Chapter 18 - Face to Face
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Denise looked up at me from the wet pavement, her hair wild, her eyes full of venomous hatred.
"You ruined everything, Clara," she spat, her voice raspy. "You were supposed to be the quiet, obedient daughter. You were supposed to give us Ethan's fortune!"
I looked down at the woman who gave birth to me—the woman who had ordered my husband's murder and tried to steal my children.
I didn't feel fear. I didn't feel anger.
I only felt absolute, cold pity.
"You thought Ethan was my only strength, Mom," I said, my voice steady and clear over the sound of rain and distant sirens. "You thought that without him, I was just a helpless victim you could slap around in a hospital room."
I knelt down slightly, looking her dead in the eye.
"Ethan didn't make me strong," I whispered. "He just reminded me who I was. And now, you are going to spend the rest of your life in a small steel cell, thinking about the daughter you tried to break."
Denise opened her mouth to scream at me, but an FBI agent shoved her into the back of a tactical van, slamming the doors shut.
Agent Chen walked over, placing a hand on my shoulder.
"She's facing federal charges for conspiracy to commit murder, murder for hire, interstate flight, and fraud," Agent Chen said. "She will never see the outside of a federal penitentiary again."
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I turned back toward Logan’s SUV as the sun began to break through the rain clouds over the Idaho hills, casting a warm golden light across the highway.
It was over. My family was behind bars. The threat was gone.
