The Name I Signed

Lily's POV

For a long moment, I couldn't speak.

I could have told him the truth. The words were right there in my mouth. My name is Lily Carter. I clean offices at night. My brother almost died, and your fiancée's mother bought me like a dress off a rack.

But if I said that, the Sinclairs would lose their deal, and they would want their money back. Noah was still in a hospital bed, and his care was not over. I couldn't give Ethan the truth. Not yet.

So I set the tray down on the table by the door, turned around, and looked him in the eye.

"I'm your wife," I said. "That's who I am."

"That's not an answer."

"It's the only one I have for you." My voice shook, but I kept going. "You can believe I'm a liar if you want. You can call your grandmother in here right now and tell her I'm a fake. But think about it first, Ethan. Your uncle hired the nurse who almost put you back to sleep. You told Marcus not to trust anyone. If you send me away today, who is going to check your pills tomorrow?"

His jaw tightened. He didn't answer.

"I don't want anything from you," I said more quietly. "I don't want your money or your company. I just want you to get better. That part is real, whether you believe the rest or not."

The clock ticked on the wall. Duke looked from me to Ethan and back again, as if he was waiting to see who would win.

Finally, Ethan leaned his head back against the pillow and closed his eyes.

"Fine," he said. "For now."

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding.

"But understand this," he added, without opening his eyes. "I will find out who you are. And when I do, you'd better hope I still need you."

I picked up the tray and left before my knees gave out.

The rest of the morning was strange and quiet. I sat in the corner of his room with a book I couldn't read, while Ethan pretended to sleep. When his grandmother came to visit, he spoke slowly and acted confused, and he asked her twice what day it was. Eleanor held his hand and looked worried. When Uncle Richard came in at noon, Ethan didn't even open his eyes.

"Poor boy," Richard said, looking down at him. "He's still so weak."

Then he turned and looked at me. His smile was friendly, but his eyes were cold.

"I heard there was a problem with the nurse this morning, Vanessa."

My stomach dropped, but I kept my face calm. "She was rude to me," I said, and shrugged the way Vanessa would. "I asked Marcus to send her away. I don't like rude people around my husband."

Richard studied me for a second, then laughed softly. "Of course. You're a Sinclair. You always did like things your way."

When he left, Ethan opened one eye and looked at me.

"Not bad," he said.

It was almost a compliment. I tried not to smile.

At three o'clock, I told him I needed to go out for a few hours.

"Where?" he asked.

"Shopping," I lied. "Your wife needs new shoes."

He looked at me for a long moment, then waved his hand. "Take the car. Be back before dinner."

I didn't take the car. I walked down the long driveway, past the tall gates, and caught a bus at the corner. It took two buses and almost an hour to get to the hospital, but I didn't care. I had promised Noah I would visit him every day I could, and I wasn't going to break that promise on the first day.

At the front desk, the woman smiled at me. "Here to see your brother, Miss Carter?"

"Yes," I said, and signed my real name in the visitor book. Lily Carter. It felt so good to write it that I almost wanted to cry.

Noah was sitting up in bed when I walked in, eating a cup of red jello and watching cartoons. His face had color in it again. He still looked small and tired, but he looked alive.

"Lily!" he said, grinning. "You came!"

"Of course I came." I sat on the edge of his bed and kissed his hair. "How are you feeling, champ?"

"The nurse says I'm the best patient on the whole floor. And the food is way better than yours."

"Hey," I said, laughing. "Be nice to me. I'm all you've got."

He made a face, but he leaned against my shoulder anyway. For a whole hour, I forgot about Ethan and the Sinclairs and the blue pill. I was just Lily again, sitting with my little brother and laughing at a cartoon dog falling off a roof.

When it was time to leave, Noah held on to my hand. "Lily, is your new job nice? Are the people good to you?"

I thought about Ethan's cold gray eyes and Uncle Richard's frozen smile.

"They're fine," I said. "Don't worry about me. Just get strong."

I walked out of the hospital into the late afternoon sun, feeling lighter than I had in days. I was halfway across the parking lot, heading for the bus stop, when I saw it.

A black car was parked near the exit. The engine was running, and the windows were dark. As I walked past, the back window slowly rolled down.

A thin man in a dark suit was sitting inside, holding his phone up toward the hospital doors. Toward me.

It was Marcus.

He lowered the phone and looked straight at me. He didn't smile. He didn't say a word. He just nodded once, politely, the way you nod at someone you know.

Then the window rolled back up, and the black car pulled away, driving fast toward the Blackwood estate.

I stood frozen in the middle of the parking lot as the car disappeared around the corner.

He had seen me walk into the hospital. He had seen me sign the book.

And by tonight, Ethan would know my real name.