Chapter 8 - SISTERS IN THE DARK
I knew Chloe well enough to understand one thing.
If she said not to follow her, it meant I should start running.
Ethan agreed.
Within an hour, we located the last place her phone had been active.
An abandoned marina outside the city.
The kind of place where people met when they didn't want witnesses.
We arrived before midnight.
The buildings were dark.
Rain began again.
Of course it did.
I stepped out of the vehicle.
Ethan caught my arm.
"Stay behind me."
I gave him a look.
"I'm an Army officer."
"And you're also my fiancée."
"Those are not mutually exclusive."
Despite everything, he smiled.
Then we heard a scream.
"Chloe!"
I ran.
Inside the warehouse, Chloe stood beside a desk.
Across from her was Robert.
My uncle.
He had somehow made bail.
He looked at me.
"I knew you'd come."
Chloe's face was pale.
"I'm sorry."
I looked at her.
"What did you do?"
"I called him."
Robert laughed.
"She wanted answers."
I stepped forward.
"Let her go."
"Why would I?"
Ethan moved beside me.
Robert's smile faded.
Then Chloe did something I never expected.
She stepped away from Robert.
Toward me.
"He doesn't have anything on me."
Robert grabbed her.
She screamed.
Everything happened at once.
Security moved.
Robert tried to run.
Chloe fought.
Ethan tackled him.
And the evidence spilled across the floor.
Documents.
Bank transfers.
Names.
One final payment.
Not to Mercer.
Not to Hayes.
Not to Robert.
To a private account belonging to my mother.
I stared at Chloe.
She was crying.
"She lied again."
My mother had told us she was forced.
Maybe she had been.
But fear had eventually become greed.
The investigation revealed the truth.
Years after my father's death, the threats had stopped.
Robert's control weakened.
Mercer disappeared.
But my mother kept taking money.
Because by then—
she wanted it.
And the final payment had been made only six months earlier.
I felt sick.
My mother hadn't been protecting Chloe.
She had been protecting herself.
When she demanded Dad's compensation at my engagement party, she hadn't simply wanted to give Chloe a new start.
She needed the money.
Because investigators were closing in.
She had debts.
Secret accounts.
A lifestyle built on stolen funds.
The slap hadn't been about anger.
It had been desperation.
The next morning, I faced my mother.
She was sitting in an interrogation room.
She looked smaller.
Older.
Human.
"Did you ever love Dad?"
I asked.
Her eyes filled.
"Yes."
"Did you love us?"
More tears.
"Yes."
"Then why?"
She whispered, "Because I became someone I didn't recognize."
I shook my head.
"No."
She looked at me.
"You recognized her. You just kept choosing her."
She closed her eyes.
And I walked away.
But as I reached the door, she said my name.
"Natalie."
I stopped.
"I'm sorry."
For years, I had wanted to hear those words.
I expected them to change something.
They didn't.
But I turned around anyway.
"I hope someday you become the person who means that."
Then I left.
And for the first time in my life—
May you like
I didn't look back.
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