Chapter 5
Mark broke first.
Not Dad.
That surprised me.
He stood abruptly.
“I can't do this anymore.”
Dad turned.
“Sit down.”
“No.”
It was the first time I had ever heard my brother refuse him.
Mark looked at me.
“Ethan came to see me three weeks before the crash.”
My heart stopped.
“Why?”
“He thought someone was following him.”
Vittorio's face changed.
“You didn't tell me.”
“He told me not to.”
“Why would Ethan trust you?” I asked.
Mark laughed weakly.
“He didn't.”
That sounded like Ethan.
“He wanted me to watch Dad.”
Dad stepped forward.
“That is enough.”
Mark ignored him.
“He knew Dad was meeting someone.”
“Mercer?”
Mark nodded.
Vittorio's hands curled once.
Then relaxed.
“How long?”
Mark looked at Dad.
“Years.”
The word made the room colder.
“How many?”
“Eight.”
Eight years.
Before I married Ethan.
Before I even met him.
Vittorio stared at my father.
“What did you give Mercer?”
Dad's jaw tightened.
“Information.”
“What kind?”
“Names.”
“Whose?”
“People around you.”
Vittorio said nothing.
That silence was worse than anger.
“Places you used.”
Still nothing.
“Businesses.”
I stared at Dad.
“You sold him information?”
“I traded it.”
“For what?”
“Protection.”
I almost laughed.
“From whom?”
Dad looked at Vittorio.
“The Walkers.”
I felt sick.
“You thought Ethan would hurt me?”
“No.”
“Then what were you protecting me from?”
He looked at my babies.
“Becoming one of them.”
There it was.
The simplest truth.
Dad never believed I had married Ethan.
He believed I had defected.
“He was my husband.”
“He changed you.”
“Yes.”
That answer hurt him.
I saw it.
“He taught me that your permission wasn't the same thing as love.”
Dad stared.
Mark sat back down.
Vittorio looked away.
Dad recovered quickly.
“Mercer told me Ethan planned to disappear with you.”
“He did.”
“He said once Ethan was gone, Vittorio would keep the children.”
Vittorio's head snapped toward him.
“No.”
Dad laughed.
“You expect her to believe you?”
I looked at Vittorio.
He answered me.
“Ethan made me promise that if anything happened to him, you decided where the children went.”
I believed him.
Because Ethan had installed an emergency button in a maternity bed.
Because Ethan had been preparing quietly.
Carefully.
Dad looked frustrated.
“Mercer said Noah wouldn't be safe.”
“Safe from whom?”
No answer.
Mark whispered:
“That wasn't the real reason.”
Dad turned.
“Mark.”
“No.”
He looked at me.
“Mercer wanted Noah.”
My arms tightened around Lily.
“Why?”
“Because Ethan's people trusted his name.”
I stared.
“He's a newborn.”
“Mercer didn't care.”
Mark looked sick now.
“He thought if he controlled Ethan's son, he could control everyone who had stayed loyal to Ethan.”
Vittorio's voice dropped.
“And the third carrier?”
Mark looked at Dad.
Then at me.
“That wasn't for another Walker baby.”
My stomach turned.
“What was it for?”
May you like
Mark swallowed.
“A replacement.”
