Chapter 1 - THE PILL I REFUSED TO SWALLOW
I looked at the white pill in Nathan Drake’s palm and knew one thing with absolute certainty.
I wasn’t taking it.
“Tell me what it is.”
Nathan’s jaw tightened.
“Emergency contraception.”
“Then why didn’t you say that?”
His eyes moved to mine.
“Because I thought you understood.”
“No. You ordered me to swallow a pill.”
For the first time since I had entered his penthouse, the most feared man in Chicago looked as though he had no answer.
I wrapped the sheet around myself and stood.
“You paid my mother’s hospital bill. I’m grateful for that. But you didn’t buy the right to make decisions about my body.”
Nathan’s expression changed.
Not anger.
Something closer to shame.
He placed the pill back on the nightstand.
“You’re right.”
I stared at him.
Men like Nathan Drake probably apologized about as often as Lake Michigan caught fire.
“You’re not going to threaten me?”
“No.”
“You’re not going to demand the money back?”
His eyes hardened.
“That money was for your mother. It was never payment for obedience.”
The distinction mattered.
But it did not erase what had happened.
Nathan opened a sealed package from the drawer and placed it beside the pill.
“If you want it, read the instructions yourself. Call a doctor. Throw it away. Whatever you choose.”
I dressed without answering.
At the door, he stopped me with one sentence.
“Bella.”
I turned.
“I’m sorry.”
I left before he could see how much those words affected me.
Three hours later, I was at the hospital arranging the release of my mother’s body.
The billing coordinator looked confused.
“Your account has been cleared.”
“I know.”
“No. I mean everything.”
She turned the monitor toward me.
Hospital balance: zero.
Transportation: paid.
Funeral home deposit: paid.
Burial plot: paid.
I stared at the screen.
“Nathan Drake did all this?”
She shook her head.
“The hospital payment came from Mr. Drake.”
My stomach tightened.
“And the rest?”
“A private trust.”
“What trust?”
She handed me a small envelope.
“This was found among your mother’s personal belongings. She left instructions that it should be given to you only after the account was settled.”
My hands shook as I opened it.
Inside was a brass key and a letter in my mother’s handwriting.
The first sentence made my knees weak.
Bella, if Nathan Drake has entered your life, then the secret I spent twenty-four years hiding has finally found you.
May you like
And underneath it, my mother had written:
Whatever happens, do not tell Nathan what his uncle did to his mother.
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