Page 128

“The surveillance footage. Marcus showed it to me the morning of our proposal. She had made her way onto the east gardens while you were having lunch with Charlotte. She was about to walk toward you when she was interrupted by a phone call.”

My heart sank. He knew the danger and instead of telling me, trusting me with my decision, he asked me to marry him. “Is that why you proposed?”

“No.” The word came without hesitation. “No,” he repeated. For the first time since he’d arrived, something changed in his expression.

“If Victoria had never existed…” He swallowed. “If Helix had never happened…if there had never been a single threat against you, I still would have asked you to marry me.”

His voice was steady, no longer detached. “Remember when I took you to the private archive?”

“Yes.”

“I stepped away for a few minutes.”

“Yes, you went to get coffee. It was when I found the conference programs.”

“In addition to getting us coffee, I went to get my mother’s ring.”

I stared at him.

“It was in my pocket the first time I said I loved you.”

That knowledge settled with an ache in my chest. He loved me, but not enough to have trusted me with the entire truth. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

He was quiet.

“You knew she was watching me. You knew she was connected to what had been happening inside Blackwood. You knew far more than I did, and you still let me believe I understood the danger.”

“I know.”

“Why?”

“Because I was afraid.”

“Of Victoria?”

“Of what you would choose if I told you.”

He paused. “I believed I was waiting until I knew more. Then there was another piece of information, and another. Every time I thought I was close to certainty, something changed. Eventually I had to admit certainty wasn’t what I was waiting for.”

“What were you waiting for?”

“A version of the truth that wouldn’t leave you with a choice I was afraid you’d make.” He dropped his head. “I didn’t trust my ability to live with the consequences if your judgment led you somewhere I couldn’t protect you.”

I exhaled. “How is Victoria?”

He met my eyes. “The physicians expect her to make a full recovery.”

“And after that?”

“After that,” he said quietly, “her future is in the hands of the justice system.”

I sat with that a moment. “When did you decide to suspend Aurora?”

He drew a slow breath. “The morning of. Marcus brought me the final fire investigation. The secondary circuit panel had been deliberately disturbed. It had passed inspection the Thursday before the intrusion into your office, and there was no record of Maintenance opening it afterward. Until then, the connection between the intrusion and the fire had been circumstantial. That morning, it became harder to dismiss.”

He paused. “Then there was a call to the Research Board. A woman posing as a journalist asked to have a private interview with you. Marcus understood before I did that the target had changed. Aurora was no longer her only target. She was trying to reach you.”

His hands remained still on his knees. “I decided within minutes. I told Marcus to close the sixth floor before you arrived. At the time, I thought it was the only responsible thing to do.”