But murder?
That was different.
Charles straightened his cuffs.
“This performance is over.”
Then Ethan’s phone rang.
Everyone heard it.
He looked at the screen.
MAYA COLE.
His mother.
Ethan frowned.
She knew where he was.
She had begged him not to come.
He answered.
“Mom?”
Her voice was strangely calm.
“Did he admit it?”
Ethan looked at Charles.
“Not exactly.”
A pause.
Then his mother said:
“Put me on speaker.”
Ethan hesitated.
“Mom—”
“Please.”
He pressed the button.
Maya Cole’s voice filled the silence around the pool.
“Charles?”
Charles Harrington stopped moving.
The blood left his face.
Ethan noticed.
So did everyone else.
His mother repeated:
“Charles, are you there?”
Charles stared at the phone.
“How do you know my mother?” Ethan asked.
Charles said nothing.
Maya answered instead.
“Because I was married to him.”
Ethan felt the world tilt.
“What?”
Nobody moved.
Blake stared at the phone.
Charles whispered, “Maya.”
Ethan almost dropped it.
His mother continued.
“Thirty-five years ago.”
Ethan could barely speak.
“You were married to Charles Harrington?”
“Yes.”
Blake looked at Ethan.
Then at his father.
Then back at Ethan.
“No.”
Maya began crying.
“I wanted to tell you.”
“Tell me what?”
Charles closed his eyes.
Ethan’s stomach turned before the words came.
His mother whispered:
“Charles Harrington is your father.”
Natalie covered her mouth.
Ross stepped backward.
Blake stared at Ethan as if seeing his own reflection for the first time.
“No.”
Ethan couldn’t breathe.
“No.”
His mother sobbed.
“You and Daniel were born after I left him.”
Ethan looked at Charles.
The same height.
The same dark eyes.
The same small scar-like crease above the left eyebrow that Ethan had always assumed came from his mother’s family.
Blake whispered:
“You’re my brother?”
“Half brother,” Maya said.
Ethan shook his head violently.
“No. Mom, no.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Why didn’t you tell us?”
“Because I was afraid.”
“Of him?”
“Yes.”
Charles finally spoke.
“Maya, enough.”
Her voice transformed.
The fear disappeared.
“You don’t get to tell me ‘enough’ anymore.”
Charles’s jaw tightened.
Maya continued.
“When I was twenty-four, Charles was building his first company. I discovered he was paying contractors under the table and forging permits. When I threatened to go to the police, he beat me.”
Natalie closed her eyes.
“I left while I was pregnant.”
Ethan felt tears burning his face.
“You told us Dad died before we were born.”
“I told you what I needed you to believe so you would never look for him.”
Ethan stared at Charles.
“You knew?”
Charles said nothing.
“You knew Daniel was your son?”
Silence.
Then Blake whispered:
“That’s why.”
Ethan turned.
Blake was staring at his father with horror.
“That’s why you were so obsessed with Daniel.”
Charles said, “Stop.”
“You knew who he was.”
“Blake.”
“You said he was dangerous because he knew too much.”
Charles stepped toward him.
Blake backed away.
“But it wasn’t just the reports.”
Understanding spread across his face.
“He could prove who he was.”
Maya spoke through the phone.
“Yes.”
Ethan felt nauseated.
“What would that matter?”
His mother hesitated.
Charles whispered, “Don’t.”
Maya answered.
“Because of your grandfather’s trust.”
Charles closed his eyes.
And Ethan finally saw genuine defeat.
Maya explained.
“Charles’s father, Walter Harrington, created the family trust before he died. The controlling shares of Harrington Urban Holdings pass equally among Charles’s biological children.”
Blake looked at Ethan.
Then toward the Meridian Point towers.
Then back.
Maya continued.
“Charles has spent thirty years telling everyone Blake was his only son.”
Ethan understood.
Daniel had discovered the safety fraud.
