Chapter 4: The Report That Changed Everything
The police report trembled in Harrison's hands.
I had never seen my son look so lost.
Not angry.
Not confused.
Lost.
Like the foundation beneath his entire life had cracked open.
"Sloan," he whispered.
"What is this?""
She didn't answer.
That was the first time I saw fear replace her confidence.
For years, Sloan had walked through my house like she owned it. She corrected my cooking, criticized my clothes, and made jokes about my age in front of everyone.
But now?
She looked like someone waiting for a door to close.
Ava stood beside me, holding her arms tightly around herself.
"I didn't want to bring this here," she said quietly.
"But nobody would listen.""
Harrison looked at her.
"What does the report say?""
Ava swallowed.
"Read it.""
He looked down.
His eyes moved across the page.
Then stopped.
"What?""
His voice was barely audible.
I stepped closer.
"Harrison?""
He looked up at me.
The color had drained from his face.
"The report says there was an accident the night Ava was born.""
Sloan immediately shook her head.
"No.""
Everyone turned toward her.
She realized too late that she had reacted too quickly.
Harrison noticed too.
"You knew.""
"No.""
"You knew about this report.""
"I knew there was an accident," she snapped.
"That's all.""
Daniel let out a bitter laugh.
"That's not what you told Ava's mother.""
Sloan's eyes flashed.
"Don't bring her into this.""
"She died believing her daughter was abandoned," Daniel said.
"She spent twenty-three years thinking Harrison chose not to know her.""
Harrison looked between them.
"What accident?""
Nobody answered.
So I took the report from his hands.
The words blurred at first.
Then they became clear.
Twenty-three years earlier, Ava's mother, Rachel Collins, had been driving home from the hospital after giving birth.
Her car had been forced off the road.
The report said the driver claimed it was an accident.
But there was a witness.
A witness who said another vehicle had followed Rachel for several miles.
A witness who described the car.
A black SUV.
Registered to Sloan's family.
My stomach turned.
"Sloan...""
She immediately stepped back.
"That doesn't prove anything.""
Harrison stared at her.
"My wife.""
His voice cracked.
"Did your family hurt Rachel?""
"No!""
The answer came too quickly.
Ava covered her mouth.
Tears filled her eyes.
"I always wondered why my mother was afraid.""
Nobody spoke.
Sloan looked at her.
"Your mother was unstable.""
Ava flinched.
And I felt anger rise inside me.
After all these years, Sloan was still trying to destroy people who couldn't defend themselves.
"Enough," I said.
Everyone looked at me.
"Sloan, you have spent years making everyone believe you were the victim. But every time someone asks a simple question, you attack someone else.""
Her jaw tightened.
"You don't know what you're talking about.""
"Then explain.""
Silence.
The kind of silence that reveals more than words.
Harrison slowly walked away from her.
"I trusted you.""
Sloan's expression changed.
"Harrison, please.""
"No.""
He looked at Ava.
Then back at his wife.
"You knew I had a daughter.""
"I was protecting us.""
"Protecting us?""
His laugh was empty.
"You erased my child.""
Ava looked down.
"I didn't come here for revenge.""
Harrison looked at her.
"Then why?""
She reached into her bag.
"I found another letter.""
Everyone froze.
Another letter.
She pulled out a folded piece of paper.
"My mother wrote this before she died.""
Sloan stepped forward.
"Don't.""
The room went silent.
Because that one word revealed everything.
Ava noticed.
"So you do know what's inside.""
Sloan didn't move.
Harrison took the letter.
His hands shook as he opened it.
He read silently.
Then his expression changed.
"What?""
I moved closer.
"What does it say?""
He looked at me.
"It's addressed to Mom.""
My heart stopped.
"Me?""
He nodded.
The letter was written twenty-three years ago.
A letter from Rachel.
A letter I had never received.
And at the bottom was one sentence that made Harrison's face turn pale.
"She wrote that she tried to contact you the night before she disappeared.""
I frowned.
"That can't be true.""
Harrison looked at the final line.
"It says Sloan intercepted the message.""
The wind stopped.
The entire backyard felt frozen.
Then Sloan whispered something.
May you like
Something so quiet that only I heard it.
"You should have stayed away, Ava.""
