Page 70 of The Restaurant on Plum Island
“My room is fine!” Bailey hissed. “You checked it earlier.”
“That was five hours ago, and you’ve been out since,” the voice Ethan realized must be Brock Lancaster argued.
“Fine!” Bailey relented. “Just be quick and don’t disturb me. I’m on a call.” She popped back on the screen. “Sorry about that.”
“Are you talking to your brother?” Brock asked her.
“That is none of your business,” Bailey told him, her voice dripping with ice.
Brock’s handsome face appeared on the screen. “Hi, Ethan?” His eyes widened when he saw both of Bailey’s older brothers staring at him. “Ah, you’re both there.” He looked at Ethan. “You must be Ethan, which would make you Alex.” To their surprise, he got them right on the first go. “I’m Brock Lancaster. I did try to contact you, Ethan, to introduce myself when I got here.”
“Hi, Brock. It’s good to finally meet you,” Ethan told him. “Thank you for getting to Egypt on such short notice to look after our sister.”
Brock nodded. “It wasn’t a problem,” he assured Ethan. “I’ll leave you to your call.” With that, he disappeared.
“Arrogant idiot!” Bailey seethed. “You do know that I’m mad at you, Ethan. If I wanted a watchdog, I’d buy a German Shepherd.”
“Don’t break this bodyguard, please, Bails,” Ethan said. “Now, let’s get back to why I’m here.”
“Wait.” Bailey picked up the invisible truth ball and passed it to Ethan through the screen. “There you go.”
“Okay, then!” Ethan took a deep breath before confessing how he’d put their family under investigation. Then he went on to tell them the entire story, starting with three years ago, up to the conversation he’d had with Trinity a few minutes ago. By the time he was finished, Bailey and Alex were gaping at him in disbelief.
“You’re investigating us?” Bailey spluttered. “You should’ve just come to me. I did that three years ago when Paul dragged you back into court over Beth’s death.”
“You what?” Alex’s brows rose as he looked at his sister. “What is up with the two of you?” He glanced from Bailey to Alex. “And what is the point of that invisible truth ball if none of us even believe the other?” He rubbed his chin. “Ethan, I’m sorry I impersonated you three years ago and fired Carly.”
“How many other times have you done that?” Ethan asked him.
“Impersonated you and fired Carly?” Alex looked at him innocently.
“You know what I mean!” Ethan hissed frustratedly.
“I could ask you the same thing,” Alex looked at Ethan accusingly. “And I could probably tell you the amount of times you haveimpersonated me. But unlike you, I know that you’d only do that to protect or help me.”
“Alex, how was firing Carly and ripping our growing relationship apart helping me?” Ethan fumed. “Do you even know what you did?”
“I saved you from a malicious gold digger who was going to rip your heart out,” Alex said. “You’d already had a relationship that wasn’t built on the truth from the get-go, and look how that ended.”
“I’m siding with Alex here, Ethan,” Bailey told him. “Beth hid her past and her former addiction. If you’d have known—“ She swallowed. “If we’d all have known, maybe Beth would still be alive, and you wouldn’t have nearly gone to jail for her death. Your daughter wouldn’t be haunted by her mother’s death.”
“I hear what you’re both saying.” Ethan turned to Alex and handed him the invisible truth ball. “Here, take this. I have some questions for you.”
“Okay.” Alex took the ball. His eyes met Ethan’s as he waited. “Fire away. But before you do, I want you to know that I didn’t need a ball of truth to answer your questions. All you needed to do was ask rather than accuse, and I’d gladly have answered.”
”Ididask!“ Ethan raked his hand through his hair. “You refused to answer.”
“Whoa!” Bailey intervened. “Ethan, you know I love you, but I’m with Alex on this one. The way you ask questions often sounds accusatory, as if you’re not really seeking an answer but rather confirming a suspicion.”
“Okay!” Ethan held his hands up. “I’m sorry. I’ll try asking without being judgy.”
“What do you want to know?” Alex shrugged.
“What has Carly ever done to you that would make you say those things about her?” Ethan kept eye contact with his brother. “I can’t believe you’d listen to gossip and ruin someone’s career over it like you did.”
“I didn’t listen to gossip.” Alex shook his head, balanced the invisible ball in one hand, and reached for his phone, scrolling through it. “I was sent photos and a voice clip of Stella Hart and Parker Drew talking at the studio. I don’t think they knew their mics were still on.”
Ethan’s eyes widened, and his heart slammed into his chest as Alex hit play on the clip.
