Chapter 13 - I STOPPED BEING AFRAID
Luka wanted to handle Ethan.
My father would have wanted the same thing.
For years, men had been making decisions about my life because they believed they were protecting me.
I was done allowing it.
“I’m going.”
Luka stared at me.
“No.”
“I knew you’d say that.”
“Ethan wants you alone.”
“Which means he expects me to be afraid.”
“You should be.”
“I am.”
I looked directly at Luka.
“But I’m going anyway.”
Mara helped design the plan.
The M-17 folder Ethan demanded would contain copies.
The originals remained in federal custody.
A microphone was sewn into my jacket.
Luka’s team would stay two blocks away unless I gave the signal.
The meeting location was an abandoned Mercer research building.
The same facility where Hannah had once worked.
I entered through the front doors carrying the folder.
Ethan waited inside the lobby.
My father sat in a chair nearby.
His hands were tied.
He had blood on his lip but was conscious.
“Claire.”
Dad warned.
“Leave.”
Ethan smiled.
“You see?”
“He’s still trying to control you.”
I looked at my husband.
No.
My former husband.
The man before me looked nothing like the man I had loved.
“Release him.”
“Give me the file.”
I held it up.
“What are you going to do?”
“Destroy it.”
“You can’t destroy DNA.”
His expression changed.
“So Moretti told you.”
“He told me less than you did.”
Ethan’s eyes narrowed.
I continued.
“You knew you were M-17 when you married me.”
“Yes.”
The admission hurt even though I already knew it.
“Did you ever love me?”
For the first time, Ethan hesitated.
“Yes.”
I almost laughed.
“You investigated me before our first date.”
“I was supposed to find your father’s evidence.”
“And then?”
“I fell in love with you.”
“People who love someone don’t steal their trust.”
His jaw tightened.
“I needed control.”
“You always need control.”
“I needed protection.”
“From what?”
“My father.”
Ethan looked toward Thomas.
“Your father thinks Richard Mercer is the monster.”
“He is.”
“But Richard created me.”
“He raised me knowing I was stolen.”
“He taught me what happened to people who threatened the Mercer name.”
My voice softened.
“You could have walked away.”
Ethan’s eyes flashed.
“Walk away to what?”
“Being nobody?”
“There it is.”
I whispered.
He stared at me.
“You chose the name.”
“You chose the money.”
“You chose the lies.”
Ethan stepped closer.
“And you chose Moretti.”
“No.”
“I chose myself.”
Then a door opened behind him.
Vanessa stepped into the lobby.
Ethan turned.
His face went white.
She held the hard drive.
“I found Mom’s recording.”
Ethan whispered,
“Vanessa.”
She looked at him with tears in her eyes.
“You let me spend seventeen years believing her death was an accident.”
Then she pressed play.
Richard Mercer’s voice echoed through the empty building.
May you like
And Ethan suddenly realized every word was being recorded.
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