Chapter 9 - THE MISTRESS WHO WAS NEVER A MISTRESS
Derek moved first.
He tackled Brittany.
The gun skidded across the floor.
I grabbed it.
“Stop!”
Brittany froze.
Derek pinned her down.
“You killed him.”
“He deserved worse.”
“You worked for him.”
“No.”
She looked at me.
“I worked for Elena Hale.”
My mother's name stopped everything.
“My mother has been dead for twenty years.”
“Yes.”
“And some of us kept working.”
Brittany reached slowly into her jacket.
I tightened my grip.
“Careful.”
She removed a necklace.
Inside the pendant was a tiny photograph.
My mother.
Brittany.
And Anna.
“You knew her?”
“She saved my sister.”
“Anna?”
Brittany nodded.
“M-5.”
Derek released her.
“Then why pretend to be my mistress?”
“To make Emma hate you.”
I stared at her.
“Mission accomplished.”
Derek almost smiled.
Almost.
Brittany continued.
“Charles planned to take Grace immediately after birth.”
“I needed Derek outside the maternity ward so Charles would believe the plan was working.”
Derek stared at her.
“You could have told me.”
“I didn't trust you.”
“Fair.”
I lowered the gun slightly.
“What was the three hundred thousand dollars?”
“Charles's payment.”
“For Grace?”
“Yes.”
“But Derek never accepted it.”
She looked at him.
“The account was created in his name.”
“He never touched the money.”
Derek looked at me.
I remembered accusing him.
He hadn't defended himself properly.
Maybe because there had been too many other lies.
“Why did you shoot Charles?”
Brittany looked toward his body.
“Because he was about to tell you the wrong father.”
“What?”
“He wanted you suspicious of Luka.”
My stomach tightened.
“Why?”
“Because Charles knew Luka would eventually tell you the truth.”
Luka entered carrying Grace.
The survivors were behind him.
His eyes went straight to Brittany.
“You.”
“Hello, Luka.”
“You disappeared fifteen years ago.”
“I had work.”
I stepped between them.
“Enough secrets.”
Everyone went silent.
“I want the truth.”
“Right now.”
“Who is my biological father?”
Brittany looked at Luka.
Luka looked away.
That was enough.
“You know.”
“Yes.”
“Tell me.”
“Emma…”
“TELL ME.”
He handed Grace carefully to Derek.
Then he reached beneath his shirt.
A chain hung around his neck.
Attached to it was a wedding ring.
My mother's initials were engraved inside.
E.H.
I stared at him.
“No.”
Luka immediately shook his head.
“Not what you think.”
“Then explain.”
“The ring belonged to your father.”
“Who?”
Luka's voice became quiet.
“My older brother.”
I froze.
“Gabriel Moretti.”
The name meant nothing to me.
“He was your mother's husband before Thomas.”
My knees nearly gave out.
“My mother was married before?”
“Secretly.”
“Gabriel worked on M-17 with her.”
“What happened to him?”
“Charles killed him.”
“Before I was born?”
Luka nodded.
“Three months before.”
I stared at Grace.
“So Gabriel Moretti was my father.”
“Yes.”
“Which makes you…”
“Your uncle.”
The room disappeared around me.
The stranger who had signed my daughter's birth certificate.
The man who had protected me without explanation.
The man my father had told me to trust.
Was family.
Luka's eyes were wet.
“I promised Gabriel I would protect you.”
My voice cracked.
“Then where were you?”
The question hurt him.
“Why didn't you come sooner?”
“I did.”
“What?”
“Every year.”
He looked down.
“Your school.”
“Your graduation.”
“Your wedding.”
“I stayed far enough away that Charles wouldn't realize I was watching.”
My anger broke into something else.
“You were at my wedding?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you stop it?”
“Because Thomas believed Derek genuinely loved you.”
I looked at Derek.
He looked destroyed.
Luka continued.
“And because by then, Charles believed you were ordinary.”
“Until Grace.”
“Until Grace.”
A siren began outside.
Brittany looked through the window.
“Federal vehicles.”
Derek laughed bitterly.
“Charles's people?”
Brittany shook her head.
“No.”
“Mine.”
She held up a flash drive.
“Everything from Facility Nine was uploaded twenty minutes ago.”
“Where?”
May you like
She smiled.
“Everywhere.”
