Sheridan rounded the corner to the hospital's elevator bank, her heart pounding in her chest. If she could just get herself together, then maybe she could be the wife Luis needed—the wife that he deserved.

One of the elevators dinged.

Sheridan jumped back.

Tears sprang to her eyes as a familiar man stepped out.

"Ethan!" Sheridan threw her arms around him. "Ethan, I'm so glad you're here!"

Ethan engulfed Sheridan in an embrace and hugged her tightly against his chest. "Sheridan, I heard what happened—I heard you almost wound up dead." Ethan's voice cracked. "I don't think I could take it if that happened again."

Sheridan squeezed him tighter. "I'm not dead, though, okay? Or even close to it."

"I heard that Martin Fitzgerald saved your life," Ethan said. "Despite everything Alistair and Julian tried to make everyone believe, it sounds like he really is the hero that Pilar made him out to be."

"Yes, he is." Sheridan's heart dropped. "He took on my father to save my life, and now look how he's paying for it."

"Sheridan . . ." Ethan leaned back to look at her. "Any other decent human being would have done the same thing. What other choice did he have?"

"I don't know." Sheridan stepped out of his embrace. "But I can't help but think that everyone would have been better off if he had just let my father take me."

"Luis wouldn't have been better off," Ethan argued. "Or me for that matter. Sheridan, I know you don't see yourself this way, but you are an important part of so many people's lives."

"And what about Pilar?" Sheridan whispered. "Or Miguel and Theresa? Is it better for Pilar not to have her husband—or for them to lose their father?"

"No, of course not." Ethan clamped his hands down on her shoulders. "But that doesn't mean that your life isn't important, too, Sheridan."

Sheridan fought back a fresh wave of tears as Ethan pulled her back into his arms. "I don't know about that Ethan."


"If you need anything, I'll be right outside, Gwen." Sam motioned toward Rebecca's cell before exiting the holding cell area.

"Thanks . . ." Gwen's voice trailed off as she turned to face her mother.

Her mouth agape, Rebecca stared back at Gwen. "Well, you have a lot of nerve coming here after what you've done."

"What I've done?" Gwen furrowed her brow and approached her mother's cell. "What are you talking about, Mother?"

"You and my pookie—you both turned me in!" Rebecca crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Maybe I should have seen this type of disloyalty coming from him, but never, in a million years, would I have ever seen it coming from you."

"Mother, I . . ."

"No, you're my daughter!" Rebecca rose to her feet. "Your loyalty should always be to me above all others!"

"Mother, Alistair was trying to kill Sheridan!"

Rebecca grabbed ahold of the cell bars and stuck her nose through them. "Are you saying your best friend means more to you than your mother?"

"Mother!" Gwen threw her hands up in the air. "How can you even ask me that? How could you have expected me to stand aside and let her die?" Gwen's eyes welled with tears. "You know, what we did to Ethan is one thing, but this? Mother, this is murder!"

"I know." Rebecca crossed her arms in front of her chest. "And if Sheridan hadn't been such a little brat and broken up with Luis when Julian and I hired that imposter, none of this would be happening. We all could have gone on our merry ways, and she could have kept on living, none the wiser."

"Mother, do you hear what you're saying?" Gwen sank down onto a nearby stool. "Are you actually condoning everything Alistair has done to her?"

Rebecca shrugged her shoulders. "She shouldn't have gotten involved with a man from the wrong side of the tracks. It's as simple as that." Rebecca gave Gwen a pointed look. "Don't stand here and tell me Sheridan didn't know what was expected of her."

"What was expected of her?" Gwen sprang up from the stool. "What about love? Doesn't that matter, Mother? Or would you still have wanted me to marry Ethan if I hadn't been in love with him?"

"Gwen, that's not a fair comparison."

"It's a perfect comparison!" Gwen shook her head. "Mother, what has happened to you? Have you become so warped by your desire for the Crane fortune that nothing else matters to you? Not even your own daughter?"

Gwen closed her eyes for a second and took a deep breath in. "Mother, does it even matter to you that I would have been devastated if my best friend was murdered?" Gwen rubbed her head. "Or if I had been forced into a loveless marriage?"

"Of course it matters to me, Gwen." Rebecca paused. "Or at least it did."

"Did?" Gwen raised one brow.

"Yes, did." Rebecca's eyes narrowed on the corner of her cell. "This . . . what you've done to me . . ." Rebecca waved her hand about the cell. "It's beyond forgivable."

"What are you saying, Mother?"

"Gwen, it pains me to say this . . ." Rebecca hung her head and twiddled her fingers together. "But after what you've done . . ." Rebecca looked up. "I no longer consider you my daughter."