Chapter 3 - Christine's LieChristine closed the door behind her.
Jake immediately looked away.
That hurt more than anything.
"Dad," he whispered.
I stood between them.
Christine tried to smile.
"Hey, baby."
Jake pulled the blanket higher.
"I don't want Mom."
Christine stopped.
Her expression broke.
"Jake..."
"He said you told Grandpa."
"That's not true."
I looked at her.
"Then tell me what is true."
She looked at me instead of answering.
That was enough.
"You knew," I said.
"Knew what?"
"My name."
Her face changed.
Only for a second.
But I saw it.
Fear.
Not confusion.
Fear.
"You knew who I was before we met."
"Ethan..."
"Don't."
I stepped closer.
"Who told you?"
She shook her head.
"I don't understand."
"Then explain this."
I held up the photograph of her with Victor Kane.
Her color disappeared.
Jake stared at the picture.
"Mommy?"
Christine backed away.
"Where did you get that?"
There it was.
Recognition.
I had spent ten years avoiding the truth.
Now it was standing in front of me.
"Who is he?"
She said nothing.
"Christine."
Her eyes filled with tears.
"I can't."
"You already involved our son."
"I never wanted that."
"Three men attacked him."
"I didn't know they would."
I stared at her.
"You knew something would happen."
She closed her eyes.
"I knew Dad was angry."
"Why?"
"Because Jake found something."
"What?"
She looked toward my son.
"Your old photograph."
My chest tightened.
"What photograph?"
"The one from before we met."
Jake spoke softly.
"I found it in Grandpa's office."
I turned toward him.
"What did it look like?"
Jake closed his eyes.
"You're wearing a black shirt."
Christine whispered.
"No."
Jake continued.
"You're holding a gun."
Christine covered her mouth.
I didn't move.
Because I knew exactly which photograph he meant.
A photograph that had never existed in my house.
A photograph Walter should never have had.
"Where is it?" I asked.
Christine shook her head.
"Dad took it."
"Where?"
"I don't know."
"You're lying."
"I swear."
I stepped back.
My phone vibrated.
A message.
COME ALONE.
Then an address.
I recognized it.
An abandoned rail depot.
The same location used twelve years ago during Project Harrow.
I looked at Christine.
"You knew this would happen."
She whispered, "I was trying to stop it."
"By letting them attack Jake?"
"No."
She stepped toward me.
"I was trying to keep you asleep."
The sentence landed like a gunshot.
"Sleep?"
"Your old life."
She looked at me.
"You weren't supposed to remember."
I suddenly understood the greatest betrayal wasn't that Christine knew who I was.
It was that she had spent years making sure I never found out who she really was.
"You didn't marry me by accident."
Tears ran down her face.
"No."
The hospital monitor beeped.
Jake stirred.
I lowered my voice.
"Why me?"
Christine looked at our son.
"Because your name was on the list."
"What list?"
"The Harrow list."
My blood ran cold.
"Who's list?"
She swallowed.
"The survivors."
Before I could ask anything else, the lights in the hallway went out.
Every light.
The monitor beside Jake flickered.
Then died.
Emergency alarms erupted.
Someone screamed down the corridor.
I moved toward Jake.
Christine grabbed my arm.
"Don't go outside."
"Why?"
Her eyes filled with terror.
"They're here."
A gunshot cracked somewhere beyond the hallway.
Jake screamed.
And in the darkness, a voice came over the hospital intercom.
"Mr. Cole."
I froze.
"Bring us Victor Kane's ledger."
The voice paused.
"Or your son doesn't leave this hospital."
Christine whispered my old name.
"Ethan..."
I looked at her.
Then at Jake.
And suddenly I knew.
This wasn't revenge.
May you like
It was a retrieval mission.
And my son was the leverage.
