Chapter 9 - The Life Money Couldn’t Buy
Six months later, Ethan wore navy medical scrubs instead of a security jacket.
He still worked nights twice a week while completing advanced clinical training.
He complained about exams.
Grace quizzed him with flash cards.
Olivia pretended not to know the answers so Grace could feel smarter.
They had become something none of them had planned.
A family.
Not officially.
Not yet.
Olivia kept her penthouse, but she spent more nights in Ethan's apartment than at home.
Her expensive shoes accumulated beside Grace's sneakers.
Business magazines sat beside coloring books.
One morning, Olivia discovered a glitter sticker on her laptop before a billion-dollar presentation.
She left it there.
Victor noticed.
“Is that a unicorn?”
“No.”
“It clearly is.”
“Continue the presentation.”
He smiled.
Hart Tech launched Sentinel as an independent cybersecurity foundation for hospitals and emergency services.
Olivia funded scholarships for military medics transitioning into civilian healthcare.
She refused to name the program after Ethan.
He had threatened to disappear if she did.
So she named it the Sunrise Initiative.
He couldn't argue with that.
Calder eventually pleaded guilty to multiple federal charges.
Noah entered witness protection temporarily but remained in contact with Ethan.
Healing between the brothers came slowly.
Some wounds required time rather than medicine.
Then, one rainy Thursday night exactly one year after Olivia's accident, Ethan received a trauma call.
He was working in St. Haven's emergency department.
A young woman arrived after a highway collision.
She was terrified.
Ethan moved beside her.
“Look at me.”
Her eyes found his.
“Am I going to die?”
Ethan took her hand.
“No.”
“How do you know?”
He smiled.
“Because you're going to see the sunrise.”
From the doorway, Olivia heard him.
Her eyes filled with tears.
Afterward, Ethan found her waiting outside.
“You heard that?”
“Yes.”
“Are you stalking me?”
“Obviously.”
They walked toward the cafeteria.
Grace was inside doing homework.
Some things had changed.
Some had not.
Grace looked up.
“You're late.”
Olivia checked her watch.
“By three minutes.”
“I was hungry.”
Ethan handed her a sandwich.
Grace inspected it.
“No pickles?”
“No pickles.”
“Good.”
Olivia watched them.
This was the strange thing about happiness.
She had spent years imagining it would feel enormous.
Like winning.
Like ringing a bell on Wall Street.
Like watching numbers climb.
Instead, happiness looked like a cafeteria at 1:00 a.m.
A tired man.
A child doing homework.
A sandwich without pickles.
Ethan looked at Olivia.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“You're staring.”
“I know.”
Grace sighed dramatically.
“You two are gross.”
Olivia laughed.
Later that night, Ethan drove them home.
Rain tapped against the windshield.
For a moment, Olivia remembered twisted metal.
Blood.
Fear.
Her hand tightened.
Ethan noticed.
Without speaking, he reached across the console.
She took his hand.
The fear passed.
At home, Grace ran upstairs.
Ethan stopped Olivia before she followed.
“I need to show you something.”
“What?”
He took her onto the apartment building's roof.
Strings of warm lights had been hung across the railing.
Olivia stared.
“Did you do this?”
“No.”
Grace appeared behind them.
“I did!”
“You were supposed to stay downstairs,” Ethan said.
“I forgot.”
“You forgot?”
“Yes.”
She disappeared again.
Olivia laughed.
Then she turned.
Ethan was holding a small ring.
Her laughter stopped.
He looked almost as frightened as she had been in the emergency room.
“Olivia Hart, the first thing you ever asked me was to make your death fast.”
Her eyes filled.
“That's an awful proposal opening.”
“I practiced something better.”
“What happened?”
“I forgot it.”
She laughed through tears.
Ethan continued.
“I couldn't promise you there wouldn't be pain.”
He took her hand.
“I still can't.”
His voice became softer.
“But I can promise that when it comes, you won't face it alone.”
Olivia covered her mouth.
“I can promise Grace and I will make your life louder, messier and significantly less organized.”
“That's already happened.”
“And I can promise I'll keep choosing you.”
He lowered himself onto one knee.
“Every sunrise I'm lucky enough to get.”
Olivia was crying now.
“So… Olivia Hart…”
Grace's head appeared through the rooftop doorway.
“ASK HER!”
Ethan closed his eyes.
“Grace!”
“What? You're taking forever!”
Olivia laughed so hard she could barely breathe.
Ethan looked up.
“Will you marry me?”
“Yes.”
Grace screamed.
Olivia dropped to her knees and wrapped her arms around Ethan.
Grace ran over and joined them.
For several minutes, the three remained together beneath the lights while rain began falling softly around them.
Then Grace suddenly pulled away.
“Wait.”
“What?” Ethan asked.
“There's a problem.”
Olivia looked concerned.
“What problem?”
Grace folded her arms.
“Who's going to tell Grandma?”
Ethan stared at her.
Olivia stared at Ethan.
“Grandma?”
Grace's face changed.
She realized she'd said too much.
Ethan slowly stood.
“My mother is dead.”
Grace shook her head.
“Not your grandma.”
She pointed at Olivia.
“Hers.”
Olivia's face went white.
“My grandmother died when I was fourteen.”
Grace reached into her pocket.
She pulled out an envelope.
“A lady gave me this yesterday.”
Ethan's stomach dropped.
Not again.
Olivia opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
It showed a woman standing outside Hart Tech.
Older.
Elegant.
Very much alive.
Olivia recognized her immediately from childhood photographs.
Her grandmother.
May you like
On the back were five words.
WE NEED TO TALK. ALONE.
