Every shower. Every doctor visit. Every private conversation. Every night. Every whisper in the dark.
Two years with a surveillance device under my skin.
“We can remove it,” Carter said. “There’s a surgeon we trust fifteen minutes away. Local anesthetic. Quick procedure.”
“Not yet.”
The words came out before I could think them through.
Both men looked at me.
“If you remove it, they’ll know something’s wrong,” I said. “Right now David thinks I went somewhere predictable. If that tracker suddenly goes dark, Marcus will know I’m with you.”
Then I turned back to Carter.
“Show me everything,” I said.
Every file.
Every photo.
Every recording.
“If I’m going to destroy him, I need to know exactly who I married.”
Dad’s face closed.
“You are not destroying anyone. You are going somewhere safe while Carter and his team handle this.”
“No.”
My voice came out colder than I had ever heard it.
“Marcus took five years of my life. He put a device in my body. He took Mom. I am not hiding. I am fighting.”
The monitors glowed behind us.
Five years of lies, frozen in digital light.
“Show me everything,” I repeated.
After a long moment, Carter nodded and opened another file.
