Chapter Ten: The Double Agent
The next morning, Lian drove to the FBI field office.
She handed the memory stick to an agent.
Within four hours, a team was assembled.
Within eight, Dante was in custody.
But Lian didn’t know that yet.
Because when she returned to the hospital, her phone rang.
Unknown number.
She answered.
“Dr. Harper. You shouldn’t have done that.”
Dante’s voice.
“You’re under arrest.”
“Not yet. I have one call. And I’m using it to tell you something you should know.”
“I don’t want to hear anything from you.”
“Kael didn’t just take Mikhail to protect him. He took him because he wanted a son. His own son. You were just the incubator.”
Lian’s grip tightened on the phone.
“You’re lying.”
“Am I? Ask him why he never came back for you. Even after Dante was in prison the first time. He could have told you the truth years ago. He chose not to.”
The line went dead.
Lian stood in the hospital hallway.
Patients walked past her. Nurses. Orderlies.
She didn’t see any of them.
Because she was remembering every night she cried herself to sleep.
Every anniversary of the “death” of her son.
Every time she visited an empty grave.
He could have told you.
He chose not to.
