Chapter 18 - Ronan Finally Heard Daniel Price’s Whole ConfessionPrice asked for one meeting before entering his plea.
Ronan almost refused.
Then accepted.
Hospital conference room.
Two attorneys nearby.
No secrecy.
Price looked thinner.
“Remember when we met?”
Ronan sat.
“Academy parking lot.”
“You hated me.”
“You parked across two spaces.”
“You threatened to key my truck.”
“I was twenty-three.”
Price smiled.
Then it disappeared.
“I saved you from the warehouse.”
Ronan looked at him.
“Yes.”
“I want you to know I did that before Dane threatened my family.”
“Why does that matter?”
“Because I need one memory where I wasn't acting from fear.”
Ronan considered.
“Okay.”
Price’s eyes filled.
“Then I went back for Evan.”
“Yes.”
“I almost died.”
“Yes.”
“And afterward I thought that made me good.”
Ronan stared.
Price continued.
“I used the rescue like credit.”
“For what?”
“Everything afterward.”
He looked down.
“I told myself a man who ran into a burning warehouse couldn't be corrupt.”
Ronan felt the line.
Good acts used as permission for later bad ones.
Price continued.
“Dane threatened Kelly and the kids. I gave him schedules.”
“At first.”
“Yes.”
“Then money.”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“Over eight years?”
Price swallowed.
“Almost six hundred thousand.”
Ronan stared.
“Jesus.”
“I spent most.”
“On?”
“House. College funds. Trips.”
Price laughed bitterly.
“Normal things bought with abnormal money.”
Ronan said nothing.
“Then Calder.”
“You blackmailed him.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I hated him.”
“That's not why.”
Price nodded.
“I wanted power.”
There it was.
“And Evan?”
Price's face broke.
“The worst.”
“You gave him to Dane.”
“Yes.”
“After saving him.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Calder stopped paying. I needed Dane to believe I was loyal again.”
Ronan stood halfway, then sat.
Price cried silently.
“I told myself Evan was already living underground. I told myself Dane needed him alive.”
“Did you know that?”
“No.”
“You gambled his life.”
“Yes.”
Ronan looked away.
Price continued.
“I’ve wanted to tell him sorry for five years.”
“Then do it if he wants to hear.”
“Will he?”
“I don't know.”
Price nodded.
“Marcus came to me.”
Ronan listened.
“He was scared. Reminded me of Evan at seventeen.”
Price smiled sadly.
“And I realized I had become every man I used to hate.”
“So you helped.”
“Yes.”
“Why not come clean immediately?”
“Cowardice.”
“Again.”
“Yes.”
“I started building the release system. Recovered the original. Compared Marcus’s files. Then Howard noticed.”
“And kidnapped you.”
“Dane did.”
Ronan studied him.
“Did you pull my personnel file?”
“No.”
“Did you know Howard did?”
“Not until after.”
“Would you have warned me?”
Price hesitated.
Ronan laughed bitterly.
“Still?”
“I don't know.”
That answer was at least honest.
Price wiped his face.
“I spent so long managing lies I stopped knowing which truth would save anyone.”
Ronan leaned back.
“Truth doesn't always save people.”
Price looked up.
“But?”
“It stops you choosing who gets sacrificed.”
Price cried.
Ronan thought of Evan.
Marcus.
Maeve.
Lorraine.
Thomas.
Every secret framed as protection.
Price asked:
“Do you forgive me?”
Ronan looked at him.
“No.”
Price nodded.
Expected.
Ronan continued:
“Maybe someday I forgive parts.”
Price looked surprised.
“I don't know what that means.”
“Neither do I.”
Price laughed weakly.
Ronan stood.
“What I do know is you don't need my forgiveness to tell the truth.”
Price nodded.
“I'm going to.”
“Good.”
As Ronan reached the door, Price said:
“Ronan.”
He turned.
“I never wanted you dead.”
Ronan stared.
Price continued.
“Even at my worst.”
Ronan thought of the warehouse call.
GET HALE OUT NOW.
Then years of betrayal.
“I believe you.”
Price looked relieved.
Ronan added:
“That doesn't make everything else smaller.”
May you like
“I know.”
And for the first time, Price didn't ask it to.
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