Chapter 10 - WHAT LUKA NEVER TOLD ME
I thought Luka had told me everything.
He hadn’t.
After the preliminary DNA result, he handed my daughter back to me and walked to the window.
“I need to tell you the part your father made me swear not to tell unless this happened.”
I was too tired for another secret.
“Just say it.”
“Michael didn’t die because his brakes failed.”
The room disappeared around me.
“What?”
“His brakes were cut.”
I stared at him.
“No.”
“The police report said mechanical failure.”
“The first report did.”
Luka reached into his coat.
He placed a photograph on the table.
It showed my father’s wrecked sedan inside an impound garage.
A mechanic was crouched beside the rear wheel.
“Your father hired an investigator because he believed someone was following him.”
“The investigator photographed the vehicle before Hale’s insurance contractor removed it.”
I could barely hear him.
“The brake line had been deliberately damaged.”
My hands started shaking.
“Why wasn’t anyone arrested?”
“The investigator disappeared.”
“What?”
“Three days later.”
I stepped backward.
Rachel moved toward me.
I lifted a hand.
“No.”
“Please.”
“I need everybody to stop touching me.”
Silence filled the room.
I looked at Luka.
“You knew my father was murdered for seven years?”
“I suspected it.”
“You never told me.”
“He made me promise to keep you out of it unless M-17 resurfaced.”
“And you listened?”
“Yes.”
“You let me marry a man connected to the people who killed him.”
Pain flashed across Luka’s face.
“I didn’t know about Ethan until after the wedding.”
“Then why didn’t you come?”
“Because your father’s letter specifically said that if you were safe, I was not to drag you into a war built before you were old enough to understand it.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Safe?”
“I was sleeping beside the man who investigated me before meeting me.”
“I know.”
“Did you watch me all these years?”
“No.”
“Did you know where I lived?”
“Yes.”
“That sounds like watching.”
“It was protection.”
“It doesn’t feel like protection.”
He nodded.
“You have every right to hate that answer.”
I looked at my daughter.
She deserved something better than this room full of secrets.
My phone vibrated again.
This time the message came from Vanessa.
WE NEED TO TALK BEFORE ETHAN DOES SOMETHING STUPID.
A second message followed.
MY FATHER KNOWS YOU HAVE MICHAEL’S DRIVE.
Then another.
HE WILL NOT LET YOU TAKE IT TO THE POLICE.
I showed Luka.
He immediately reached for his phone.
I stopped him.
“No.”
“Ava.”
“She wants to talk to me.”
“She could be setting a trap.”
“Probably.”
“You just gave birth.”
“And everyone keeps using that as a reason to make decisions for me.”
Luka went silent.
I looked him directly in the eyes.
“If you’re really going to be part of my daughter’s life, understand this now.”
“You don’t protect me by controlling me.”
Something almost like respect crossed his face.
“Understood.”
I typed one message to Vanessa.
WHERE?
Her reply came instantly.
THE OLD HALE CLINIC.
COME ALONE.
May you like
Then one final message appeared.
BRING M-17.
