“Fine,” she lies, and the word hangs in the air between us.
“Good. We have something we need to discuss with you after breakfast.” Dad cuts into his bacon with deliberate precision, not looking at her. “Nothing urgent. Just some questions that have come up.”
Her fork clatters against her plate, and when I look at her face, I see pure terror there before she manages to school her expression into something neutral. “Questions about what?”
“We’ll discuss it after we eat.” Donovan’s voice is cold, and I see her flinch at the tone.
The rest of breakfast passes in excruciating silence, with Samantha barely touching her food and the three of us eating mechanically while the tension builds until I can barely breathe through it.
My chest is aching again, that familiar pain radiating down my arm, but I ignore it because this is more important than my failing heart.
Finally, Dad sets down his napkin and looks directly at Samantha. “We know about Robert.”
The color drains from her face so quickly, I think she might pass out, and her hands grip the edge of the table like she’s trying to anchor herself to something solid. “What?”
“Robert Allen. Your stepfather. The man you met with last night at the main resort.” Dad’s voice is still calm, but there’s steel underneath it now. “We know about his connection to the Volkov operation. We know about his gambling debts and his criminal activities. And we know that you’ve been in contact with him throughout your time here.”
“I can explain—” she starts, but Donovan cuts her off.
“Then explain. Explain why you came here. Explain what you were supposed to do. Explain every lie you’ve told us since you walked through our door.” His voice is sharp enough to cut, and I see tears building in her eyes.
She’s shaking now, her whole body trembling like she’s about to fall apart, and when she speaks, her voice comes out broken. “I thought you destroyed my mother’s company. I thought you killed her.”
The confession hangs in the air, and I feel something crack in my chest that has nothing to do with my heart condition.
“Robert told me that Grant’s conglomerate crushed her clothing business and that the stress killed her.” The words tumble out faster now, desperate and raw. “He showed me documents andevidence, and I believed him because I was grieving and angry and I needed someone to blame. He suggested I get close to Logan, and I did because I thought it would give me access to your family. I thought I could find proof of what you did and make you pay for it.”
“So you came here to destroy us,” Dad says, and it’s not a question.
“Yes.” The word is barely a whisper. “I came here to destroy you. I stayed with Logan even though he was cheating because I needed the access. I accepted your job offer because it gave me more opportunities to gather information. I’ve been lying about everything since I arrived.”
“And the baby?” I hear myself ask, and my voice sounds distant. “Is that part of the lie too?”
“No!” She looks at me with those dark eyes full of tears and desperation. “The baby is real. The pregnancy was an accident, and I didn’t know what to do because I came here to destroy you, and instead I—” She breaks off, sobbing now. “Instead, I fell in love with all of you, and I don’t know how to fix what I’ve done.”
“You fell in love with us,” Donovan repeats, and I can’t tell if he believes her or not.
“I did. I do.” She’s crying so hard she can barely speak. “Everything started as a lie, but it became real somewhere along the way, and now Robert is threatening to expose me if I don’t give him the information he wants, and I can’t do that to you, but I also can’t lose you, and I don’t know what to do.”
“What information does he want?” Dad’s voice cuts through her breakdown.
“Offshore account numbers. Names of criminal associates. Evidence of money laundering he can use to take you down.” She wipes at her tears with shaking hands. “He’s working for Volkov. He orchestrated my entire relationship with Logan to get me close to you. Everything he told me about my mother was a lie. She was already failing before you got involved. Robert married her to use her business for money laundering, and when it became a liability, he used it to pay off his gambling debts. To your organization, actually.”
The pieces click into place, and I feel rage burning through the hurt.
“He manipulated your grief,” I say slowly. “Turned you into a weapon and pointed you at us.”
“Yes.” She’s looking at me now, and I see genuine remorse in her eyes. “I didn’t know. I swear I didn’t know until last night when he told me the truth. Everything I believed about you was a lie that Robert fed me, and I was too broken to question it.”
“And the abortion pills?” Dad asks quietly.
Her face goes white, and I see panic flash across her features. “How did you?—”
“We know everything, Samantha. Every lie. Every secret. Every plan.” Dad leans forward, and his voice is dangerously soft. “So I’ll ask you again. The abortion pills. Why?”
“Because I thought I couldn’t have a baby for men I came here to destroy.” The words come out in a rush. “Because I was terrified and guilty, and I didn’t know if I deserved this life or this family or any of it. But I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t take them. I just hid them in my drawer and tried to figure out what to do.”
Silence fills the dining room, heavy and suffocating, and I watch her fall apart in front of us while my own heart is breaking and reforming into something harder.
