment, Mara thought he might attack her.
Instead, he smiled.
“You really are a mystery writer.”
Then he walked away.
Mara immediately called Daniel.
“Get me everything on June.”
“I already have.”
“No. Everything.”
Daniel sent a file.
Inside were old newspaper clippings.
One article mentioned a boating accident eight years earlier.
A young girl named June Vale had reportedly fallen into the lake.
But another article from the same week mentioned a witness.
A fisherman named Thomas Reed.
He claimed he’d seen June get into a black sedan before disappearing.
Three days later, Thomas Reed vanished.
Mara stared at the screen.
She searched his name.
Nothing.
Then she found something.
Thomas had a daughter.
Emily Reed.
Now living in Portland, Maine.
Mara drove there the next morning.
Emily was sixty-three.
When Mara showed her the photograph of June, Emily went pale.
“My father talked about that girl.”
“What did he say?”
“He said she wasn’t alone.”
“Who was with her?”
Emily shook her head.
“He never told me.”
“Did he mention Ethan Vale?”
“No.”
She hesitated.
“Another man.”
“Who?”
Emily walked to an old cabinet.
She returned with a photograph.
A group of wealthy men stood outside a private club.
One face was familiar.
Mara pointed.
“Who’s that?”
Emily whispered:
“Richard Mercer.”
Mara’s blood ran cold.
The same surname as the teenage patient at Ethan’s rehabilitation facility.
“Who was he?”
“A lawyer.”
“What happened to him?”
“He died.”
“When?”
Emily looked at the photograph.
“Eight years ago.”
Mara noticed something.
Richard was holding a young girl’s hand.
June.
Emily continued.
“My father believed Richard was trying to protect her.”
“From whom?”
Emily’s eyes filled with fear.
“From Ethan Vale.”
Mara returned to the car.
Daniel called.
“I’ve found Richard Mercer’s old case files.”
“What do they say?”
“He was investigating financial fraud involving Ethan.”
Mara closed her eyes.
“Then June wasn’t the beginning.”
“No.”
Daniel’s voice lowered.
“She was the reason everything started.”
A message appeared on Mara’s phone.
Unknown number.
Stop searching.
Then another.
Celia wasn’t trying to expose Ethan.
Mara’s heart pounded.
The final message arrived.
She was trying to expose herself.
