Chapter 33

Sitting in his car, Ethan had his hands clutched onto the wheel so tightly that his knuckles turned white. The meeting with Gabriel had unsettled him more than he cared to admit.

He could feel the walls closing in, each alternative narrowing down to one desperate last course of action. If he didn't do something now, everything that he had worked for, every carefully laid plan would come crashing down.

It wasn't that he needed to convince Gabriel or manipulate him. Gabriel was suspicious and wanted to believe he was right, and there was a door at which Ethan could find an entrance.

Ethan's sharp intake of breath as the ideas began racing in his head in all directions. He was down to his last card, a risky one, where he would have to bluff a breakdown to appear at the end of his rope, finally confessing.

But it would be a finely scripted lie, one that would clear him of guilt while casting blame upon those below him.

It was a risk, but it was his only shot.

Ethan dialed Gabriel's numb