Chapter 12 - THE WOMAN WHO CAME ANYWAY
Claire arrived at the shipping terminal at 11:42 P.M.
Of course she came.
She was furious with Vincent.
She did not trust him completely.
She did not know whether she could ever marry him again.
None of that meant she would let him die.
Henry sat beside her in the SUV.
Marco drove.
Federal agents and Moretti security surrounded the district.
“This is a bad plan,” Henry said.
Claire looked at him.
“You’re the man who pretended to be dead for six years.”
“Fair.”
Marco almost smiled.
Claire wore a wire beneath her coat.
The trust codes in her pocket were fake.
The real plan depended on Anthony believing he had already won.
She entered alone.
Vincent sat beneath a hanging industrial light.
His face was bruised.
His shoulder wound had reopened.
Anthony stood nearby.
“You came.”
Claire looked at Vincent.
His eyes filled with fury.
“I told you not to.”
“Yes.”
“You should have listened.”
“Five years of marriage should have taught you that was unlikely.”
Despite everything, Vincent almost laughed.
Anthony held out his hand.
“Codes.”
Claire gave him the drive.
He inserted it into a laptop.
A progress bar appeared.
“Transfer initiated.”
Claire watched carefully.
“So this is what all of it was for?”
Anthony smiled.
“Power usually is.”
“You destroyed a family for shipping routes.”
“No.”
He looked toward Vincent.
“He destroyed the family himself.”
Vincent’s jaw tightened.
Anthony continued.
“I only gave him permission.”
Claire shook her head.
“You drugged him.”
“I amplified dissatisfaction.”
“You manipulated him.”
“I exposed weakness.”
“No.”
Claire stepped closer.
“You mistook vulnerability for weakness.”
Anthony’s smile faded.
She continued.
“You thought Vincent’s love for me made him controllable.”
She looked at Vincent.
“You were right about one thing.”
Anthony frowned.
“What?”
“He was afraid.”
Vincent stared at her.
“So was I.”
Claire turned back.
“But fear doesn’t mean love was fake.”
The laptop beeped.
ACCESS DENIED.
Anthony’s face changed.
“What did you do?”
Claire smiled.
“Gave you the wrong codes.”
He reached for his gun.
Vincent moved first.
Still tied to the chair, he drove his shoulder into Anthony’s legs.
Anthony fell.
Claire kicked the gun away.
Gunfire erupted outside.
Marco’s team breached.
Anthony grabbed Claire’s ankle.
Vincent slammed the chair into him again.
Marco tackled Anthony.
Seconds later, it was over.
Anthony Russo was handcuffed.
Dr. Price was arrested forty minutes later at O’Hare Airport.
The hidden network inside the Moretti businesses began collapsing.
Claire rushed to Vincent.
“You idiot.”
He smiled weakly.
“You came.”
“You traded yourself for Lily.”
“Obviously.”
She cut his restraints.
His hand closed around hers.
“Claire.”
“Don’t.”
“I need to say something.”
“No dramatic confessions while bleeding.”
“I love you.”
She froze.
He smiled sadly.
“I know that doesn’t fix anything.”
Her throat tightened.
“No.”
“I know you may never want me back.”
She said nothing.
“But asking for divorce was the worst decision of my life.”
Claire looked at him.
“Because you got lonely?”
“No.”
His eyes held hers.
“Because losing you showed me something I should have understood while I had you.”
“What?”
“I wasn’t bored.”
His voice broke.
“I was loved so consistently that I became arrogant enough to mistake safety for emptiness.”
Claire’s eyes filled.
That sentence hurt because it was true.
Vincent whispered:
“I don’t want you back because my life is miserable without you.”
He squeezed her hand.
“I want to become someone who deserves to be invited into the life you’re building.”
Claire couldn’t answer.
Not yet.
Then Marco approached with Anthony’s confiscated phone.
“We found something.”
“What?”
“Messages between Anthony and someone else.”
Vincent frowned.
“Who?”
Marco looked at Claire.
“Evan Mercer.”
Claire’s blood went cold.
Her new boss.
Her old friend.
The man helping her rebuild her career.
Marco turned the screen toward them.
May you like
One message from Evan read:
CLAIRE TOOK THE COO POSITION. PHASE TWO CAN BEGIN.
