22
A
Ethan’s mom showed up at my door while I
was doing a face mask.
No arrogance. No fury. Just a tired, haggard
woman.
“I’ve been thinking about what Ethan said.
Maybe I was too controlling. I shouldn’t have
tried to run his life.”
She sighed. “Can we talk? Somewhere
private?”
I stared at her.
<
I couldn’t read her.
When my dad came crawling back, his
motives were clear.
But Ethan’s mom… I didn’t understand.
“Just say it here,” I said quietly.
She glanced at her watch. “I didn’t tell Ethan I was coming. He’ll be back soon. There’s a
coffee shop nearby…”
I didn’t move. She smiled.
“Don’t worry. If I wanted to hurt you, my men
would have been through that door the
<
second you opened it.”
I glared at her. “We have nothing to talk
about.”
I slammed the door. She caught it with her
hand. It slammed shut on her fingers, her
manicured hand swelling instantly.
She winced. “I know you blame me. But I
came to talk about Ethan’s illness.”
I hesitated.
Then I agreed to go.
The Ethans might be powerful, but they
<
WUUIUNT UTon allyling in vau vayııyıl.
ummon
I took her to the coffee shop down the street.
Michael, worried, came with us.
We were walking down the street, less than
ten minutes from the coffee shop, when a car
came barreling toward us.
Too fast to react.
But someone did.
Michael.
He shoved me out of the way. The car hit him
and Ethan’s mom.
L
I scrambled to my feet, staring at the
carnage.
“Michael…”
I ran to him, his body covered in blood.
I wanted to touch him, but I was afraid.
Tears streamed down my face. “Michael,
please…”
After my mom died, Michael was my only
family.
No blood relation, but he was my brother.
<
He was lying in a pool of blood, his eyes
fluttering open.
He was smiling.
A warm, gentle smile, like the sun melting
snow.
I wanted to cry.
He looked at me, his voice calm, “Don’t cry… I
have a secret… I wasn’t going to live much
longer anyway.”
“The… doctors said… my heart… was getting
worse… I’m glad… I could save you… I didn’t
waste my time…‘
11
His voice was weak, strained.
Blood trickled from his lips.
“Don’t talk,” I choked out, his face getting
paler.
Deathly pale.
The ambulance arrived. Michael and Ethan’s
mom were taken away.
I followed.
Ethan’s mom didn’t wake up.
L
Michael was still conscious, but fading fast.
Before they took him into surgery, he
whispered two things.
“Don’t read my journal. Burn it. Please.”
And…
“Next life… let’s be real brother and sister.”
“Okay?”
I didn’t get to say yes.
He was gone.
I never got to say yes.
I sobbed in the hospital hallway.
Michael. My last family member. Gone.
Ethan arrived, wanting to say something, th just held me.
The mighty Ethan, silently crying, his face buried in his arms, his shoulders shaking.
Ethan’s mom died at the scene.
Michael died in surgery.
And Sarah, who was arrested.
Attempted murder. No defense. Her motive
was simple.
I’d sent her mother to prison, exposed her
parentage, ruined her life. No mother. No
money. No future.
Even the inheritance was gone.
She had nothing left to lose.
As for Ethan’s mom… Sarah hadn’t meant to
hit her. A last–minute swerve, a panicked
reaction.
<
It was my fault, in a way.
But at the funeral, Ethan, his eyes red-
rimmed, told me, “Do you know why my mom
wanted to meet you at that coffee shop?”
I shook my head. His voice trembled.
“She’d hired someone to ‘accidentally‘ run you over. Get rid of you, and I couldn’t blame her. It would just be an accident.”
“That’s why she only moved a little when Sarah’s car came at us. She thought it was
her guy.”
く
זי
It was hard for him to say.
His eyes were filled with tears. He sighed,
touching my hair.
“Olivia, it wasn’t your fault.”
I couldn’t speak.
It was all so twisted. Ironic.
She’d planned everything, and it backfired
spectacularly.
