Chapter 7 - The Night Was Not an Accident
Mara pressed a fist to her mouth.
Ethan's eyes burned in the darkness.
Outside the panel, Bianca continued.
"Ethan had stolen copies of the financial records. Nolan needed to know where he hid them. I knew he was lonely. I knew Mara was leaving the hospital after her mother died. Two damaged people, same diner, same storm. I arranged the circumstances and had them followed."
The security chief snorted. "You can't arrange chemistry."
"I didn't need chemistry. I needed Ethan distracted long enough for someone to search his truck."
Mara felt sick. That lonely night had been real to her. Bianca had turned it into a trap.
"And the pregnancy?" the man asked.
Bianca's voice softened. "That was not part of the plan."
Ethan reached for the hidden door.
Mara caught his wrist.
Not yet.
Bianca pulled a red folder from the desk. "Nolan doesn't know she is pregnant. If he finds out before we can control the situation, he'll panic."
"You mean he'll do what he did to Ethan."
Silence.
Then Bianca said, "Lower your voice."
Footsteps approached in the hall.
"Mrs. Harrow?" called a housekeeper. "Your husband is on the phone."
Bianca and the security chief left.
Mara waited five seconds, then shoved open the panel.
"You knew I was grieving," she said to Ethan.
"I knew you had lost someone. You didn't tell me until the diner."
"But they put us there."
"Mara, what happened between us was not planned by me."
She believed him, which somehow made her angrier.
She snatched the motel photographs from the safe.
"We take these. We take anything that proves they were following you."
Ethan grabbed the red folder Bianca had forgotten on the desk.
Inside was a lab request bearing Mara's name.
Paternity screening preparation.
No sample had been collected yet.
Beneath it was a copy of the Harrow trust.
One paragraph was highlighted.
Ethan read it twice.
"This isn't the version my lawyer has."
"What changed?"
"A child doesn't just preserve my voting shares."
He looked at Mara.
"If my child is born while Nolan is under criminal indictment for fraud, my share becomes controlling. Fifty-one percent."
A floorboard creaked behind them.
Mara turned.
Nolan Harrow stood in the doorway.
May you like
He was smiling.
"Well," he said. "My dead brother finally came home."
