Hospital bed.
Red roses.
Lily asleep in a chair beside her.
A final whisper in Ethan’s ear: Promise me you’ll keep building places where people feel safe.
He had believed that was the last secret Sarah carried.
Now her name sat on Patricia Lane’s kitchen counter.
Ethan’s phone rang again.
Unknown number.
Aaron reached for it. “Let me trace—”
Ethan answered before he could finish.
Silence.
Then breathing.
A woman crying.
“Patricia?” Ethan said.
A broken whisper came through.
“I’m sorry.”
“Where are you?”
“I didn’t know they’d bring your wife into it.”
Ethan’s hand tightened around the phone.
“Who is they?”
A sound in the background.
Metal.
A door.
Patricia gasped.
Then rushed, “Sarah found the first ledger. Robert kept a copy. Caleb wants—”
The line cut.
Ethan stared at the screen.
Naomi was already moving.
Aaron had his phone to his ear, barking orders.
