Nobody spoke.
The silence became unbearable.
I watched Ethan’s face carefully.
And I realized something.
He wasn’t surprised that Vincent was questioning him.
He was surprised that Vincent was questioning him in front of me.
For seven months, Ethan had controlled the story.
He had been the voice in Vincent’s ear.
The person who gave him every piece of “evidence.”
And now the story was falling apart.
“Boss,” Ethan said.
“You’re letting your emotions cloud your judgment.”
Vincent’s expression changed.
That sentence.
That exact sentence.
It was the same thing everyone said whenever they wanted him to ignore me.
I stepped forward.
“Ask him about the hospital records.”
Both men looked at me.
Ethan’s face changed instantly.
Only for a second.
But I saw it.
Fear.
“What hospital records?” Vincent asked.
I looked directly at Ethan.
“The ones that prove someone used my identity before the attack.”
Ethan said nothing.
Vincent turned toward him.
“Explain.”
Ethan shook his head.
“She’s manipulating you.”
“No.”
Vincent’s voice was quiet.
But dangerous.
“Answer the question.”
The room went silent.
I watched the man I once loved slowly realize something terrifying.
The person who had been helping him hunt me…
had never actually been trying to find me.
He had been trying to control what Vincent believed.
Seven months earlier, the night everything changed, I remembered every detail.
I remembered leaving St. Catherine Medical Center after my shift.
I remembered receiving a message from Vincent’s private number.
A message saying:
I know who betrayed us. Meet me alone.
I thought it was from him.
I trusted it.
That was my mistake.
Because when I arrived at the location, Vincent wasn’t there.
Ethan was.
And behind him were two men I had never seen before.
That was the last moment I was free.
They took my phone.
They took my identification.
They forced me to record messages I never wrote.
They built a fake story piece by piece.
And when I finally escaped, I was already carrying a secret I couldn’t tell anyone.
My baby.
Vincent’s baby.
But by then, nobody would have believed me.
Not even him.
“I tried to tell you,” I whispered.
Vincent looked at me.
“I know.”
The words surprised me.
“You believe me?”
He looked away.
