Chương 8
There was no name.
Only a handwritten message.
You want the truth about the marriage.
So did Ethan.
On the back was an address.
And beneath it, a time.
Tonight. 8:00.
Ethan read it over my shoulder.
His expression changed.
"Don't go."
I looked at him.
"Why?"
"Because whoever sent that knows too much."
"And if I don't go?"
He had no answer.
That was the problem.
For the first time since this began, we were standing on the same side of the mystery.
But we were still two people who did not fully trust each other.
And whoever was watching us knew that was our weakness.
I looked at the address written on the card until the numbers blurred.
A part of me wanted to believe it was a trap so obvious that nobody would be foolish enough to walk into it.
Another part of me knew that was exactly why it would work.
People did not usually fall for complicated lies.
They fell for simple ones that offered the thing they wanted most.
And I wanted the truth.
Ethan took the card from my hand.
"No."
I looked at him.
"You already said that."
"And you already ignored me."
"Because you don't get to decide everything."
His jaw tightened.
"I know."
The answer came quietly.
That made it harder to fight with him.
He looked down at the card again.
"I want to go with you."
I studied his face.
"You can barely walk without help."
"I can walk enough."
"That's not the point."
"It is part of the point."
I crossed my arms.
"The other part?"
He looked at me.
"The other part is that I don't trust whoever sent this."
Neither did I.
But I also did not trust sitting inside Thornton Manor waiting for someone else to decide what information I deserved.
"I am going."
Ethan looked frustrated.
"Claire."
"No."
The word surprised both of us.
I had never spoken to him like that.
Not because he was Ethan Thornton.
Not because he was rich.
Not because everyone around him treated his opinions like orders.
Just because I was tired.
Tired of being moved around by people who claimed they were protecting me.
"I spent my entire life watching people make decisions for me because they thought they knew better," I said.
His expression softened.
"I am not doing that anymore."
For several seconds, he said nothing.
Then he nodded.
"Okay."
That was becoming dangerous.
Every time I expected him to push back, he listened.
Every time I prepared to defend myself, he gave me nothing to fight against.
It made trusting him harder.
At seven thirty, we left the estate.
Ethan insisted on coming without security.
Vivian objected immediately.
"Absolutely not."
We stood in the entrance hall while she stared at him.
"You are recovering from a nine-month coma and you are planning to meet someone who may have caused your accident."
"Yes."
"That is not a reason to go."
"It is exactly the reason to go."
Her eyes moved to me.
Then back to him.
"You are putting her at risk."
The words bothered me.
Not because they were false.
Because I knew Vivian was not only talking about the stranger.
She was talking about Ethan.
"She is already at risk," Ethan said.
Vivian became still.
He continued.
"She has been since before I woke up."
For once, Vivian had no immediate answer.
The drive into the city was quiet.
Not uncomfortable.
Just unfamiliar.
For the first time, Ethan and I were not surrounded by people watching us.
No doctors.
No lawyers.
No family members waiting for mistakes.
Just the two of us in the back seat of a car.
After several minutes, Ethan spoke.
"I should have told you about the contract."
I looked out the window.
"Yes."
"I know."
"Why didn't you?"
He was silent.
The kind of silence that meant the answer was difficult.
"Because when I woke up, I was trying to figure out what was real."
I looked at him.
He continued.
"I remembered investigating your father."
"Okay."
"I remembered meeting you."
"Okay."
"I remembered being suspicious."
He looked down.
"But then I woke up and you were the person sitting beside me."
I did not speak.
"I didn't know if my memories were warning me about you or warning me to protect you."
The honesty caught me.
"That sounds confusing."
"It was."
He smiled slightly.
"Still is."
I looked away before he could see that the small smile almost made me smile too.
The address led us to an old office building downtown.
Not abandoned.
Not suspicious.
Just forgotten.
The kind of place with outdated signs and elevators that moved too slowly.
That made it more unsettling.
A dramatic secret meeting would have been easier to understand.
This felt normal.
And normal was where people hid things.
We reached the fourth floor.
The office door was already open.
Inside was a small room with a desk, two chairs, and a woman sitting near the window.
She looked to be in her late fifties.
She did not appear afraid.
She appeared tired.
When she saw Ethan, she stood.
"You really did wake up."
Ethan stopped.
"You know me."
The woman looked at him carefully.
"I knew you before you became the man everyone feared."
Something shifted in Ethan's expression.
"Who are you?"
"My name is Margaret Ellis."
I recognized the name.
Not from my own life.
From the documents.
A former Thornton accountant.
The woman who disappeared after a financial audit six years earlier.
Ethan noticed my reaction.
"You know her?"
"Not personally."
Margaret gave a small, sad smile.
"You know the story they told."
"What story?"
"That I stole money."
Ethan looked at her.
"Did you?"
"No."
The answer came immediately.
Too immediately to be a performance.
"I found something."
"What?"
Margaret looked at the door.
Then back at us.
"Your family was being used to move money."
Ethan's face hardened.
May you like
"My family?"
"Not all of them."
