The Invincible son-inlaw's Secret Identity

Chapter7: A chance Encounter with Clara

Clara didn't hesitate. She looked at the red-haired woman, whose confident, severe face showed no trace of mockery or greed. This woman wasn't part of her mother's world. This was the world of the Sky Citadel.

She opened the door and slid into the back of the sedan. The car was silent, instantly cutting her off from the noise and chaos of her family’s ruin.

"Who are you?" Clara asked, her voice shaking. "And where is Ethan?"

The woman in the suit turned slightly. "My name is Anya. I am an aide to... The Commander." She didn't use the name Ethan, as if it were a weakness, a ghost of the past. "As for the Commander, he's busy setting the groundwork. He knew you would leave once you saw the debt was cleared."

"He... he paid it?" Clara whispered, clutching the faded hospital bill in her backpack."The medical debt for your grandfather was paid in full yesterday, just before he signed the papers," Anya confirmed. "

It was the Commander's last order as the 'worthless son-in-law.' He wanted to remove the last chain holding you to that house before he removed the chains holding him."

Clara felt a fresh sting of guilt. "And the Everest deal? The one that was supposed to save my family, the one they forced me to divorce him for... he destroyed it."

Anya smiled, a brief, cold flash of white teeth. "He didn't destroy it. He canceled his own order. The Everest Corporation exists only to serve the Commander's will.

It was never intended for the Thompson family; it was a three-year financial puppet show designed to keep the family wealthy enough to provide him with cover."

Clara put her face in her hands. Three years of insults, three years of endurance, all for a "cover."

"He could have just left! Why let them treat him like that?"

"It was a test of loyalty, both to his organization and to you," Anya explained calmly. "But the final insult—the wine, the demand for divorce—broke the protocol. The Commander decided the safety of the organization was no longer worth your suffering."

The black sedan sped toward the Sky Citadel, but it suddenly slowed down, pulling into the private, underground garage of a trendy, high-end café.

"Why are we stopping?" Clara asked."

The Commander has a final, immediate order," Anya said, looking at a small earpiece. "He wants to see you now."

Clara stepped out of the car. The garage was empty except for their vehicle and a massive, futuristic, matte-black car that looked like a weapon . She recognized the style instantly from the blurry photos she sometimes saw online—it was a bespoke Shadow Series vehicle, only owned by the world's most powerful elite.

Anya led her through a security door and into a small, private elevator. When it opened, they weren't on the hundredth floor. They were on the ground floor, but in a section Clara didn't recognize—a closed-off, private dining room of the café.

In the center of the room, standing by a minimalist, marble bar, was a man in a perfectly tailored dark suit. He was tall, his posture was straight and unyielding, and his dark hair was neat.

He was facing away, but the breadth of his shoulders and the cold, powerful stillness of his figure were overwhelming.

Clara knew who it was, but she didn't recognize the power."Commander," Anya announced, bowing her head slightly. "Clara Thompson has arrived."

Ethan turned around.The man in front of her looked like Ethan Reed, but he wasn't. The defeated look was gone. His eyes, now cold and utterly in control, looked over her not with love, but with evaluation. He was a total stranger.

"Clara," he said. His voice was the same low rumble she remembered, but without the strain of hiding. It was the voice that had commanded the general on the phone. The voice of a monarch."Ethan," she whispered, taking a step back. "What... what have you become?"

"I haven't become anything," he said, taking a slow step toward her. "I have just stopped pretending."

Clara found her voice, fueled by three years of hurt and the fresh sting of his deception. "All those years... you watched them humiliate you! You let my mother throw wine in your face! You let Leo call you trash! Why didn't you stop them? Why didn't you tell me?"

Ethan stopped, his expression unchanged. "I endured because of the protection protocol, and because of the debt. But mostly, I stayed for you."

"Don't lie!" she cried, feeling tears prick her eyes. "You stayed for your mission! You stayed for your test!"

"The test was for the organization," Ethan countered, his eyes hardening. "My endurance was for you. If I had told you who I was, they would have used that knowledge to manipulate and control you even worse. I was trying to save you from being a trophy wife. But you signed the divorce papers anyway, for a fake deal."

Clara's shame was a burning heat. "I signed them for my grandfather! For the family's honor! Not for Leo!"

"Your intentions don't matter, Clara. Your action does," he said, his words cutting her like glass. He was unforgiving. "You chose their greed over the man you married. You thought a contract was more important than my dignity."

He walked right past her to the bar and poured a glass of water. "I have no time for the old life. The Thompson family will be bankrupt by nightfall. Leo is arrested and ruined. Your debt is cleared. You are free."

He turned back, holding the glass out to her. "But I am no longer Ethan Reed, the worthless son-in-law. I am the Commander. You can stay with me, but not as my wife.

You will be my protected asset. I will reclaim you, but the relationship we had is over."He pushed the glass into her hand. Their fingers brushed, and the shock of his touch—so cold, so powerful—made her gasp.

"Take a breath, Clara," he ordered, his eyes locked on hers. "You have 48 hours to decide what you want. Stay and watch your family crash, or come with me and watch them from above."

Anya stepped forward, holding out a single, golden keycard. "The apartment for the protected asset, Commander. It is ready."Ethan nodded, never breaking eye contact with Clara. "Go with Anya.

You are safe. But remember this, Clara: I am your salvation, but I am also your judge."

He turned his back on her again, walking towards the private elevator to the Sky Citadel's command center.

"Wait, Ethan! I need to know one thing!" Clara yelled, feeling him slip away completely. "Where did all this power come from? Who are you, really?"

Ethan paused just before the doors closed. He didn't turn around. His answer was a low, chilling whisper that promised both rescue and immense danger.

"I am the one who was promised power when I was abandoned as a child. I am the Shadow Monarch's heir, and my time begins now."