Chapter 12 - Forty-Eight HoursClaire ended the call and stood beside the pool with both hands shaking.
Ethan remained behind the glass.
The scene was nearly identical to the one that had begun everything.
Only now he knew more.
And somehow understood less.
Claire had threatened his family.
Claire had administered a secret substance to Lily.
Claire had helped create the wellness program.
But whoever was on the phone frightened her.
And she had just threatened to protect Lily from that person.
Ethan backed away before Claire turned.
He called Nora.
“I heard another call.”
“That sentence is becoming a problem.”
“She threatened whoever she's working with.”
“About Lily?”
“Yes.”
“What exactly?”
Ethan repeated it.
Nora was quiet.
“So Claire isn't in complete control.”
“No.”
“That doesn't make her innocent.”
“I know.”
“It makes the structure more complicated.”
“I know.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Because everyone keeps explaining obvious things to me.”
Nora ignored him.
“We found the redacted consultant.”
Ethan waited.
“Martin?”
“No.”
“Who?”
“Samuel Whitmore.”
Ethan stopped.
“He's dead.”
“The protocol template is old. Nearly twenty-five years old.”
“What?”
“It was based on Halcyon research.”
Ethan sat down.
“Samuel designed it?”
“Not as a poisoning protocol. As a treatment protocol for accidental exposure.”
“An antidote.”
“Essentially.”
Ethan looked toward the terrace.
Claire hadn't invented the antidote.
She had inherited it.
“How did Martin get it?”
“Probably from company archives.”
“And the exposure compound?”
“Same research program.”
Nora paused.
“Ethan, I think Claire recreated part of her father's work.”
“For revenge.”
“Looks that way.”
“And Martin turned it into something worse.”
“Possible.”
Ethan pressed his fingers against his eyes.
“When did my family become a bad prestige television show?”
“Probably around the secret lab scandal.”
“Helpful.”
His phone buzzed.
A wedding notification.
FORTY-EIGHT HOURS UNTIL CEREMONY.
Except the ceremony was no longer forty-eight hours away.
Claire entered the room minutes later.
“We need to talk.”
Ethan stood.
“What?”
“I moved the wedding.”
He stared.
“To when?”
“Tomorrow morning.”
“What?”
“The weather service says storms may roll in tomorrow evening.”
“Claire.”
“Everyone is already here. Vendors can do it.”
“You changed our wedding without asking me?”
Her eyes were too bright.
“I thought you'd be relieved. With everything happening, smaller is better.”
“That isn't what we planned.”
“Does it matter?”
Yes.
Something mattered enormously.
Claire needed the marriage sooner.
Or Martin did.
Ethan softened his tone.
“No. It doesn't.”
Claire blinked.
“You're okay with it?”
“If you are.”
She stepped into his arms.
Ethan held her.
Her body trembled.
“Thank you.”
Over her shoulder, he saw Martin standing at the far end of the hall.
Watching them.
That night Lily's condition worsened.
Not catastrophically.
Enough.
She became dizzy while walking to the bathroom and nearly fell.
Ethan caught her.
Dr. Patel ordered another round of tests.
Claire arrived at the hospital thirty minutes later despite Ethan telling her not to.
She hurried to Lily's room.
Ethan blocked the doorway.
“She's sleeping.”
“I just want to see her.”
“No.”
Claire looked wounded.
“Ethan.”
“Doctors want limited visitors.”
“That isn't true.”
“It is tonight.”
Claire's eyes narrowed.
“Why are you keeping me away from her?”
Ethan wanted to say because I know.
Instead he said, “Because she needs rest.”
Claire stared at him.
Then walked away.
Ethan followed five minutes later.
He found her alone near the emergency stairwell.
She was crying.
Not elegantly.
Not theatrically.
Her shoulders shook.
She covered her mouth with both hands.
Ethan stayed hidden.
Claire called someone.
Martin, he suspected.
The answer came quickly.
Claire whispered, “You increased it.”
Silence.
“I know what the plan was.”
Another pause.
“No. Don't give me that.”
Her voice cracked.
“She is nine years old.”
Ethan closed his eyes.
“I never agreed to this.”
Pause.
“I wanted them scared. I wanted Richard's family to understand what helplessness feels like.”
More silence.
Then Claire's face changed.
Rage.
“You promised me nobody would die.”
Ethan stepped backward.
His fiancée had just confessed enough to destroy his last excuse for loving her.
But she'd also confirmed someone else had escalated the plan.
Claire whispered into the phone.
“I am stopping this.”
The person on the other end must have said something frightening.
Claire went still.
Then she said, “You wouldn't.”
A long pause.
Her eyes filled with fear.
“What did you do?”
She listened.
And suddenly turned toward the hallway.
Ethan moved behind the corner.
May you like
Claire's next words were barely audible.
“Martin, what did you do to Ethan?”
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