“Ethan found them.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
Samuel stood.
“Then how do you know he’s in danger?”
“Because I was with him when we found the last file.”
“What happened?”
Elena’s face tightened.
“Someone followed us.”
“Who?”
“We don’t know.”
“What did Ethan do?”
“He told me to leave.”
“And he stayed?”
“Yes.”
I could barely breathe.
“Why?”
Elena looked at me.
“Because he wanted to protect you.”
My eyes filled with tears.
“Then why did he abandon me?”
Elena hesitated.
“He didn’t.”
“What?”
“He was trying to stay away from you.”
“That’s the same thing.”
“No.”
She looked directly into my eyes.
“He received a threat.”
My stomach dropped.
“What kind?”
Elena pulled out her phone.
She showed me a message.
If you tell Mara the truth, she dies the same way her parents did.
My hands went numb.
“When did he receive this?”
“The night you told him you were pregnant.”
I couldn’t speak.
Everything suddenly made sense.
His fear.
His disappearance.
His silence.
The way he had looked at me like he wanted to say something but couldn’t.
“He didn’t leave because he didn’t love me.”
Elena shook her head.
“He left because he thought staying would get you killed.”
I covered my mouth.
Samuel reached for my shoulder.
But I pulled away.
I was angry.
Not at Ethan.
Not even at Samuel.
At the years of lies.
At the people who had decided what I was allowed to know.
At the fact that everyone had been protecting me by keeping me in the dark.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked Samuel.
“Because I promised your father.”
“Promised what?”
“That you would never be involved.”
I laughed bitterly.
“You failed.”
“I know.”
I picked up another document.
It was a recent bank statement.
There was a large transfer.
