More toxic gas surged in, thickening the air into sticky dampness.
“Ethan, you’d kill your own mother? You’re a monster!”
I scrambled up, trying to rip off Margaret’s mask to prove her identity. But her face was a bloody ruin from the impact, the mask fused into her flesh. Peeling it back already revealed bone.
I froze mid-motion.
“Why stop? Too scared to finish?”
The mocking voice rang from the monitor:
“Rachel, even now you’re still trying to trick me? I called my mom’s assistant, Mr. Johnson. He said her car has been parked at the company all day. She never left!”
A bitter smile tugged at my lips.
Ethan would never know—Margaret had deliberately erased her tracks, even leaving her car behind, because she knew her purpose in visiting me wasn’t pure.
My nails dug deep into my palms as I finally set aside my pride and pleaded:
“Ethan Miller, what will it take for you to save me and my mom?”
Ethan’s tone carried no emotion whatsoever:
“Simple. Hand over the patent for your current research project to Chloe White, and I might consider sparing you and Mary Carter.”
A chill shot through my heart.