Olivia chews her lip. He would have. That’s the Ethan she knew, not the guy she thought he was when she believed he cheated on her with her sister. He also isn’t the great love she once believed he was and lost.
He lays a flat hand on his chest and taps his fingers. “I, uh . . . I overheard you and Theo talking. Sorry, the window was open. You were talking about your dad and it reminded me of something. Lily was scared.”
“Of my dad?” Fresh horror seeps into her like mist under a door. She tried to get Blaze to convince her she’s wrong about Dwight. But the facts are adding up against him, flashing light on a man she thought she knew.
“She worried what he’d do to the guy who . . .” He rolls his hand. “The father. That could explain why she left the name blank on the birth certificate.”
Olivia digs her fingers under the long hair covering her neck and scratches her scalp. Dwight really didn’t know who Josh’s father was.
“Anything else?”
He nods. “I once noticed bruises on her legs. Another time she winced like her back was hurt. She got pissed at me for helping her up into the truck. She didn’t want me to notice. She was in pain.”
Anger flares brighter than stadium lights. Was her dad beating Lily? “Jesus, Ethan. Why didn’t you tell me back then?”
He has the gall to look guilty. “You’re right. I should have.” He splays his hands. “She swore Dwight wasn’t hurting her. But she was doing something that scraped up her legs.”
“Like what? Sneaking out her window at night to visit her mystery boyfriend?”
As she says it, Olivia realizes it’s plausible. There were plenty of nights she snuck out her window to meet Blaze at their pier. There was a juniper bush under her window. She wore jeans even during the summer months just so the shrub wouldn’t tear up her calves.
Ethan shrugs and she scowls, more irritated with herself than him. If she’d let Ethan more fully into her heart, he would have come to her about Lily. Lily would have come to her.
She had, she reminds herself.
Guilt makes another pass through her like a car circling the block for a perfect parking spot, looking for a place to settle in.
Ethan taps the curb with the toe of his trail shoes before meeting her eyes. “The police questioned me after Lily ran away. That’s how I found out she did. I would have called you, but I felt somewhat responsible for her leaving.”
Not as much as Olivia did. If anyone’s to blame, it’s her. But Ethan’s remark reminds her she’d been lied to.
“Did my dad ever contact you after we broke up?” If Dwight believed Ethan was the father, he would have confronted him.
He shakes his head. “Only the police.”
Olivia stares at him as the last bit of hope she had about her dad burns out. He lied to her, not Lily. She cups a hand over her mouth and closes her eyes.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m not sure,” she murmurs, looking back at the house where Josh is safe inside. For now. Dwight returns in two days. Two days to find Lily or she and Josh will have to leave. Dwight has been known to show up unannounced, and he will show up. If he’s capable of lying to her about Ethan, whom he knew she loved at the time, and can push Josh hard enough to cause a brain bleed, who knows what he’ll do when he realizes Josh is here? Who knows what he’s already done to Lily? Dwight is dangerous. Unpredictable. She doesn’t know this man.
Ethan touches her arm and she flinches. His expression is sympathetic. “I wish I knew more.”
So did she. But what he did tell her helped. He confirmed she can’t trust her dad. He reaffirmed Lily needs her, more than she ever has before.
“I leave for Malta in the morning, but I’ll reach out if I think of anything else.”
She nods, biting her bottom lip to stop it from trembling.
“Will you be okay?”
“Yeah.” She pushes her hair off her face and plugs in her smile, even though she’s screaming inside. “Yeah, I’ll be fine.”
CHAPTER 23
Day 5
Olivia pushes her shades up her nose and crouches in her car across the street and two houses up from her parents’. Lucas texted this morning that Charlotte doesn’t know Lily’s address. His next text told her to stop asking Mom about their sister. She’s emotional. Lily’s a sensitive subject and Olivia’s stressing her out. Which is why Olivia finds herself hiding in her car as if she’s casing the neighborhood. She needs to get inside Dwight’s office to find Lily’s address without Charlotte around. She also wants to search for the photos Dwight said he had of Lily and Ethan to see if she can tell who Josh’s father might be, as well as review yesterday’s surveillance tape. How visible is Josh’s face? The recordings autodelete after six days, but Charlotte mentioned Dwight does watch them, and that’s a chance Olivia won’t take. He’ll be home tomorrow.
This time she left Josh at home with Amber.
Through the rearview and side mirrors, Olivia watches Charlotte load her Mercedes trunk with A-frame signs: OPEN HOUSE. She adds a bag of flyers and a plastic container of freshly baked cookies to the back seat before settling into the driver’s seat. For a few minutes, she touches up her mascara and lipstick, then reverses out of the driveway. Olivia waits until her mom turns the corner before she pulls into the drive Charlotte just vacated.
She lets herself in through the unlocked front door, grateful Charlotte believes a gated community and security cameras keep her safe and home invaders out. The window hasn’t been replaced, but is boarded up. She wonders if Charlotte is still steamed about the damage. She also wonders how often she thought about her youngest daughter, out in the world, alone with an infant. How devastating that must have been for her. No wonder Charlotte avoids talking about Lily. Her heartache must be unbearable.
Granted, she wanted Lily to put Josh up for adoption, but she had Lily’s best interests in mind. Charlotte never finished college. She met and married Dwight. Olivia suspects Charlotte has resented that decision. She pushed for her children to earn degrees. It wasn’t a question that they would. Olivia is the only one of the three who achieved that milestone. Olivia surmises Charlotte took it personally when Lily ran away. She took with her Charlotte’s hopes and dreams for her artistically talented, athletically inclined daughter.
The house smells of the cookies Charlotte just baked, melted chocolate chips and butter. Even though Olivia has plenty of time—Charlotte isn’t expected to return until after 5:00 p.m.—she rushes to Dwight’s office, feeling sick to her stomach. She’s let herself in before, has so many fond memories of watching her dad work in his room, but she’s never invaded his personal space under false pretenses, especially now that she suspects of him what she does.
She drops her hobo purse on a chair and rounds his desk. He’s a neat freak, so she should be able to locate what she needs quickly. Still, her hands shake when she boots up Dwight’s computer. Dishonesty makes her physically ill. For once, she’s the betrayer.
“Hurry, hurry,” she whispers to the room. His computer is an old Dell, and the unit takes its sweet time waking up. She rubs her hands together, looking around the spartan office she spent many hours in while growing up. When she was a kid, she’d do her homework on the floor while Dwight made his late afternoon calls. Her gaze latches on to his Rolodex. He still uses that? She rotates the wheel, landing on C. The front door slams and she almost falls out of the chair.