Chapter 14 - THE LAST MEMORY
They reached Ruth’s facility before sunrise.
Willa ran inside.
A nurse met her in the hallway.
“She had a stroke.”
Willa stopped.
“How bad?”
“I’m sorry.”
Those two words destroyed her.
Ruth lay in a hospital bed.
Small.
Fragile.
Her eyes were open.
Willa sat beside her.
“Mom?”
Ruth turned slowly.
For several seconds, there was no recognition.
Then something changed.
“Willa?”
Willa broke.
“Yes.”
Ruth smiled.
“My baby.”
It was the first time in almost a year Ruth had remembered her without confusion.
Willa bent over her hand.
“I’m here.”
“You look tired.”
Willa laughed through tears.
“I’ve had a weird month.”
Ruth looked past her.
Everett stood quietly in the doorway.
“Who’s that?”
Willa wiped her face.
“My husband.”
Ruth frowned.
“You got married?”
“It’s complicated.”
Everett stepped closer.
Ruth examined him.
“You take care of her?”
Everett looked at Willa.
“I’m trying.”
Ruth nodded.
“Try harder.”
Willa laughed.
Everett said, “Yes, ma’am.”
Ruth smiled.
Then her eyes closed.
Her breathing changed.
Willa knew the sound.
She had heard it beside dozens of hospital beds.
Knowing didn’t make it easier.
“Mom?”
Ruth squeezed her fingers once.
Then she was gone.
Willa sat there for a long time.
Everett didn’t speak.
He simply remained beside her.
Hours later, outside the facility, Willa finally said, “Everything I did was for her.”
“I know.”
“The wedding. Sterling. All of it.”
“I know.”
“And now she’s gone.”
Everett looked at her.
“She died knowing you were safe.”
Willa shook her head.
“That doesn’t make this hurt less.”
“No.”
He took her hand.
“It shouldn’t.”
She leaned against him.
For the first time since she had met him, Everett didn’t try to solve anything.
He just stayed.
Ruth was buried three days later.
Willa placed her old nursing pin in the casket.
Afterward, the nursing board called.
Her record had been cleared completely.
Her license was reinstated.
St. Ambrose publicly apologized.
Willa listened without emotion.
When she hung up, Everett asked, “How does it feel?”
“Too late.”
“For what?”
“For the girl who needed them to believe her.”
Everett nodded.
“But not too late for the woman standing here.”
A week later, Raymond, Sterling, Whitfield, and Allison were all indicted.
Whitfield accepted a plea deal and confessed to killing Harold Fisk.
Sterling testified against Raymond.
Allison’s financial empire collapsed.
The Kane businesses were placed under independent legal oversight.
Everett began separating legitimate companies from everything his family had done in the shadows.
And then, one evening, he placed the divorce papers in front of Willa again.
“I promised you a choice.”
Willa stared at them.
Everett continued.
“You’re free.”
She picked up the pen.
His expression didn’t change.
But his jaw tightened.
Willa signed.
Everett looked down.
Then she tore the papers in half.
He blinked.
“What are you doing?”
“That marriage was Sterling’s.”
She dropped the pieces onto the table.
“If you want another one, ask me properly.”
Everett stared at her.
For perhaps the first time in his life—
Everett Kane had no idea what to say.
Willa smiled.
“Well?”
He slowly lowered himself onto one knee.
Then stopped.
“I don’t have a ring.”
She laughed.
“You own half of Chicago.”
“I’m having a difficult week.”
Before he could continue, his phone rang.
He looked at the screen.
Claire.
Everett answered.
His smile disappeared.
“What happened?”
Willa watched him.
Everett slowly stood.
May you like
“What do you mean, Sterling escaped?”
Cliffhanger: Just when Willa and Everett were finally free to choose each other, the man who had started their nightmare disappeared from federal custody.
