Chapter 16 - THE LAST CONVERSATION

I agreed to see Ryan once.

In a monitored attorney conference room.

No privacy.

No touching.

No second chances.

He looked smaller than I remembered.

No expensive watch.

No confident smile.

Just a man in county-issued clothing.

“Grace.”

“You have ten minutes.”

His eyes filled.

“I never wanted it to go this far.”

“That sentence is meaningless.”

“Victor pushed me.”

“You met Victor before me.”

He looked down.

“Mom pushed me too.”

“You were an adult.”

“I loved you.”

I almost smiled.

“No. You loved what I could pay for.”

“That’s not fair.”

“Fair?”

“You watched your mother shave my head while I slept.”

He flinched.

“I thought it would scare you.”

“I know.”

“Into slowing down.”

“No. Into becoming easier to control.”

He started crying.

For years, tears would have changed me.

Not anymore.

“I’m sorry.”

“You’re sorry because you lost.”

He wiped his face.

“What do you want from me?”

“The truth.”

He hesitated.

Then he gave it.

Victor had approached him with the idea of targeting financially stable professionals years earlier.

Marriage fraud.

Asset access.

Ryan selected me.

Linda approved.

After my career advanced, Victor shifted the plan.

Ryan convinced himself nobody would get hurt.

He said that sentence twice.

I touched my shaved scalp.

“Look at me.”

He did.

“You planned to break me because you considered that harmless.”

His face collapsed.

When the ten minutes ended, I stood.

“Grace, please.”

I turned.

“Will you ever forgive me?”

“I don’t know.”

Hope flashed in his eyes.

I finished.

“But forgiveness would not mean access.”

I left.

“How was it?”

“Final.”

The next morning, I put on my dress uniform.

Ribbons.

My father’s restored Silver Star pin secured inside my bag.

At the command ceremony, General Reed handed me the unit colors.

“Colonel Grace Carter, you have the command.”

I took them.

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“Sir, I have the command.”

For the first time since the clippers woke me, the words felt bigger than everything they had done.