His voice was thin, shaking with a tension I had never heard in him before.

“I’m safe,” I said. “I’m with Aaron.”

There was a long pause on the other end, nothing but his heavy breathing.

“You need to stop,” Ethan said, his voice cracking.

“Ethan, you don’t understand what they did,” I said.

“I do,” he whispered.

“What do you mean?” I asked, my grip tightening on the phone.

“I found some papers in Cassandra’s desk,” Ethan said.

“Tax documents. Foreign bank statements.”

“She doesn’t know I saw them,” he continued, his voice dropping even lower.

“She thinks I’m asleep downstairs.”

“Ethan, get out of that house,” I said.

“I can’t,” he said, and I could hear the desperation in his chest.

“I love her, Grace. We’re getting married in two months.”

“Her father is killing people, Ethan,” I said, staring at the screen of the laptop.

“The money paying for your wedding is covered in blood.”

“I know,” Ethan sobbed quietly into the line.

“I know, but…” He stopped, the sound of a door clicking open in the background of his call.