Chapter Two: The Voice on the Radio
Mark guided Ethan up the stairs without taking his eyes off Lauren.
“Give me the key,” he said.
Lauren laughed nervously. “This looks worse than it is.”
“You locked a child in the basement.”
“He was having a tantrum.”
Ethan shook his head frantically.
“She said I had to stay there until everyone left.”
Mark felt anger rise in his chest, but he forced himself to remain calm. There were children throughout the house. He could not risk a confrontation becoming dangerous.
He told Lauren to wait in the kitchen, then led Ethan into his bedroom and locked the door behind them.
The party continued downstairs, unaware that anything had happened.
Mark sat beside his son.
“Tell me everything.”
At first, Ethan could barely speak. Then the truth came out in broken pieces.
Lauren had been frightening him for months.
Whenever Mark worked late, she told Ethan that his father was tired of raising him. She said Mark wanted a new life and would eventually send him away. If Ethan complained, she warned that Mark would believe an adult over a difficult child.
The hidden snacks were not signs of rebellion.
Lauren had sometimes sent him to bed without dinner.
The nightmares began after she locked him in a dark closet for refusing to call her “Mom.”
Mark covered his mouth, fighting back tears.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I tried.”
Ethan reminded him of a night three months earlier when he had said Lauren was mean to him. Mark had answered that they both needed to make more effort.
“I thought you picked her,” Ethan whispered.
Those words broke something inside Mark.
“No,” he said, pulling his son close. “I pick you. Every time.”
The handheld radio provided the next piece of the mystery.
Lauren had given it to Ethan that afternoon, saying it was part of a birthday treasure hunt. She ordered him to take his backpack downstairs and wait for instructions. Once he reached the basement, she locked the door.
But someone else had spoken through the radio.
A man.
He asked whether Ethan had found “the papers” inside Mark’s office. Ethan did not understand what he meant, so the man told him to search his backpack.
Inside, Mark found copies of financial documents, a passport application bearing Ethan’s name, and a form requesting access to the boy’s trust fund.
Mark’s former wife had left Ethan a large inheritance before her death. The money was protected until he turned eighteen, and only Mark could authorize early withdrawals.
Someone had forged his signature.
Mark checked the security camera application on his phone. Several cameras had been disabled, but the front-door camera was still active. It showed Lauren repeatedly carrying boxes from Mark’s office to a gray sedan parked nearby.
The sedan belonged to David Pierce—Lauren’s brother.
David had a history of fraud.
Mark called the police quietly, then asked a neighbor to take the children home without alarming them.
When he returned to the kitchen, Lauren was gone.
The back door stood open.
Mark found her in his office, stuffing documents into a bag.
“It’s over,” he said.
Lauren turned, her face suddenly cold.
“You don’t understand what I sacrificed for you.”
“You terrorized my son.”
“I was trying to build a future.”
“With his money?”
She stepped closer.
“You were drowning before I came here. I fixed your house, your schedule, your life. Ethan fought me every step of the way.”
“He’s a child.”
“He’s the reason you never fully belonged to me.”
Mark stared at her, finally seeing the person behind the gentle voice and helpful smile.
Police sirens approached outside.
Lauren looked toward the window.
Then the radio in Mark’s hand crackled.
David’s voice came through.
“Lauren, get out now.”
She ran for the back door, but two officers entered before she reached it.
As they placed her in handcuffs, she looked at Mark with desperate fury.
“You’ll regret choosing him.”
May you like
Mark’s answer was immediate.
“No. I’ll regret that I didn’t choose him sooner.”
