''THE CONFESSION''
"Maria was... unstable."
Ethan's voice is quieter than before, stripped of its usual authority.
"I didn't realize it at first. I thought she was simply grieving, overwhelmed..." He exhales slowly, rubbing a hand over his face. "But eventually I saw it. The madness was consuming her, little by little. Serena..." He pauses, his expression softening with guilt. "Serena was too kind to notice it. Too trusting. She believed the best in everyone-especially her own sister."
He lets out a weary sigh, his gaze drifting toward the lamp on my nightstand as though he can no longer bear to look at me.
"But what was I supposed to do?" he murmurs. "Turn her against her own sister? Tell her the person she'd loved her entire life was losing her mind?"
Silence settles over the room.
Even the ticking of the clock sounds unnaturally loud, each second dragging painfully as I wait for him to continue.
"I was..." He swallows. "It happened back at the summer camp." His fingers tighten together. "I was on the phone." He looks ashamed. "And she heard me." His face is caught somewhere between regret and frustration, like he's spent years replaying that moment in his head.
"What phone call?" I ask carefully. "What happened?"
He sighs through his nose before answering.
"You know my brother... Eugene."
I nod.
"He wasn't an easy child." A faint, almost bitter smile appears on his lips. "He wanted something different from life."
He shakes his head. "That wasn't acceptable in our family." He leans back slightly.
"My father planned everything,the schools we'd attend,the extracurricular activities,our tutors, friends..Everything,even mood. He laughs once, humorlessly. "He wanted perfection." A pause. "But Eugene never understood what Father meant by perfect."
"What did he want to become?" I ask quietly.
Ethan finally meets my eyes. "A sculptor."
The single word hangs heavily between us.
"He was talented." His expression briefly softens. "Very talented."
"My father acknowledged it... but talent wasn't enough, he wanted Eugene to inherit the company,he wanted him to marry the daughter of one of his business associates." His jaw tightens. "But Eugene refused and he said he loved Anny." her name comes out of his mouth almost reluctantly.
"...Anny."
His face twists with something I can't quite identify.
Disgust?
Bitterness?
Maybe both.
"She was reckless."He folds his hands together. "She cared more about drugs than she did about raising her own son and she knew absolutely nothing about business. My father despised that. He sighs. "He'd spent decades building the company and according to Father... Eugene had every quality needed to become the perfect successor." an expression crosses his face that's not hatred but something more like longing.
The desperate longing of someone who spent his whole life chasing approval that never came.
"But after marrying her..." He scoffs bitterly.
"...he did nothing,absolutely nothing.He shut himself away in that studio.Day after day,making those ridiculous sculptures,while i had to clean his mess and Anny..." He shakes his head. "She numbed herself with drugs just to escape the tension." he grits his teeth."Cade barely existed to either of them."
I lower my eyes.
That's...
So different from what I'd read in the diary. The Eugene described there wasn't neglectful. He was gentle. Kind.
Could both versions somehow be true? Or was Ethan rewriting history to justify what came next? Maybe Cade had been too young to understand.
Or maybe Ethan had convinced himself this was the truth after repeating it enough times.
His voice suddenly sharpens."I asked my father if I could take over the company instead." and he looks at me."Do you know what he said?" His eyes burn with old resentment.
"'No.'He said, 'Eugene will inherit it. He's simply not ready yet.'"
His breathing grows heavier."Wasn't I good enough?"His voice cracks."I graduated with distinction,I attended every meaningless charity gala.Every networking dinner,Every business meeting alongside my father to show i was there,I studied until I couldn't feel my hands.I did everything he asked."
His fists clench.
"And all I ever heard..."
His voice rises into something frightening.
"...was no."
The room falls completely silent.When he speaks again...
His tone is calm. terrifyingly calm."So..."
"I decided to remove him."
A chill races down my spine.
The word barely leaves his lips.
"I hired men."He stares at the floor."They were supposed to kill him while he was driving home."
My stomach twists violently.
"I was arranging everything over the phone and that's when....Mary overheard me.'' he pauses. "I thought my life was over and I thought she'd scream,Call the police-or Tell Serena."
He laughs bitterly. "But instead..."
A shiver crawls down my back.
"She looked at me as though I'd just recited the most beautiful love poem she'd ever heard."
"She said...Don't worry, love, I have no intentions of telling anyone.''
The room suddenly feels suffocating.
"...Did she though?''My own voice is barely audible.
He slowly shakes his head. "No." A long silence follows. "She never told anyone.''
"She asked for something in return." He doesn't look at me. "It happened once.I told her afterward that I couldn't keep doing it.That I'd done what she'd wanted and my part of the deal was over." His jaw tightens.
"She went completely silent."
"And after that..."
"She never spoke to me again."
I don't know what to say.
"...Oh." The word escapes before I can stop it.
Then another thought surfaces. "What about Cade?" I look at him."He didn't deserve any of that."
"No."
Ethan answers immediately.
"He didn't."
For the first time since this conversation began...
He sounds genuinely ashamed.
"What I did..." He shakes his head. "It came from jealousy,hatred and selfishness." His eyes remain fixed on the floor.
"But guilt doesn't erase murder And apologies don't undo mistakes.."
"That's why I donate to his foster home every month,clothes,money-its pathetic,Cade will never forgive me for what i-and he has the right-my father never loved me and my brother the same, the thought of him getting what i wanted-what i worked for my whole life was eating me alive and i made a terrible mistake, i was immature and foolish. But donating is the only thing I can do." His eyes finally lift to mine. "And because of that guilt...I took you in.''
I study his face carefully searching for hesitation,maybe manipulation or even the smallest crack but ..I don't find one. Not this time.
He looks exhausted. Like a man who's spent years carrying a burden too heavy to put down.
He inhales deeply."I know our relationship has gone through more phases than either of us can count."
"I know I wasn't the man I should've been but i'm trying to change,for your aunt,for the mistakes I've made and for the people I can never bring back."
His voice grows quiet.
"...I'm sorry, Odessa." A pause. "And .. i don't hate you.'' a sad smile crosses his face.
I lower my gaze to my hands. The words don't come out easily. "I can't forgive you." saying this makes my throat tighten but. "I can't forgive what you did to Eugene,Anny or Cade..but I hate to admit that ..I don't hate you either."
And I don't even know why."
Another long silence settles between us.
"When you speak..."I whisper."...I don't think you're lying."
From the corner of my eye, I see Ethan give a small, almost imperceptible nod. Neither of us says another word.
For the first time in years...
The silence between us isn't filled with anger.
It's only silence.