Chapter 12 - RICHARD'S LETTER
Ethan read.
Richard admitted pressuring Aaron.
Admitted threatening the business money.
Admitted telling him to continue despite weather.
Then:
I did it because I believed our family was becoming soft. Ethan was drifting. Aaron was supposed to build something both brothers could inherit, and I pushed him to be the man I thought the family needed.
Ethan stopped.
There it was.
Richard’s guilt still required distributing blame.
Aaron died because Richard pushed.
But also because Ethan was “drifting.”
Because the family was “soft.”
Because men needed pressure.
Richard could confess only if confession remained shared.
Then the letter said:
Your father died trying to carry responsibilities that should have belonged to all of us.
Not true.
Aaron had been turning around.
Ethan knew that now.
He called Richard.
“I read your letter.”
Long silence.
Margaret had apparently told him.
Richard said:
“I meant every word.”
“You still lied.”
“About what?”
“Aaron was turning around.”
Richard went quiet.
“You deleted his voicemail.”
Another silence.
“You turned his death into a lesson he rejected.”
Richard’s voice cracked.
“I lost my son.”
“Yes.”
“You think I don’t know what I did?”
“I think you know and built a religion around not saying it plainly.”
Richard shouted:
“I PAID FOR IT EVERY DAY!”
Ethan answered:
“No. Blake paid for it.”
Silence.
“June paid for it.”
More silence.
“Mom paid for it.”
Richard whispered:
“And you?”
Ethan closed his eyes.
“Yes. Me too.”
Then Richard said:
“You want the truth? Fine. Come here tomorrow. Bring Blake.”
Ethan’s stomach tightened.
May you like
“Why?”
“Because if you’re going to destroy the story he grew up with, you can tell him yourself.”
