Chapter 9 – The Woman Before Ava
Chapter 9 – The Woman Before Ava
The old VHS tape felt strangely heavy in Ethan's hands.
Dust coated the plastic case.
The handwritten label—Play only if you begin doubting your mother—looked unmistakably like his father's handwriting.
Richard Carter had died six years earlier from what everyone believed was a sudden heart attack.
Until this moment, Ethan had never questioned that story.
Now...
He questioned everything.
He carried the tape into his father's old study.
Nothing in the room had changed since the funeral.
The same walnut desk.
The same leather chair.
The same antique globe Richard had spun whenever he needed to think.
Margaret had insisted the room remain untouched.
"A memorial," she had called it.
Now Ethan wondered if it had been preserved for an entirely different reason.
After searching through a cabinet, he found an old VHS player.
It took nearly fifteen minutes to connect it to the television.
Finally...
He pressed PLAY.
Static filled the screen.
Then his father's face appeared.
Richard looked older than Ethan remembered.
More tired.
His eyes carried a sadness Ethan had never noticed as a son.
"If you're watching this..."
Richard said quietly,
"...then something has finally made you question your mother."
He sighed heavily.
"I prayed this day would never come."
Ethan leaned closer.
His father's voice was calm.
Measured.
Almost resigned.
"Margaret isn't evil in the way people imagine."
"She wasn't born cruel."
"She became someone who believed control was love."
The image flickered.
"I stayed because I thought I could protect you."
"I failed."
Richard paused before continuing.
"If she's hurting Ava..."
"...then history is repeating itself."
Ethan froze.
History?
"What history?" he whispered.
As if his father could hear him.
Richard lowered his eyes.
"There was another woman."
The room seemed to stop breathing.
"Long before Ava."
"Long before you married."
"There was someone named Isabelle."
At St. Vincent Medical Center...
Detective Sarah Collins arrived just as Ava finished her physical therapy session.
Ethan had called moments earlier.
"I found something."
"What kind of something?"
"My father left a recording."
Sarah immediately came.
Now the three of them watched the tape together.
Richard continued speaking.
"Her name was Isabelle Morgan."
"She worked at Carter Industries."
"She was brilliant."
"The youngest financial director we'd ever hired."
Richard smiled faintly.
"You would've liked her."
"Margaret didn't."
The screen briefly distorted.
When the image stabilized, Richard looked even more serious.
"Isabelle wasn't my mistress."
"I need you to understand that."
"Margaret believed she was."
"Nothing I ever said changed her mind."
Sarah quietly wrote the name into her notebook.
"Isabelle Morgan."
She had never heard it before.
Richard continued.
"Margaret became convinced Isabelle wanted our family."
"Our wealth."
"Our company."
"She began watching her."
"Following her."
"Investigating her."
"And eventually..."
"...destroying her."
The tape ended abruptly.
There was no explanation.
Only static.
Then darkness.
Nobody spoke.
Finally Ava asked,
"Who was Isabelle?"
Sarah already had her phone out.
"I'm going to find out."
Within an hour, investigators located old employment records.
Isabelle Morgan.
Age thirty-two.
Chief Financial Officer.
Employed twelve years earlier.
Resigned unexpectedly.
No forwarding address.
No further employment history.
Almost as though she had disappeared.
Officer Daniel Ruiz entered Collins' office carrying another folder.
"I found something."
"What?"
"A lawsuit."
He placed yellowed court documents onto the desk.
Isabelle Morgan had once sued Carter Industries.
The case had been withdrawn only six weeks later.
Reason:
Confidential settlement.
Sarah frowned.
"What was the lawsuit about?"
Daniel opened the first page.
"Workplace harassment."
Ethan felt sick.
"My mother..."
Sarah looked up.
"We don't know the details yet."
"But we're going to."
The confidential settlement agreement took longer to recover.
Most records had been sealed.
Fortunately...
Richard Carter's attorney had retained archived copies.
The elderly lawyer arrived that afternoon.
"My name is Thomas Greene."
"I represented Richard for over thirty years."
He looked exhausted.
"I wondered how long it would take."
Sarah frowned.
"You expected this?"
Thomas nodded sadly.
"Richard wanted the truth protected."
"Not hidden forever."
He opened a worn leather briefcase.
Inside rested another envelope.
This one addressed simply:
If Isabelle is ever mentioned.
Thomas handed it to Ethan.
"Your father instructed me to deliver this only if someone discovered the first tape."
Ethan slowly opened it.
Inside was a letter.
Ethan,
If you've reached this letter, your mother has finally crossed a line I could no longer prevent.
Isabelle wasn't my affair. She was my warning.
She discovered financial irregularities inside our charitable foundation. She believed someone was using donations for personal influence.
She intended to expose everything.
Margaret convinced the board Isabelle was mentally unstable.
She spread rumors.
She isolated her.
She destroyed her reputation.
By the time Isabelle resigned, no one believed a word she said.
Years later... every allegation proved true.
Ava covered her mouth.
"My God..."
Thomas nodded.
"It nearly destroyed her."
"What happened afterward?"
Thomas looked away.
"No one knows."
"She disappeared."
Sarah immediately corrected him.
"Someone knows."
That evening...
Investigators reopened Isabelle Morgan's file.
The search led them to a quiet coastal town nearly four hundred miles away.
A woman matching Isabelle's description had been living there under her maiden name.
She now owned a small bookstore.
No interviews.
No public appearances.
No connection to finance.
Sarah made the drive herself.
The bookstore stood on a peaceful corner overlooking the ocean.
Wind chimes swayed gently above the entrance.
Inside...
Books lined every wall.
Behind the counter stood a silver-haired woman reading a novel.
She looked up as the bell rang.
"Can I help you?"
Sarah studied her carefully.
Time had changed her appearance.
But not completely.
"Are you Isabelle Morgan?"
The woman's smile disappeared.
"I haven't used that name in years."
"I'm Detective Sarah Collins."
"I'm investigating Margaret Carter."
The book slipped from Isabelle's hands.
Several minutes later...
They sat together in a quiet office upstairs.
Sarah explained everything.
The medication.
The forged documents.
The accident.
Ava.
Margaret.
Ethan.
Isabelle listened without interrupting.
When Sarah finished...
The older woman quietly laughed.
Not with amusement.
With recognition.
"I always knew she'd do it again."
Sarah leaned forward.
"What happened to you?"
Isabelle looked out the window toward the sea.
"I found accounting fraud."
"Nothing enormous."
"But enough to expose Margaret's manipulation of charitable donations."
"I confronted Richard."
"He believed me."
"He promised an internal investigation."
Sarah nodded.
"Then?"
"Margaret found out."
Isabelle closed her eyes.
"Within a month..."
"I became the unstable woman."
"My emails disappeared."
"My reports were rewritten."
"My coworkers stopped speaking to me."
"My doctor suddenly diagnosed stress-induced paranoia."
Sarah frowned.
"Your doctor?"
"The same one treating Ava."
Dr. Michael Harrison.
Sarah felt her pulse quicken.
"He did this before."
"Yes."
"He prescribed medication I didn't need."
"Made me doubt myself."
"Made everyone else doubt me."
"I stopped trusting my own memory."
It was the same pattern.
The exact same pattern.
Years before Ava.
Margaret had rehearsed the scheme.
Isabelle opened an old desk drawer.
"I kept one thing."
She removed a cassette recorder.
"I learned to document everything."
Sarah looked at it in disbelief.
"You have recordings?"
Isabelle nodded.
"I never stopped waiting for someone to ask."
Back in the city...
Margaret stood alone inside her penthouse.
She poured herself a glass of wine.
For the first time in weeks...
Her hands shook.
Her attorney entered quietly.
"They found Isabelle."
Margaret slowly looked up.
Her face lost all color.
"No."
"I'm afraid so."
"And she's agreed to cooperate."
Margaret closed her eyes.
Not in panic.
In disappointment.
She whispered to herself.
"I should have finished that story..."
May you like
"...when I had the chance."
End of Chapter 9
