Chapter 9 — The Husband Who Came Crawling Back
Chapter 9 — The Husband Who Came Crawling Back
My mother had barely finished saying, "I can explain," when the steel door behind us opened.
Everyone turned.
A man stumbled through.
His suit was torn.
His face was bruised.
Blood ran from the corner of his mouth.
For one impossible second, I didn't recognize him.
Then he lifted his head.
"E-Elena?"
My heart stopped.
"Ethan."
My husband.
The man who had walked out of the hospital while I was holding our newborn daughter.
The man who had looked at me as though my pain was an inconvenience.
The man who had left with another woman.
He stood in my father's laboratory, broken and terrified.
Luka immediately stepped in front of me.
Ethan raised his hands.
"Please."
Luka's voice was cold.
"One step closer and you won't take another."
Ethan looked at him.
Then at me.
"I didn't know."
I laughed.
It came out bitter.
"You didn't know what?"
"Any of this."
I looked at his bloodied face.
"Then why are you here?"
He swallowed.
"Because Victoria tried to kill me."
The room went silent.
Gabriel frowned.
"Victoria?"
Ethan nodded.
"She knows about M-17."
My mother closed her eyes.
"No."
Ethan looked at her.
"She knows everything."
I felt my stomach twist.
"Why would Victoria know?"
Ethan looked at me.
"Because she was never my mistress."
My blood went cold.
"What?"
He took a shaky breath.
"She was sent to watch you."
I stared at him.
"Who sent her?"
Ethan hesitated.
"Your father."
The room seemed to tilt.
"No."
"He contacted Victoria six months before our wedding."
"Why?"
"To make sure you stayed away from the Carter family."
I couldn't understand.
"My father chose my husband?"
Ethan nodded.
"Yes."
"Then why did you marry me?"
His eyes filled with shame.
"Because I loved you."
I laughed.
"You left me."
"I was afraid."
"You left me with a newborn."
"I thought she wasn't mine."
"You didn't even look at her."
He lowered his head.
"I know."
"You called me unstable."
"I was told..."
"By whom?"
He looked at Gabriel.
Then my mother.
Then Luka.
Finally, he looked at me.
"By Victoria."
I felt something inside me harden.
"She told you I was unstable?"
"She showed me medical records."
"Fake records?"
"Yes."
I stared.
"She said you had a history of delusions."
My hands trembled.
"She made you believe I was mentally ill."
"I didn't know they were fabricated."
"And you believed her."
He closed his eyes.
"Yes."
I stepped closer.
"Then you abandoned your daughter."
"I thought Hope wasn't mine."
"She is."
"I know."
"How?"
Ethan looked at Luka.
"Because Victoria told me the DNA results."
I froze.
"What results?"
"The ones you never saw."
Dr. Shaw's report had shown that Hope was genetically related to Luka.
But Ethan claimed there was another test.
One that had been hidden.
"Show me."
Ethan reached inside his jacket.
He pulled out a folded document.
His hands shook.
I took it.
The laboratory logo was familiar.
The date was two days before Hope's birth.
The subject was listed as:
ELENA CARTER
The father:
ETHAN CARTER
The result:
PATERNITY PROBABILITY: 99.99%
I stared at the page.
My knees weakened.
Ethan caught me.
Luka immediately pushed him away.
"Don't touch her."
I held the report.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
Ethan's voice broke.
"Because Victoria told me if I stayed, they would kill you."
"Who?"
"Your father."
I looked at my mother.
She said nothing.
Ethan continued.
"She said Charles had already ordered your disappearance once."
My blood ran cold.
"You believed him?"
"I saw photographs."
"What photographs?"
"Your funeral."
I stared.
"What?"
"They had prepared everything."
My mother covered her mouth.
Ethan looked at her.
"Your mother knew."
I turned.
"Mom?"
She whispered:
"I did."
My chest hurt.
"You knew they were planning to kill me?"
"I knew they were planning to disappear you."
"Why?"
"Because your father believed you were dangerous."
I shook my head.
"I was eighteen."
"You knew too much."
Luka suddenly moved toward Ethan.
"What did Victoria tell you about me?"
Ethan went pale.
"She said you were a criminal."
"That's all?"
"No."
"What else?"
Ethan looked at me.
"She said you were obsessed with Elena."
Luka's jaw tightened.
"Of course."
Ethan continued.
"She told me you had been stalking her."
I stared.
"But you knew me."
"No."
"You had never met him?"
"Not until recently."
"Then why did you believe her?"
Ethan looked ashamed.
"Because she showed me evidence."
Luka laughed bitterly.
"Evidence."
"What evidence?"
Ethan looked at him.
"Your fingerprints were found at Elena's apartment."
Luka's expression changed.
"That's impossible."
"Your DNA was found on her clothes."
I froze.
Luka stared at Ethan.
"Someone framed me."
Ethan nodded.
"That's what I believe now."
Gabriel stepped forward.
"Where did Victoria get the evidence?"
Ethan looked at him.
"From the Carter Foundation."
Gabriel's face hardened.
"That's impossible."
"Why?"
"Because the Foundation was dissolved fifteen years ago."
Ethan shook his head.
"No."
He pulled out his phone.
"It's still operating."
He showed us a bank statement.
Millions of dollars.
Transfers.
Shell companies.
The final recipient:
M-17 FOUNDATION
My father's name was attached.
Charles Carter.
But my father had supposedly died six years ago.
I stared at the account.
"He's alive."
Gabriel nodded.
"Yes."
"And he's still funding M-17."
"Yes."
"Then why did he make everyone believe he was dead?"
Gabriel looked at me.
"Because he needed the world to stop looking for him."
"To do what?"
"Finish the experiment."
I looked toward the monitor.
Hope.
Sleeping.
My baby.
My father had her.
Ethan stepped toward me.
"I can help you get her back."
Luka blocked him.
"No."
Ethan looked at him.
"You think I don't want to?"
"You walked away."
"I was wrong."
"You abandoned her."
"I know."
"You don't get to come back because you're scared."
Ethan's eyes filled.
"I don't want forgiveness."
"Then what do you want?"
He looked at me.
"To keep her alive."
I stared at him.
For the first time, he didn't look like my husband.
He looked like a man who had finally realized what he'd lost.
But I couldn't forget the hospital corridor.
The way he walked away.
The way I held Hope alone.
The way he didn't look back.
"Why should I trust you?"
"You shouldn't."
He took out another item.
A flash drive.
"But you should see this."
He handed it to me.
Luka took it first.
He plugged it into one of the computers.
A video appeared.
Victoria.
Standing in a hotel room.
She was talking to someone off camera.
Her voice was clear.
"Once Ethan leaves her, Elena will have nowhere to go."
A man's voice answered.
"Good."
Victoria smiled.
"And the baby?"
"Take her."
"Alive?"
"Obviously."
"Why?"
The man's voice became cold.
"Because the child carries the complete sequence."
I stopped breathing.
Then the voice continued.
"Elena can die."
My mother gasped.
"But the baby must survive."
The screen went black.
I looked at Ethan.
"Who was the man?"
He shook his head.
"I don't know."
Gabriel stared at the screen.
"I do."
Everyone turned toward him.
Gabriel whispered:
"Charles."
The laboratory doors suddenly opened.
A woman walked inside.
Victoria.
She was holding a gun.
Ethan froze.
"Victoria."
She smiled.
"You were always disappointing."
He stepped backward.
"You tried to kill me."
"I should have succeeded."
Luka moved toward her.
She aimed the gun at me.
"Don't."
He stopped.
Victoria looked at Hope's monitor.
"Where is she?"
I stared.
"You don't know?"
"No."
"Then why are you here?"
"Because Charles betrayed me."
Gabriel laughed.
"That's what you get for trusting him."
Victoria's eyes flashed.
"He promised me the company."
"And?"
"He promised me Ethan."
She looked at my husband.
"And he promised me you would disappear."
I felt cold.
"You wanted my life."
"I wanted what belonged to you."
"What?"
"Everything."
She pointed at me.
"The inheritance."
My stomach tightened.
"What inheritance?"
Victoria smiled.
"The one your father hid from everyone."
My mother looked terrified.
"Don't."
Victoria laughed.
"She doesn't know."
I turned toward my mother.
"Know what?"
Victoria answered for her.
"Your father didn't build M-17 for money."
She stepped closer.
"He built it because your mother inherited something."
"What?"
"The Carter gene."
I stared.
Victoria's smile widened.
"And your mother wasn't the original carrier."
She pointed at me.
"You were."
Silence.
I felt dizzy.
"But I was born after—"
"Exactly."
Victoria's eyes gleamed.
"Which means your father didn't discover M-17."
She lowered the gun.
"He created it because of you."
Suddenly, the lights went out.
A gunshot.
Someone screamed.
The room plunged into darkness.
I heard Luka shout:
"Elena, get down!"
I dropped.
Another shot.
Glass shattered.
Then footsteps.
Fast.
Running away.
The lights came back.
Victoria was gone.
Ethan was on the floor.
Blood covered his shoulder.
Luka stood over him.
My mother was crying.
Gabriel was staring at the monitor.
The image had changed.
Hope was no longer sleeping.
She was awake.
Standing in the glass crib.
And behind her stood a man.
Gray hair.
White coat.
My father.
Charles looked directly into the camera.
Then he smiled.
"Elena."
I couldn't move.
"I know you're here."
He lifted Hope into his arms.
My daughter reached for him.
I screamed.
"Don't touch her!"
Charles smiled.
"You always were protective."
"Give her back!"
"No."
"She's my daughter."
"She's my granddaughter."
"She's not your experiment."
His expression hardened.
"Everything you are exists because of this experiment."
He looked at Hope.
"And now we finally have proof it worked."
The screen went black.
A countdown appeared.
06:00:00
I stared.
"What is that?"
Gabriel's face went pale.
"The final procedure."
Luka turned toward him.
"What procedure?"
Gabriel whispered:
"Extraction."
My blood froze.
"Extraction of what?"
He looked at me.
"Her genetic sequence."
I grabbed Luka's hand.
"How long?"
Gabriel stared at the countdown.
"Six hours."
Ethan slowly pushed himself upright.
"I know where the facility is."
Everyone looked at him.
"Where?"
He pointed at the map on the wall.
"Under the Carter Foundation."
I stared.
"The Foundation building?"
He nodded.
"There is a basement."
Luka's eyes hardened.
"Then we go now."
I looked at my daughter on the black screen.
Six hours.
Six hours until my father tried to turn my baby into a collection of genetic material.
I picked up the gun Victoria had dropped.
My hands were shaking.
But my voice wasn't.
"Then let's go get my daughter."
Ethan stood.
"I'll come."
I looked at him.
"No."
He stared.
"I'm coming whether you want me to or not."
"You abandoned us once."
He nodded.
"I did."
Then he looked at Hope's photograph.
"I won't do it twice."
For the first time, I believed him.
Not because I trusted him.
But because I could see the fear in his eyes.
The same fear I felt.
A father's fear.
And somewhere beneath all the lies, I knew one thing.
Ethan had finally realized that Hope was his daughter.
And if he wanted a second chance...
He would have to earn it.
Because I was no longer the woman who waited for men to save me.
May you like
I was a mother.
And my daughter was six hours away from being taken from me forever.
