Chapter 2
I was unconscious for nine days.
That part was real.
The crash fractured two ribs, dislocated my shoulder and opened a wound above my temple that required nineteen stitches.
I remembered none of the first week.
Then I remembered Ethan.
Day ten.
Two in the morning.
The room dark.
My son's hand inside mine.
“Mom?”
I had opened my eyes.
Only slightly.
He gasped.
I put one finger against my lips.
Dr. Nathan Mercer was asleep in the chair beside the window.
My family doctor.
My father's doctor before he became mine.
I whispered:
“Get Dr. Mercer.”
Ethan woke him.
Nathan nearly shouted when he saw me.
I stopped him.
“No one knows.”
He frowned.
“Emily—”
“No one.”
That was when his face told me something was wrong.
Not medically.
Something else.
“What?”
Nathan hesitated.
“Ryan has been asking me to keep you heavily sedated.”
My pulse changed.
“Why?”
“He says agitation could kill you.”
“Could it?”
“No.”
Simple.
Ugly.
Nathan continued.
“Claire keeps asking when you can be declared unable to resume command.”
I stared.
Then I asked the question that changed everything.
“Was the crash mechanical?”
Nathan's expression tightened.
“The report from your security garage said brake failure.”
I closed my eyes.
Not accident.
Not yet proven.
Enough to be suspicious.
So I stayed unconscious.
Publicly.
Nathan reduced the sedatives.
Ethan visited each night.
On the second night I whispered instructions into his ear.
“If Daddy and Aunt Claire talk when they think I'm sleeping…”
He stared at me.
I handed him the phone.
“Press this red circle.”
“Recording?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
I looked at my four-year-old son.
Because Daddy might have tried to kill Mommy was not a sentence he deserved.
So I said:
“Because Mommy needs help remembering.”
He nodded.
That was enough for him.
Now, two days later, Ryan was sitting on the hospital floor with blood at the corner of his mouth.
Claire had untangled herself from the privacy screen.
And both finally understood why Ethan had a phone.
Ryan laughed bitterly.
“You used our son.”
I stared at him.
“You shoved him across a hospital room.”
“He stole private conversations.”
“He's four.”
Claire sneered.
“There.”
I turned.
She stood.
Hair loose.
Diamond earring missing.
Still somehow arrogant.
“The poor little baby defense.”
I stared.
She pointed toward Ethan.
“You've raised him to believe crying makes everyone stop.”
Ethan moved closer to me.
Claire saw it.
Smiled.
“You see?”
My hands tightened.
“Stop talking to him.”
“Oh, please.”
She rolled her eyes.
“He isn't made of glass.”
“No.”
I looked at the mark forming around his wrist from where she'd grabbed him.
“But you're finished touching him.”
Ryan stood.
“You don't get to say who's finished.”
I almost smiled.
“My ring.”
He glanced at my chest.
The Carter signet was still there.
I picked it up.
Slid it onto my finger.
Ryan's face tightened.
“While you slept, the family adapted.”
“That quickly?”
“You were gone.”
“Twelve days.”
“Twelve days without leadership.”
I stared.
He continued.
“I stepped in.”
“Acting underboss.”
“Acting head.”
There.
A promotion he had apparently given himself.
Claire smiled.
“People need someone conscious, Emily.”
I looked at her.
“Who confirmed him?”
Neither answered.
I glanced at Ethan's phone.
Then pressed the recording timeline.
Twelve files.
Not one.
My son had recorded them every day.
Ryan saw the screen.
His face changed.
Claire whispered:
“No.”
I looked at both of them.
“Apparently Ethan has been very helpful.”
Then the family doctor entered from the hallway.
Nathan stopped at the sight of overturned furniture.
Ryan pointed at him.
“You.”
Nathan went pale.
I looked at my doctor.
Ryan continued.
“You told her.”
Nathan said nothing.
Claire's voice turned vicious.
“You pathetic old man.”
She stepped closer.
“Twelve days pretending to care about this family, and you betray us for a woman who couldn't even keep her own car on the road.”
Nathan stared.
I did too.
Claire realized what she had said.
Keep her own car on the road.
Interesting phrasing.
May you like
I raised Ethan's phone.
“Let's find out what else all of you said while you thought I was dead enough not to matter.”
