Chapter 7 - The Woman in the White Coat
The new clue led us to a private research center outside Chicago.
The facility was abandoned.
At least officially.
Elena recognized the logo.
“This is where Mateo was treated.”
We entered with federal agents.
The place was dark.
Dust covered the floors.
But the servers were running.
Someone had been here recently.
Ethan sat in his wheelchair.
His eyes stayed on the corridors.
“I remember this place.”
“What happened here?” I asked.
“They tested drugs on people.”
Elena found the patient records.
She opened one.
Mateo Rodriguez.
Her hands began shaking.
Then she saw the medical signatures.
Nathaniel Shaw wasn't the only one.
Another name appeared.
Dr. Vivian Hale.
A neurologist.
A woman in a white coat.
She had been Ethan's doctor.
She had also been my neighbor three years earlier.
I felt sick.
“She knew me.”
Ethan looked at me.
“How?”
“She used to talk to me.”
We found her in the basement.
She wasn't hiding.
She was sitting beneath a broken fluorescent light.
Older than I remembered.
Tired.
She looked at Ethan.
“I wondered when you would come.”
Ethan stared.
“You did this to me.”
Vivian cried.
“I saved your life.”
“You ruined it.”
“I kept you alive because Vincent wanted you dead.”
“By damaging my spine?”
“I had no choice.”
Elena shouted.
“There is always a choice.”
Vivian looked at her.
“You think I don't know?”
She pulled out a box.
Inside were hundreds of photographs.
Proof of illegal experiments.
Names.
Dates.
Payments.
Everything.
“My husband was killed because I tried to expose them,” she said.
“Then why didn't you go to the police?” I asked.
“Because every time I tried, someone disappeared.”
She looked at Ethan.
“Your father came to me.”
I froze.
“My father?”
“He begged me to protect you.”
“So you made me disabled?”
“I made you alive.”
“No.”
Ethan's voice was steady.
“You made me a prisoner.”
Vivian lowered her head.
“I've spent six years regretting it.”
She gave Marcus the box.
“I'm ready to testify.”
We thought that was the end.
It wasn't.
The final evidence revealed that Margaret hadn't simply protected Vincent.
She had been blackmailing Nathaniel.
And Nathaniel had secretly arranged for Daniel to take over Riverstone.
But why?
Because the real owner was not any Parker.
It was Ethan.
The trust documents confirmed it.
His father had placed everything in Ethan's name before his death.
Riverstone.
The property.
The warehouses.
The medical contracts.
Everything.
Margaret and Daniel had spent years trying to force Ethan into surrendering control.
The wedding to me was useful because marriage would create another legal angle.
My signature had been forged because they wanted to make it appear that I had knowingly participated.
I felt a chill.
“They planned to use me as a shield.”
Susan nodded.
“Yes.”
Ethan looked at me.
“I wanted to tell you.”
“You should have.”
“I was afraid.”
“I was afraid too.”
He smiled.
That night, I sat beside him on the hospital balcony.
Chicago lights stretched across the horizon.
He was still unable to walk.
But he could feel his feet.
Elena believed rehabilitation might improve his mobility.
Not guarantee.
Just improve.
“Do you regret meeting me?” he asked.
I looked at him.
“No.”
“Even now?”
“Especially now.”
He took my hand.
“I'm sorry.”
“I know.”
“I love you.”
I smiled.
“I know.”
He looked surprised.
“You didn't say it back.”
“I’m still mad.”
He laughed.
It was the first real laugh I'd heard from him in weeks.
Then he kissed my hand.
And for the first time, hope felt possible.
But the next morning, Elena was attacked outside the hospital.
She survived.
Barely.
On the concrete beside her was a message.
STOP SAVING ETHAN.
May you like
When Ethan saw it, his face turned cold.
“We end this now.”
