Ethan stared at his sister.
“Say that again.”
Victoria’s voice came through the phone, low and urgent.
“Get Clara out of there.”
Clara watched his face.
Something had changed.
The confident man who had walked into boardrooms and dismantled negotiations with a smile was gone.
For the first time since she had known him, Ethan looked genuinely frightened.
“Why?” he asked.
Victoria didn’t answer immediately.
“Victoria.”
“You shouldn’t be talking about this on the phone.”
“Then tell me in person.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“Because they’re watching.”
Ethan’s expression hardened.
“Who?”
The line went silent.
“Victoria?”
Nothing.
Then the call ended.
Ethan lowered the phone.
Clara stared at him.
“What did she mean?”
“I don’t know.”
“That sounded convincing.”
“It wasn’t meant to.”
“Ethan.”
He looked at her.
“She said I need to get you out of here.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
Clara folded her arms.
“Then we’re going to find out.”
Ethan shook his head.
“No.”
Her eyebrows rose.
“No?”
“This isn’t something you should be involved in.”
She laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
“That’s an interesting sentence coming from the man whose family apparently spent years interfering with my life.”
“I know.”
“You don’t get to decide whether I’m involved anymore.”
“Clara—”
“You already made that decision seven years ago.”
He flinched.
She stepped closer.
“You decided I didn’t need to know.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
“No.”
Her voice sharpened.
“You were trying to protect yourself.”
Ethan went silent.
Because she was right.
Maybe not completely.
But enough.
Clara picked up the documents from his desk.
“I’m taking these.”
“Fine.”
“And I’m coming with you.”
“To where?”
“To wherever your sister is.”
Ethan stared at her.
“You don’t even know what we’re dealing with.”
“Neither do you.”
“That doesn’t make it safe.”
“Nothing about you has ever been safe for me.”
The words landed harder than she intended.
Ethan looked away.
Clara regretted them immediately.
Not because they weren’t true.
Because she saw the pain they caused.
She softened.
“I’m not trying to punish you.”
“I know.”
“I just need answers.”
Ethan nodded.
“Then we’ll get them.”
He reached for his jacket.
Clara watched him.
“Where are we going?”
“My sister has a private office downtown.”
“Does she?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did she say she couldn’t meet you?”
“I don’t know.”
They walked toward the elevator.
Ethan pressed the button.
The doors opened.
Clara stepped inside.
Ethan followed.
Neither spoke.
The elevator began descending.
Halfway down, Ethan’s phone vibrated.
He looked at the screen.
A message.
No name.
Stop digging.
He stared at it.
Clara noticed.
“What is it?”
“Nothing.”
She snatched the phone from his hand.
He looked at her in surprise.
“Clara.”
She read the message.
Her expression changed.
“Who sent this?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then someone is watching you.”
Ethan took the phone back.
“I’ll handle it.”
“No.”
She looked at him.
“We’ll handle it.”
The elevator doors opened.
They stepped into the lobby.
A black sedan waited outside.
Ethan’s driver stood beside it.
Clara stopped.
“That’s your car?”
“Yes.”
“I’m not getting in.”
Ethan frowned.
“Why?”
“Because if someone is watching you, I’m not getting into the vehicle they know you use.”
He stared at her.
Then smiled faintly.
“What?”
“You’ve changed.”
She narrowed her eyes.
“Don’t.”
“I mean it as a compliment.”
“Save it.”
She walked toward the street.
Ethan followed.
“Where are you going?”
“Taxi.”
“Clara.”
She raised her hand.
A cab stopped.
Ethan looked annoyed.
She smiled.
“See?
I can survive without you.”
Then she got inside.
Ethan stood there for a moment.
Then got into his own car.
Victoria’s office was empty.
Ethan pushed the door open.
“Victoria?”
No answer.
Clara entered behind him.
The office was immaculate.
Too immaculate.
No papers.
No files.
No laptop.
No photographs.
Nothing personal.
Clara looked around.
“Does your sister normally work here?”
“Yes.”
“She doesn’t seem to.”
Ethan walked toward the desk.
A drawer was slightly open.
He pulled it.
Empty.
Another.
Empty.
Then he noticed something on the floor.
A small brass key.
He picked it up.
Clara looked at it.
“What’s that?”
“I don’t know.”
There was a tiny number engraved on it.
317.
Clara’s eyes narrowed.
“Does that mean anything?”
Ethan shook his head.
“No.”
His phone rang.
Victoria.
He answered immediately.
“Where are you?”
Her voice was barely audible.
“Ethan, listen carefully.”
“Where are you?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t know who I can trust.”
Ethan’s jaw tightened.
“You can trust me.”
“I know.”
“Then tell me.”
“I need you to listen.”
He waited.
“Your father wasn’t the only person involved.”
Clara’s eyes met Ethan’s.
“Who else?”
Victoria breathed slowly.
“Someone close to you.”
Ethan’s face hardened.
“Who?”
“I can’t say.”
“Victoria.”
“I’ve already said too much.”
“What happened that night?”
Silence.
Then Victoria whispered:
“Ethan, your father didn’t send you to the hospital.”
Ethan froze.
“What?”
“He didn’t.”
“Then who did?”
“I don’t know.”
“You’re lying.”
“No.”
“Victoria, I was called because Dad collapsed.”
“Yes.”
“I went to the hospital.”
“Yes.”
“So what are you saying?”
Her voice trembled.
“I was the one who called you.”
Ethan went completely still.
Clara’s eyes widened.
“You?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Dad told me to.”
Ethan’s face went pale.
“What did he tell you?”
Victoria’s breathing became uneven.
“He told me to keep you away from Clara.”
Clara’s heart stopped.
Ethan gripped the phone.
“What exactly did he say?”
“He said if you reached Clara that night, everything would fall apart.”
“What would fall apart?”
“I don’t know.”
“You knew.”
“I suspected.”
“Victoria!”
She began crying.
“I was twenty-eight, Ethan.
I was scared.
Dad had controlled my life for years.
I thought he was protecting you.”
“You lied to me.”
“I know.”
“You lied to me for seven years.”
“I know.”
“And Clara?”
“I didn’t know what would happen.”
Ethan’s voice became cold.
“You knew I was going to propose.”
“Yes.”
“You knew where I was supposed to be.”
“Yes.”
“You knew Clara was waiting.”
Victoria said nothing.
Ethan closed his eyes.
A terrible realization was forming.
“Did you stop me from going to her?”
“I didn’t.”
“Then who did?”
Victoria’s silence was the answer.
“Victoria.”
“I have to go.”
“Don’t you dare—”
The line disconnected.
Ethan lowered the phone.
Clara was staring at him.
“You said your father collapsed at 8:37.”
“Yes.”
“Who called you?”
Ethan looked at her.
“Victoria.”
Clara’s blood ran cold.
“She was the one who told you.”
“Yes.”
“And she knew you were going to propose.”
“Yes.”
“Then maybe…”
Clara stopped.
Ethan finished the thought.
“Maybe the hospital emergency wasn’t the only reason I never reached you.”
They stood in silence.
Seven years of certainty collapsed in less than five minutes.
Clara walked toward the window.
“What happened to your father?”
“He recovered.”
“And Victoria?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then we need to find her.”
“Yes.”
A sound came from the hallway.
Both turned.
Footsteps.
Someone was approaching.
Ethan moved instinctively in front of Clara.
The office door opened.
A man stepped inside.
Ethan recognized him.
Marcus Bennett.
He looked from Ethan to Clara.
Then at the empty office.
“Where’s Victoria?”
“We don’t know,” Ethan said.
Marcus closed the door behind him.
“Then we have a problem.”
Clara frowned.
“What?”
Marcus looked at Ethan.
“Because Victoria called me twenty minutes ago.”
Ethan’s face tightened.
“What did she say?”
Marcus swallowed.
“She told me to find you before someone else does.”
“Someone else?”
Marcus nodded.
Then looked at Clara.
“She said the person who destroyed your relationship seven years ago…”
He paused.
“…wasn’t Richard Calloway.”
Clara’s heart pounded.
“Then who was it?”
Marcus reached into his coat.
He pulled out a photograph.
A photograph of three people standing outside the hospital seven years ago.
Richard Calloway.
Victoria.
And a third person.
Clara stared at the image.
She didn’t recognize the man.
Ethan did.
His face drained of color.
“No.”
Clara looked at him.
“Who is that?”
Ethan didn’t answer.
Marcus did.
“His name is Gabriel Shaw.”
Clara frowned.
“Who is Gabriel Shaw?”
Ethan stared at the photograph.
His voice was barely audible.
“He was my father’s private investigator.”
Marcus nodded.
“And he disappeared the same night you left.”
Clara looked between them.
“Why would a private investigator be at the hospital?”
Nobody answered.
Then Marcus turned the photograph over.
There was a handwritten message on the back.
She was never supposed to see him.
Clara felt a chill run down her spine.
“See who?”
Marcus looked at Ethan.
Ethan looked at Clara.
And for the first time, something in his eyes frightened her.
Not because he was angry.
Because he looked like a man who had just remembered something he desperately wished he hadn’t.
“I think,” Ethan said slowly, “my father wasn’t trying to stop me from marrying you.”
Clara’s voice was barely a whisper.
“Then what was he trying to stop?”
Ethan looked at the photograph again.
“I think he was trying to stop you from finding out who I really am.”