Chapter 8 - Blood Is Not Loyalty
Martin Monroe had hugged Ava at her father’s funeral.
He had walked her down the aisle when she married Ethan.
He had sat beside her hospital bed after the crash and told her, “Your dad would want you to fight.”
Now he was on video with the people who had sabotaged her car.
Ava called him before Brooks could stop her.
He answered on the second ring.
“Ava?”
“Why were you in my garage?”
Silence.
Then a breath.
“You shouldn’t have seen that.”
Ethan reached for the phone.
Ava pulled it away.
“Did you know they were going to cut my brakes?”
“No.”
“Did you know they were touching my car?”
“I thought they were planting a tracker.”
Ava nearly laughed.
“That’s your defense?”
Martin’s voice broke.
“I needed money.”
There it was.
Always money.
Martin had lived beyond his means for years. Failed restaurants. Bad investments. Loans from Samuel that were never repaid.
“How much?” Ava asked.
“Two hundred thousand.”
“What did they want?”
“Information.”
“What information?”
“Your trust. Your voting schedule. When you planned to move the shares.”
Ava closed her eyes.
Six months before the crash, she had planned to place her controlling shares of Monroe Biologics into a charitable medical foundation.
Once completed, no spouse, heir, or family member could privately sell them.
Margaret and Pike had learned they had a deadline.
Martin whispered, “I didn’t know they meant to hurt you.”
“Then why did you disappear after the crash?”
“I was afraid.”
“You sat beside my hospital bed.”
“I’m sorry.”
Ava’s voice turned hard.
“Sorry is what people say when they break a glass.”
She hung up.
Brooks immediately ordered Martin picked up as a material witness.
But by the time officers reached his home, he was gone.
His passport was gone too.
At dawn, Ethan stood by Ava’s bed.
“I’m going to say something you may hate.”
She waited.
“If my mother did this, I want her prosecuted. I don’t care what it does to my family name.”
Ava studied him.
“That’s not what I hate.”
“What is?”
“That you still say if.”
He looked away.
Ava softened, but only slightly.
“I need you to understand. I can love you and still not trust your judgment right now.”
His eyes filled, but he nodded.
“That’s fair.”
Brooks returned at 8:00 a.m.
“We found Margaret.”
Ethan froze.
“Where?”
“At a church in Connecticut. She called a priest.”
Ava let out a breath.
“Did she confess?”
“No.”
Brooks placed a small evidence bag on the table.
“She gave the priest this and asked him to destroy it.”
Inside was a handwritten letter.
May you like
The top line read:
ETHAN MUST NEVER LEARN THE CRASH WAS SUPPOSED TO KILL AVA.
