“I was checking something.
Olivia doesn’t understand vehicles.
She sees one thing on a camera and suddenly everyone thinks—”
“They inspected the SUV,” the officer interrupted.
Ethan stopped talking.
The officer’s expression remained neutral.
“There is deliberate damage to the braking system.
The vehicle is being secured as evidence.
Your sister and her boyfriend are unharmed.”
My chest loosened for the first time since Tiffany had left the driveway.
Unharmed.
Whatever else happened, she was alive.
Ethan closed his eyes.
It was a tiny reaction.
But everyone saw it.
Relief would have looked one way.
His looked different.
It looked like a man realizing the trap had failed.
Then Tiffany came through the front door.
An officer followed behind her.
Her mascara had streaked beneath one eye.
She wasn’t smug anymore.
She walked directly toward Ethan.
“Did you know?”
He said nothing.
“Ethan, did you know something was wrong with that car when you let me take it?”
Sharon stepped between them.
“Tiffany, honey—”
“No, Mom.”
Tiffany pointed at her brother.
“He tried to stop me from taking it.
Remember? He said I should take the Honda.”
Then she looked at me.
Her face changed as the morning replayed itself in her mind.
“You knew too.”
“Yes.”
Her eyes widened.
“And you gave me the keys?”
The room went still.
I understood her anger.
I deserved that question.
“I had already contacted the police,” I said.
“They were close enough to stop the SUV before you reached the dangerous roads.
I would never have let you reach the mountains.”
Tiffany stared at me.
“Why?”
“Because your brother had spent the whole morning pushing me toward that vehicle.
When you demanded it instead, I needed to see whether he would finally tell the truth to protect you.”
I looked at Ethan.
“He didn’t.”
Tiffany turned slowly toward him.
That sentence hurt him more than anything I could have said about money.
Because Tiffany knew her brother.
She knew how loudly he claimed to love his family.
And now she knew he had stood in the kitchen watching her take a vehicle he believed could kill its driver rather than confess what he had done.
“You let me leave,” she whispered.
