Part 2
“Don’t trust Jason.”
The words were so faint I almost thought fear had invented them.
I leaned closer, my breath catching somewhere between a gasp and a prayer. Ethan Thornton’s eyes were open—only barely—but open. Dark lashes trembled against skin too pale for a living man’s face. His lips parted again, but no sound came out.
“Ethan?” I whispered.
His gaze shifted toward me.
Not fully. Not clearly. But enough.
Enough to tell me that somewhere behind that still body, behind nine months of silence, Ethan Thornton was still there.
My fingers shook as I reached for the call button beside his bed.
Before I could press it, his hand moved.
Not much. Just two fingers curling weakly against the sheet.
No.
I froze.
“You don’t want me to call anyone?”
His eyelids dipped once.
Yes.
My heart pounded so loudly I was certain the nurse outside would hear it through the walls.
“Why?” I breathed.
His mouth moved again. I bent so close my hair brushed the pillow.
“Camera,” he whispered.
A chill slid down my spine.
I slowly lifted my head and looked around the room.
The flowers. The speakers. The polished corners. The small black dome tucked near the ceiling that I had mistaken for part of the security system.
Someone was watching.
I swallowed hard and forced myself to sit back like nothing had happened. Like I was just a nervous new bride, crying beside the unmoving husband she had been paid to marry.
Ethan’s eyes drifted shut.
A second later, the door opened.
Jason Thornton stepped inside without knocking.
“Well,” he said, smiling. “Settling in?”
My blood went cold.
I wiped my cheeks quickly. “I was just… talking to him.”
Jason’s gaze flicked to Ethan’s face, then to mine.
“People do that. Talk to coma patients.” He strolled into the room like he owned the air. “Makes them feel less dead, I suppose.”
“He isn’t dead.”
“No.” His smile sharpened. “Not yet.”
The words hung between us.
I stood, trying not to let my knees shake. “Is there something you need?”
Jason looked amused by my attempt at courage.
“Just making sure my dear cousin’s new wife understands the house rules.”
“I was told Vivian would explain them.”
“Grandmother explains the polite rules.” He came closer. “I explain the real ones.”
I forced myself not to step back.
Behind me, Ethan lay silent again. Motionless. A perfect corpse with a heartbeat.
Jason lowered his voice. “You were brought here for a purpose, Claire. Smile when asked. Sign what you’re told. Stay out of rooms that are locked. And don’t get sentimental over him.”
My stomach tightened.
“What happens if I do?”
His eyes moved over my face slowly. “Sentimental people make mistakes.”
The door opened again.
Vivian Thornton stood in the hallway, her silver hair pinned neatly at the nape of her neck, her expression carved from ice.
“Jason,” she said. “I don’t remember inviting you.”
His smile vanished for half a second before returning. “Just welcoming Claire.”
“She has been welcomed.”
“It’s my family too.”
Vivian walked into the room, and somehow it became hers. “Not yet.”
The silence that followed was thin and sharp.
Jason’s jaw tightened. Then he gave me a small, theatrical bow.
“Enjoy married life,” he said, and left.
Vivian waited until his footsteps faded down the corridor. Then she turned to me.
“Did he threaten you?”
I should have said no.
The safe answer was no.
Instead, I looked at the camera in the corner.
Vivian followed my gaze.
For the first time since I met her, something like anger moved through her eyes.
“Come with me,” she said.
She led me down a corridor lined with portraits of unsmiling Thorntons. Men in dark suits. Women with pearls and steel in their eyes. Generations of wealth watching me pass like I was an intruder.
We entered a sitting room at the end of the hall. Vivian closed the door, crossed to a bookshelf, and pressed something beneath the edge of a marble bust.
A soft click sounded.
“The room is clean,” she said.
I stared at her. “You check?”
“In this house, we assume we are always being watched.”
My mouth went dry.
Vivian poured tea with hands that did not tremble.
“Now,” she said. “Tell me exactly what happened in Ethan’s room.”
I hesitated.
