Chapter 6 - The Contract They Never Wanted Ethan to See
I stopped breathing.
Ethan immediately called security.
"Lock down Linda Brooks's floor. Nobody enters without verification."
I grabbed my coat.
"I'm going to her."
"I'm coming."
"You can barely—"
"Natalie."
One look at him ended the argument.
We reached the hospital twenty minutes later.
Mom was safe.
Two security officers stood outside her room.
When I entered, she looked from me to Ethan.
This was the first time they had met.
She studied him carefully.
"So."
Ethan stopped.
"So?"
"You're my son-in-law."
Under any other circumstances, I would have laughed.
Ethan extended his hand.
"Apparently."
Mom shook it.
Then looked at me.
"He's handsome."
"Mom."
"What? I had surgery, not blindness."
Even Ethan laughed.
For five minutes, the fear disappeared.
Then Mom noticed our faces.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing," I said.
She gave me the same look she'd given me since childhood.
Ethan answered.
"Someone is trying to frighten Natalie."
Mom's expression sharpened.
"Because of you?"
"Yes."
"Ethan."
I wanted to disappear.
He didn't become defensive.
"Yes, Mrs. Brooks."
Mom studied him.
Then said, "Fix it."
He nodded.
"I will."
That night, Ethan made a decision.
He called federal investigators.
Not private security.
Not Thornton lawyers.
Actual authorities.
"If my father is involved," he told me, "I want the truth."
"Even if it destroys Thornton Group?"
He looked at me.
"A company can be rebuilt."
"And family?"
His eyes lowered.
"I don't know."
Investigators began examining the financial records.
The answer came faster than expected.
Gregory had approved documents.
But not because he was stealing.
Victor had manipulated him.
The mysterious G.T. references weren't Gregory Thornton.
They referred to Global Transit, one of the shell entities Victor controlled.
Gregory had signed the revised marriage documents without reading the hidden amendments.
Reckless.
Controlling.
But not attempted murder.
The car footage also had an explanation.
Victor had claimed Ethan's vehicle contained confidential company documents.
Gregory confronted him in the garage.
After Gregory left, Victor returned alone.
A second camera showed it.
This time, Victor opened Ethan's hood.
The police finally had what they needed.
But Victor was still missing.
Then Claire called.
"I know where he is."
Ethan put the phone on speaker.
"Where?"
"The old Thornton aviation property."
"Why?"
"He contacted me."
My blood went cold.
"What did he want?"
"The original financial files Ethan collected before the accident."
Ethan's face changed.
"I don't have them."
Claire hesitated.
"I think you do."
"What?"
"Your old laptop."
Ethan remembered.
A private laptop stored at the estate.
The one no one had accessed after the accident.
We found it inside a locked cabinet.
The files were there.
Everything.
Victor's shell companies.
Payments.
False invoices.
And evidence that Victor had arranged the sabotage of Ethan's car.
Gregory arrived while investigators were reviewing it.
He looked destroyed.
"Ethan."
His son didn't answer.
"I didn't know."
"You should have."
"I know."
That admission mattered.
Gregory looked at me.
"Natalie."
I waited.
"I owe you an apology."
"Several."
To my surprise, he nodded.
"Several."
Then Claire called again.
But this time, Victor was using her phone.
"Bring the laptop."
Ethan's face hardened.
"Where's Claire?"
"Alive."
"Let me hear her."
A frightened voice came through.
"Ethan, don't—"
The line cut.
Victor had taken Claire.
Police took control immediately.
Ethan was ordered not to go.
Naturally, he wanted to.
I stood in front of him.
"No."
"He has Claire."
"And the police know."
"I can help."
"You've been awake for less than a month."
"Natalie—"
"You don't get to survive one murder attempt and volunteer for another."
He stared at me.
Then something broke through his anger.
Fear.
Not for himself.
For me.
"I almost died."
"I know."
"I remember more now."
I took his hand.
"What?"
"The crash."
His voice lowered.
"I remember knowing the brakes weren't responding."
I squeezed his fingers.
"I remember thinking I wasn't ready."
"For what?"
"To die."
His eyes met mine.
"And now I'm even less ready."
I understood what he wasn't saying.
I moved closer.
"So don't."
His hand touched my cheek.
"Natalie."
This time there was no contract.
No photographer.
No unconscious man.
No desperate bargain.
I kissed him.
He kissed me back.
Slowly.
Gently.
By choice.
When we separated, Ethan rested his forehead against mine.
"That was better than the first one."
"You don't remember the first one."
"I remember waking up."
Before I could answer, an investigator entered.
"We found Hale."
The aviation property was surrounded.
Victor had Claire inside an office.
Negotiations lasted nearly two hours.
Then Claire emerged.
Alive.
Victor attempted to flee through a maintenance exit.
He didn't make it far.
Police arrested him before sunrise.
By afternoon, the evidence against him was overwhelming.
Corporate theft.
Fraud.
Sabotage.
Extortion.
Kidnapping.
The nightmare that had begun before Ethan's accident was finally collapsing.
But one problem remained.
Us.
The contract.
Three days later, Ethan placed it on the table between us.
"You've fulfilled everything required."
I stared at the pages.
"Okay."
"Your mother's medical care is permanently covered."
"Okay."
"Your debts have been paid."
I nodded.
"And?"
Ethan slid another document toward me.
Divorce papers.
My chest tightened.
I had known this moment would come.
The marriage had never been real.
Not originally.
Ethan hadn't chosen me.
I hadn't chosen him.
We had been placed together by desperation and manipulation.
I picked up the papers.
"You signed?"
"No."
"Why?"
"Because that's your choice."
I looked at him.
"What do you want?"
He didn't answer immediately.
"I want the first decision in our relationship that isn't controlled by my father, Victor, lawyers, money, fear, or a contract."
My eyes burned.
"And what decision is that?"
He looked directly at me.
"Whether you stay."
I stared at the divorce papers.
For weeks, I'd told myself that once Mom was safe, I would walk away.
That had been the plan.
Take nothing beyond what had been promised.
Return to my old life.
But my old life no longer existed.
And neither did the man I thought I'd married.
I had expected Ethan Thornton to remain unconscious forever.
Instead, he'd opened his eyes.
Then slowly, impossibly, he'd opened my heart.
I pushed the divorce papers back across the table.
Ethan looked down.
Then at me.
"Are you sure?"
"No."
He almost smiled.
"That's reassuring."
"But for the first time since this started, I'm allowed to find out."
His expression softened.
Then he reached across the table.
I placed my hand in his.
The same hands that had touched on the day he woke.
But this time, neither of us was trapped.
And that was when Ethan said something that changed the meaning of our marriage completely.
May you like
"Then I think I owe my wife a real proposal."
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