Chapter 3 - Whispers of the PastThe sun dipped below the jagged mountain range, plunging the New Mexico desert into a sudden, biting chill. Ethan spent hours sitting on the porch steps of Rose’s modest home, slowly bridging the chasm between himself and Oliver. By evening, after countless gentle words and the sharing of a simple meal of beans and tortillas, Oliver finally sat two feet away, tentatively tracing the metal lapel pin Ethan had detached and placed in his small palm.
Inside the cramped kitchen, Ethan, Rose, and Grace mapped out what little they knew. "Your mother is a viper wrapped in silk, Ethan," Rose said, pouring black coffee into a chipped ceramic mug. "She came here three times in the first year after Emily died. She threatened to bulldoze this property, to call child services, to ruin us completely if we ever whispered a word about Oliver. She thought by leaving us in poverty, we would be too broken to fight back." Ethan gripped the edges of the wooden table so hard his knuckles turned white. The mother who had raised him, praised him, and funded his education was a monster who traded human lives for social prestige.
"Grace," Ethan said, turning his piercing gaze toward the weeping woman. "You mentioned a lawyer. Who was it?" Grace nodded fearfully. "A man named Arthur Sterling. He handled all of the Knight family's quiet, off-the-books arrangements. If anyone knows what happened to the second twin, it’s him." Arthur Sterling. The name echoed ominously in Ethan's mind. Sterling was still Victoria Knight’s legal fixer in Washington D.C.—a man whose loyalty to the Knight dynasty was absolute.
"I'm going back," Ethan declared, standing up so abruptly his chair scraped loudly against the floor. Rose looked up, her eyes narrowing. "And what will you do? Walk into her mansion with your fists clenched? Victoria owns judges, politicians, and banks. You need proof before you strike, Colonel." Ethan looked out the window at Oliver, who had fallen asleep on a worn sofa, clutching Ethan's military pin like a talisman. A fierce, unshakeable resolve settled over him. "I won't just use fists, Rose. I'm going to tear her empire down from the inside out."
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