Chapter 5 - Voices in the Dark
Ethan sat in the back of his car in the hospital parking lot, his laptop open on his knees. The faint blue light of the screen illuminated his weary, shadow-draped face.
He plugged the silver thumb drive into the USB port.
A single folder appeared on the desktop. Inside were dozens of audio files, organized meticulously by date spanning back over two years, along with high-resolution PDF scans of personal medical records, bank transfers, and private investigator reports.
Ethan clicked on the earliest audio file, dated eighteen months ago—three months before the car accident that had bound Ava to a wheelchair.
The speakers crackled, and a smooth, oily male voice filled the quiet car.
"Mrs. Marlowe, I have completed the background check on Ava Vance. Her father’s estate holds twenty-five percent of the voting shares in the Coastal Maritime Logistics Group. If Ethan marries her and those shares merge with his personal portfolio, he will hold a sixty-percent controlling interest in Marlowe Enterprises. He will no longer require your consent to sell the firm."
Then, Margaret’s voice came through the speakers—crisp, calculating, and devoid of any maternal warmth.
"That cannot be allowed to happen. My son is naive. He thinks with his heart. If he gains controlling interest, he will dissolve the holding company and move away from Boston. I need those shares transferred directly to my personal trust before the wedding."
"Ms. Vance is fiercely loyal to her father's memory, ma'am. She will never sell or transfer those shares voluntarily."
A long pause echoed on the recording, followed by the soft clinking of a ice cube against a glass.
"Then we must make sure she has no choice," Margaret’s voice replied calmly. "People who are completely dependent on others do not have the luxury of saying no. What is the status of the mechanical report on her vehicle?"
Ethan’s breathing stopped completely.
His hands froze over the keyboard. The car interior seemed to spin around him as the cold, horrific truth crashed into his mind like a physical wave.
He clicked on the next audio file, dated two days before Ava’s fateful car crash.
"Mrs. Marlowe," the oily voice spoke again. "The mechanic has modified the hydraulic brake lines on Ava’s sedan. The fluid will leak slowly over a twenty-mile drive. By the time she reaches the mountain highway pass, the pedal will go completely soft."
"Will it kill her?" Margaret asked, her tone casually inquisitive, as if asking about the weather.
"It’s a steep embankment, ma'am. High probability of fatal trauma, but if she survives, the spinal impact will certainly render her permanently incapacitated. Either way, she will no longer be an obstacle."
"Good," Margaret said. "Ensure the local police report attributes the crash to poor weather and driver error. Ethan will be devastated, but he will turn to me for support. I will manage her care personally."
Ethan stared at the glowing laptop screen. His jaw worked silently, but no sound came out of his throat. Tears of pure, unadulterated horror spilled over his eyelids and dripped onto the keyboard.
The car crash hadn't been an accident.
Ava hadn't lost the use of her legs due to cruel twist of fate.
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His own mother had tampered with his wife’s brakes. She had tried to kill her. And when Ava survived the wreck with severe spinal shock, Margaret hadn't felt relief—she had simply shifted to Plan B: using paralytic drugs disguised as vitamins to make sure Ava’s paralysis remained permanent, ensuring she stayed helpless, weak, and easily coerced into handing over her inheritance.
Ethan threw open the car door and stumbled out into the cold night air, bending over as he retched violently onto the asphalt.
