The Empty Chair
Chapter 10 - The Empty Chair
For three days, Lily didn't answer Ethan's calls.
He returned to the seaside café alone.
The same table was empty.
The photograph sat in front of him.
Ray joined him.
"You can't give up."
"I'm not giving up."
"Looks like it."
Ethan looked toward the ocean.
"I'm waiting."
Ray didn't understand.
Ethan explained that his entire life, people had decided what Lily needed without listening to her.
Dominic decided she didn't need a father.
Sarah decided she shouldn't disrupt Ethan's new life.
Now Ethan refused to make the same mistake.
"If she wants me gone, I'll go."
"And if she doesn't?"
"Then I'll be there."
That evening, Ethan received a text.
Not from Lily.
From Dominic.
COME ALONE.
There was an address beneath it.
Ethan showed Ray.
"Don't go."
Ethan stood.
"For twenty-four years, that man controlled the story."
He put the photograph in his jacket.
"Tonight, he tells me the truth."
What Ethan didn't know was that Lily had received the same message.
May you like
And Dominic had told her not to bring Ethan.
By the time Ethan arrived at the mansion, Lily's car was already parked outside.
