Chapter 21: The Broken Half

The name Bella hit the ambulance bay harder than the gunshot. For two years, Leah had taught herself not to turn when someone said Isabella. But Bella was different. Bella belonged to childhood, to Catherine's bedtime stories, to Richard laughing over piano mistakes, to Sebastian before he became a knife. Ethan had never been given that name. Unless he had known her before she knew herself. Sebastian aimed at her heart. "Step aside." Ethan did not move. "You do not want another body on hospital property," Leah said. Sebastian laughed. "No. That is why you are coming with me." The gentle fear left Ethan's face. Cold returned, brutal and immediate. "You are in default, under federal scrutiny, and pointing an unregistered firearm in a hospital ambulance bay," he said. "Even your lawyers will sweat." "My lawyers work for people above you." "No," Ethan said. "They invoice people below my creditors." Leah would have admired the arrogance if the gun had not been pointed at her. A siren sounded two blocks away. Sebastian's eyes flicked toward the street. Megan's rideshare shot backward out of the bay, horn blaring. The distraction lasted half a second. Ethan used it. He slammed Sebastian's wrist against the SUV door. The gun fell. Leah kicked it under the ambulance. Sebastian struck Ethan across the face. Ethan hit back once. Sebastian went down. Not unconscious. Humiliated. That was worse. "Run," Ethan ordered. They ran. In the car, Leah kept the envelope under her coat and watched Ethan drive with blood at the corner of his mouth. Neither spoke until the hospital disappeared behind them. "You called me Bella," she said. "Did I?" "Do not insult me." His jaw worked. "Sometimes memories surface under stress." "Whose memories?" He looked at the road. "Mine." "All of yours?" Silence. Leah opened Elena's letter because if she waited for men to confess, she would die ignorant. My dearest Isabella Rose, If you read this, the Thornes kept you alive for a reason. That reason is not love. Leah stopped breathing. The next line was worse. The boy who saw us die is named Ethan. Trust him only if he remembers the song.