Chapter 3

I hadn't even locked my door before the landlord arrived with two large men blocking the entrance.

"Ethan Cole, someone offered ten times the rent. Get your stuff and get out. Now."

Before I could process it, I was standing on the sidewalk.

My belongings were thrown out after me.

It had started raining. A downpour.

The prosthetic throbbed in the cold water.

A Maybach rolled up and drenched me in a wave of muddy runoff.

"Look at that. The great attorney, brought this low." Derek exhaled a lazy ring of smoke. "You really are an embarrassment, Ethan."

Vivian jumped out and held an umbrella over my head.

"Ethan, stop fighting it. One apology. That's all."

"I'll give you a job. I'll sort out your housing. Why do you keep driving yourself into a corner like this?"

I pressed my palm to the wet ground and forced myself upright.

"I don't need any of it. So could you two please get the hell away from me?"

Vivian flinched.

"Ethan. When you went to prison, Derek was the only one who was there for me. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't have made it through."

"I'm trying to help you. Why do you have to act like a wounded animal?"

"Even if you don't want my help — at least think about your parents. They've been looking for you."

As if on cue, two figures came running from the far end of the street.

My parents. No umbrella. Rushing straight toward me.

But the first thing they did when they reached me was each raise a hand and slap me across the face.

"How dare you show yourself out here! You are no son of ours!"

"Derek is our son now — you rapist. You should have rotted in that cell."

All this time, I hadn't dared visit them. I was afraid the rumors had reached them, afraid they were being hurt by the talk.

I hadn't imagined they'd already adopted Derek as their own.

Derek hurried over and guided my parents toward the car.

"Mom, Dad — Ethan still hasn't come to terms with what he did. He won't even apologize to the victim."

"Let's not worry about him. With me and Vivian running the firm, you two can retire in peace."

My parents looked at me with withering contempt.

"Ethan. If Derek hadn't been managing the firm all these years, our life's work would've been gone."

"If you still won't take responsibility, then you're on your own from here."

The Maybach pulled away.

I walked alone into the dark. Even my own parents didn't believe me. What a failure I'd made of being alive.

But to survive, I made my way to a construction site and asked for labor work.

The foreman took one look at my prosthetic and shook his head.

"No. We don't take injured workers. Liability."

I grabbed his arm.

"I'm strong. Half wages. Just feed me."

The foreman was about to shove me off when a cleaning woman nearby suddenly let out a sharp sound.

"You... are you Mr. Cole?"

I froze. I studied the woman.

She grabbed my arm and pulled me around the corner, glancing left and right first.

"Mr. Cole, I'm so sorry. Five years ago, Derek paid me a hundred thousand dollars to break the camera."

"But I secretly made a recording. The conversation between him and Sophie — where they planned the whole setup — it's all there."

"My conscience wouldn't let me destroy it. Please don't tell anyone it came from me."

That night, I held the voice recorder in my hands.

The tears came without warning.

So that was how it was.

Five years behind bars. A missing leg. A life in pieces.

And now, finally — the truth.