“And we now have your recorded confession, financial records, attempted kidnapping, and armed assault.”
Vale’s face finally changed.
Walter tapped his jacket.
A microphone was clipped beneath the collar.
Every word in the hangar had been transmitted.
Melanie began laughing and crying at the same time.
“You staged another trap.”
Walter smiled.
“Your family has a talent for them.”
Vale survived the shooting.
By morning, he was under federal guard.
Virex executives across the country were arrested. Laboratories were seized. Hidden patient records were recovered.
My parents were charged not only with my assault, but with conspiracy, fraud, unlawful imprisonment, attempted murder, and involvement in Grandpa’s death.
The evidence became impossible to bury.
Yet the greatest battle remained.
What would happen to the treatment hidden inside my blood?
Governments wanted it.
Corporations wanted it.
Scientists argued that it could change medicine forever.
For weeks, I lived in a protected residence with Wyatt and Melanie while lawyers fought over my body as though I were property.
Wyatt gave me space.
He did not ask for forgiveness.
He did not touch me unless I reached for him first.
One evening, I found him sitting alone on the porch.
“You should hate me,” he said.
“I tried.”
“Did it work?”
“No.”
He looked at me.
“I would take back every lie if I could.”
“You cannot.”
“I know.”
