Chapter 6 - His Mother's Secret
Garrett read his mother's name three times.
“No.”
The investigator remained on speaker.
“We aren't saying Mrs. Corbin caused the collision. We're saying records place her vehicle near the scene.”
“She doesn't drive at night.”
“She did that night.”
Garrett ended the call.
His hands trembled.
“Ask her,” I said.
He looked at me.
“What if I don't want the answer?”
“Then you've learned nothing from any of this.”
We found Evelyn in the garden room.
Garrett placed the toll record on the table.
She saw it.
Her face collapsed.
“You were there,” he said.
“Yes.”
The word nearly broke him.
“Why?”
Evelyn clasped her hands.
“Because I followed you.”
“Why?”
“I'd heard Douglas arguing with someone. He mentioned your dinner.”
“So you followed me?”
“I thought your brother was planning something.”
“Did you hit my car?”
“No.”
Garrett stared at her.
“I saw the SUV.”
Everything changed.
Evelyn had followed Garrett from a distance.
She saw another vehicle approach him aggressively on the mountain road.
She tried to catch up.
Then Garrett's car went through the barrier.
The SUV fled.
Evelyn stopped.
She called emergency services anonymously.
“Why anonymously?” I asked.
“Because I recognized the SUV.”
“ApexBio?”
She shook her head.
“The company owned it.”
“Who was driving?”
Tears filled her eyes.
“I couldn't see clearly.”
Garrett's shoulders fell.
“Then why hide this?”
“Because Douglas arrived at the hospital before the police finished questioning me.”
Garrett froze.
“What did he say?”
“That if I told anyone I'd followed you, police would think I caused it.”
“He threatened you?”
“He reminded me I'd argued with you that morning.”
Garrett closed his eyes.
Evelyn reached toward him.
“I was afraid.”
He pulled away.
“You watched me spend eight months wondering.”
“I know.”
“You let me suspect everyone.”
“I know.”
His voice cracked.
“You're my mother.”
Evelyn began crying.
Garrett wheeled out.
I followed but kept my distance.
He stopped in the hallway.
“I need to walk.”
“What?”
“Help me stand.”
“You're upset.”
“I know.”
“That's exactly when you shouldn't push your body.”
He looked at me.
“Please.”
We went to the therapy room.
Garrett gripped the bars.
I supported his waist.
He rose.
His legs shook.
“One.”
He breathed.
“Two.”
His right knee almost buckled.
I steadied him.
“Sit.”
“No.”
“Garrett.”
“Five more.”
“You don't prove anything by falling.”
His eyes met mine.
That sentence hit both of us.
He sat.
For a long time, neither spoke.
Then he said:
“Everyone decided what I could handle.”
“Yes.”
“My mother. Douglas. Christopher. Brenda.”
“And you.”
He looked at me.
“You hid your recovery because you decided everyone else couldn't be trusted.”
“That was different.”
“Was it?”
He considered that.
“No.”
I sat beside him.
“We don't get to control people by calling it protection.”
He nodded.
“I think you learned that the expensive way.”
“Divorce lawyers aren't cheap.”
He laughed.
The sound surprised us both.
Weeks passed.
Douglas was formally charged with financial crimes, conspiracy, and offenses connected to Christopher's confinement. ApexBio executives became targets of a federal investigation.
Garrett returned to company meetings remotely.
Then, one Monday morning, he did something nobody expected.
He entered a board meeting standing with a walker.
I watched from outside the glass conference room.
Douglas's allies looked as if they'd seen a ghost.
Garrett didn't make a speech.
He simply reached his chair.
Sat.
And opened the meeting.
“Let's discuss the audit.”
By afternoon, three executives had resigned.
The stock transfer plan collapsed.
The trust documents protected Garrett's control.
For the first time, it seemed we might actually reach the other side.
Then Christopher came to see me.
He looked healthier.
Sad, but healthier.
“I signed the final divorce papers.”
I nodded.
“So did I.”
He swallowed.
“I loved you.”
“I know.”
“I still do.”
“I know that too.”
He looked surprised.
“Doesn't that matter?”
“Yes.”
I took a breath.
“But love doesn't erase what happened.”
He nodded slowly.
“I thought lying would protect you.”
“And it took away my right to decide what risks I was willing to face.”
“I understand that now.”
“I hope you do.”
He smiled sadly.
“Is there someone else?”
My first instinct was denial.
Then I thought of Garrett.
His stubbornness.
His dry humor.
The way he never asked me to be smaller so he could feel larger.
“I don't know.”
Christopher nodded.
“That's fair.”
Before leaving, he handed me my father's photograph.
“You left this in a box at the house.”
I held it carefully.
Dad smiling from his wheelchair.
For a moment, grief returned so sharply I couldn't breathe.
Christopher hugged me.
I let him.
Not as a husband.
Not as a future.
As someone who had once been family.
Then I let go.
That evening, Garrett found me looking at the photograph.
“Your father?”
“Yes.”
“He looks happy.”
“He was difficult.”
“So happy and difficult aren't mutually exclusive.”
“You're proof.”
Garrett smiled.
Then his expression became serious.
“Rebecca.”
“Yes?”
“When this is over, you don't have to stay.”
My chest tightened.
“I know.”
“The salary was meant to keep someone here around the clock.”
“I know.”
“You've done more than that.”
“Are you firing me?”
“No.”
“Good, because your technique with the walker is terrible.”
He laughed.
Then he looked at me in a way that made the room feel smaller.
“I don't want you to stay because I need you.”
I didn't answer.
“I want you to stay only if someday you decide you want to.”
My heart beat harder.
Before I could respond, Garrett's phone rang.
Federal investigator.
He answered.
His expression changed immediately.
“What?”
He put it on speaker.
“We recovered deleted footage from the vehicle's onboard system.”
Garrett gripped the armrest.
“Can you identify the driver?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
A pause.
“We'll send the image.”
The file arrived.
I opened it.
Garrett leaned closer.
The driver's face was visible.
He whispered:
“That can't be possible.”
May you like
I recognized the man from the framed photographs around the mansion.
Garrett's father had supposedly died three years earlier.
