Eve twisted her fingers together. "Do you really think you'll be able to investigate this discreetly, Hal?"
Hal smiled and straightened his back. "Dr. Russell, you of all people should know how well I can keep a secret. That night Roger and Pierre took all of us hostage, you almost got killed because of it."
"Yes, I know," Eve replied, shuddering at the memory of being thrown into the ocean.
If it hadn't been for TC risking his own life to jump in and save her, she wouldn't be here right now.
How could she have kept her past a secret from him? TC had risked everything for her that night—including his life—and she hadn't even been brave enough to be honest with him.
"Dr. Russell?"
Hal's voice snapped Eve out of her daze.
Hal cleared his throat. "I was just explaining to you and Mr. Crane that I can keep this investigation to myself and a few of my most trusted men."
"How do you know that they can be trusted, Hal?" Eve's heart raced as she glanced at Julian. "This is our son we're talking about."
"Believe me, I understand your concern," Hal reassured her. "We will take every precaution we can."
"That's what you said when you faked Sheridan's death—and yet she almost really died." Eve's voice cracked. "What if we're taking a chance with our son's life just by looking for him? He has no idea he's related to Alistair Crane—what if we're playing God with his life?"
Gwen paused before the entrance to the cell block and took a deep breath in.
She could do this. She had to do this.
She deserved to be treated better than this.
She deserved to have a mother.
She could learn to take care of the part of her that was still a scared little girl—just like Sheridan could.
Straightening her back, Gwen forged her way into the area where her mother was being held and put her purse on a chair. "I want to talk to you, Mother."
Rebecca folded her arms in front of her chest. "I have nothing to say to you, Gwen. I've already told you that."
Gwen's body twitched.
Every cell inside of her started screaming at her to turn around—to flee before it got worse.
But was running really protecting herself? Gwen didn't know. Wasn't running saying it was okay for her mother to treat her this way—that she would just bow and cave like she was expected to?
Gwen swallowed hard.
"I have plenty to say to you," she said. "The least you could do is listen."
"The least I could do?" Rebecca huffed. "Have you forgotten, Gwennie, that you're the reason I'm stuck behind these bars?"
Gwen's shoulders tightened; tension gripped her body. Pressing her lips together in a thin line, she closed her eyes and inhaled.
"What? Can't you handle the truth, Gwennie?"
"The truth is that you helped Alistair plot to kill Sheridan," Gwen uttered, her heart pounding in her chest. "The truth is that the Crane fortune means so much to you that you'll do anything to get it. Divorce Daddy, humiliate Ethan, help Alistair plot a murder . . . really, Mother, do you have a limit? Because, if so, I'd love to hear it!"
"I really find all of this condemnation rich coming from you!" Rebecca feigned indignation. "After all, when you thought my schemes could get Ethan back for you, you were all for them. . . . There was nothing you wouldn't do."
"I wouldn't say 'nothing,'" Gwen said quietly. "I wouldn't have resorted to murdering an innocent person if that had been on the table."
Rebecca sauntered up to the cell bars and put her face between them. "Listen to me, Gwennie. You have no idea what Alistair Crane is capable of. If I hadn't helped him with his scheme to off Sheridan, there's no telling what he would have done to me . . . what he would have done to you."
"So you do still love me then?" Gwen choked back a sob.
"Of course, I love you, Gwennie. You're my only daughter." Rebecca turned away from the cell bars. "That's why it hurt so much when you turned me in. I thought you would always side with me . . . always be loyal to your mother."
"I wasn't trying to get you in trouble, Mother," Gwen cried quietly. "I was just trying to save Sheridan."
"And tell me, where was Sheridan when Ethan broke up with you?" Rebecca turned around, one of her eyebrows raised. "She was siding with that little tramp Theresa—that's where she was!" Rebecca meandered back over to her daughter. "Don't make any mistake—when it comes to Ethan, Sheridan will always side with Luis's sister."
"Mother, Sheridan just wanted Ethan to be happy!" Gwen's cries turned into sobs. "Ethan and Sheridan have been like brother and sister for their entire lives—I can't fault her for that!"
"Maybe you can't, but I can." Rebecca narrowed her eyes on her daughter. "I'm loyal to you, Gwen—even if you're not loyal to me."
"How can you pin this all on loyalty, Mother? There was a potential murder involved here!"
"Maybe so, but let me ask you a question, Gwen. Will you really be able to testify against me?" Rebecca folded her arms in front of her chest. "I'm your mother, Gwen, and I love you like no one else does. Are you telling me, when it comes down to it, you can put your friendship with Sheridan in front of that?"
Gwen's heart dropped to her stomach. Testify? She might have to testify against her mother? She had never thought about that.
Gwen's eyes filled with tears. "Mother, this isn't fair!"
"Who said anything about 'fair'?" Rebecca pouted. "I'm talking about love—the love you should have for your mother. The love that apparently you don't have."
"I know this is terrifying, Eve," Julian said. "Knowing our son is out there somewhere—knowing he may be in danger. I know Hal promised to be discreet about the search for our son and my mother, but it doesn't make waiting any easier."
"No, it doesn't," Eve cried softly. "Talking to Hal, reliving that night when TC saved me from drowning—I've made so many mistakes, Julian. What if we're making one now?"
"I don't know how to answer that, Eve," Julian admitted. "But I do know that the night you helped rescue my sister you acted with nothing but courage and compassion."
"I may have helped save Sheridan," Eve conceded. "But remembering how TC risked his life to save mine—how much he truly loved me—is making me realize that I never should have kept my past a secret from him."
"You were scared, Eve," Julian argued. "You thought that he might leave you."
"I should have been brave anyway," Eve insisted. "I should have been honest with him."
"You were just doing the best you could, Eve," Julian said. "No one can fault you for that."
"Can't they, though?" Eve hugged her arms to her chest. "I kept a huge secret from my husband. I was so afraid that he'd find out the truth about my past that I unintentionally destroyed my marriage. I tore my family apart."
"Eve, you never meant to do any of those things," Julian insisted.
"But I still did them anyway." Eve looked at Julian, tears in her eyes. "I was so afraid that my husband and daughters would find out who I really was and leave me—and then I lost them anyway."
"Eve, I love you for who you are," Julian said.
"No, you don't, Julian." Eve's throat tightened.
She had kept a huge secret from Julian, too.
