Chapter 3 - MY SISTER’S SECOND LIE
Lauren was still under supervised release when detectives brought her back for questioning.
She asked for an attorney.
Then she asked why.
Lena placed Ethan’s photograph on the table.
According to Lena, Lauren stopped talking for forty-seven seconds.
That was the beginning.
Investigators obtained warrants for old bank records.
Parker Family Services had received $318,000 from Holloway subcontractors.
My father moved most of it.
But $74,000 went to Lauren.
She had told police she knew nothing about Ethan’s work.
Another lie.
When confronted, Lauren changed her story.
Dad had asked to use her name.
She had needed money.
She never asked questions.
Then detectives showed her emails.
She had asked plenty.
One message to Dad read:
If Ethan keeps digging, this could destroy everything.
Another:
Does Natalie know yet?
Dad replied:
No. Keep her distracted.
I read those messages in Lena’s office.
My sister had not merely betrayed me at Sophie’s birthday.
She had been helping hide something from me for years.
“Can I talk to her?”
Lena hesitated.
“Not alone.”
“I don’t want alone.”
The meeting happened with attorneys present.
Lauren looked exhausted.
No makeup.
Hair tied back.
For once, she did not look like the golden daughter.
She looked scared.
I placed Ethan’s photograph on the table.
“How long?”
She started crying.
I waited.
“How long did you know?”
“Dad told me Ethan was investigating him.”
“When?”
“About six months before the accident.”
My stomach turned.
“And you said nothing.”
“I didn’t understand.”
“You understood enough to take seventy-four thousand dollars.”
Her face collapsed.
“That money paid medical bills.”
“For who?”
“Madison.”
I stopped.
Madison had undergone surgery as a child.
My parents told everyone insurance covered it.
Apparently not.
“Dad said it was his investment return.”
“You knew it wasn’t.”
“Later.”
“And then?”
“I was afraid.”
“You keep using that word.”
“I was.”
“So was Sophie.”
Lauren cried harder.
I did not.
“Did Dad kill Ethan?”
“No.”
The answer came too quickly.
“You know something.”
“No.”
“Lauren.”
She looked at her lawyer.
He said nothing.
Finally:
“Ethan came to the house the week before he died.”
I froze.
“Why?”
“To confront Dad.”
“Were you there?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“They argued.”
“About what?”
“Money. Accident reports. Graham Holloway.”
“What did Dad say?”
Lauren stared at the table.
“He told Ethan he was putting everyone at risk.”
“What did Ethan say?”
“That he was going to federal investigators.”
“And Dad?”
“He said Ethan wouldn’t make it to Monday.”
Silence.
My heart pounded.
“When did Ethan die?”
“Saturday.”
I closed my eyes.
Lauren continued.
“I thought Dad was threatening his job.”
“Did you tell police?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because Dad said the accident proved Ethan had been careless.”
“After threatening him?”
“I was twenty-eight, Natalie.”
“So?”
“I had Madison. I depended on Mom and Dad.”
“And I had just lost the father of my unborn child.”
She looked at me.
“I know.”
“No.”
My voice shook.
“You knew.”
That was worse.
Lauren had attended Ethan’s funeral.
She held my hand.
She helped fold his clothes.
She sat beside me while I cried so hard I could barely breathe.
All while remembering my father had threatened him days earlier.
“Did Mom know?”
“Yes.”
Of course.
“Madison?”
“No.”
“Chase?”
“I don’t know.”
That question became urgent.
Because Chase Holloway had spent eighteen months dating Madison.
He proposed shortly before Sophie’s second birthday.
Had he chosen her?
Or had someone chosen her for him?
Detectives pulled his communications.
The answer came two days later.
Four months before Chase first “accidentally” met Madison at a charity fundraiser, Graham Holloway had texted him a photograph.
Madison’s photograph.
The message underneath:
Robert’s granddaughter. Worth knowing.
Chase replied:
Why?
Graham:
Family business.
My niece’s romance had begun as reconnaissance.
And suddenly her extravagant engagement party made sense.
Two families with secrets were preparing to become one.
The same party where Sophie was supposed to disappear long enough for me to look unstable.
The same party where Lauren hoped to become trustee.
The same party where Chase’s family would gain proximity to Sophie’s inheritance.
Nothing about that day had been accidental.
But when detectives searched Chase’s apartment, they found something unexpected.
A handwritten note hidden inside a kitchen drawer.
MADISON DOESN’T KNOW. KEEP HER OUT OF IT.
And underneath:
GRAHAM KNOWS WHAT HAPPENED TO ETHAN.
Chase had known.
But apparently, he had also begun protecting Madison.
Which meant the man who entered her life for dishonest reasons may have fallen in love with her for real.
It did not absolve him.
But it complicated everything.
Lena called him.
Chase surrendered that evening.
And before his lawyer could stop him, he said:
“My father didn’t kill Ethan.”
Lena asked:
“Then who did?”
Chase looked at me.
May you like
“Your father knows.”
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