I stared at Derek’s face until the room blurred.
He looked exactly as I remembered.
Confident.
Handsome.
Smiling as though life had never told him no.
“What is he doing there?” I whispered.
Reed studied the photograph.
“You said he was in Phoenix.”
“He is.”
“You sure?”
“No.”
The word tasted terrible.
I had believed what Derek told mutual friends.
That he had moved.
That he wanted nothing to do with me.
Nothing to do with Ava.
Maybe that had never been true.
Tommy examined the image.
“This wasn’t taken randomly.”
“What do you mean?”
“The angle. Whoever took it was watching you.”
My skin crawled.
Reed looked at me.
“When did Derek leave?”
“Six weeks before Ava was born.”
“Why?”
“He said fatherhood wasn’t compatible with the life he wanted.”
Reed’s mouth hardened.
“Convenient.”
“You think he’s connected to Vincent?”
“I think we find out.”
“No.”
Both men looked at me.
“If Derek is involved, I want to hear it from him.”
Reed stared at me.
“That’s not happening.”
“Why?”
“Because this isn’t a custody dispute.”
“He’s Ava’s father.”
“Biologically.”
“You don’t get to decide what that means.”
Reed stepped closer.
“And neither does a man who helped someone photograph you outside a maternity ward.”
I hated that he had a point.
By afternoon, Tommy had information.
Derek had never moved permanently to Phoenix.
He had spent four months there, then returned to Illinois.
More importantly, he owed $187,000 in gambling debts.
To a company controlled by Vincent Marchetti.
I felt physically sick.
“That’s impossible.”
Tommy slid a folder across Reed’s desk.
“Casino markers. Sports betting. Private games.”
I shook my head.
“Derek hated gambling.”
“Apparently Derek hated losing more.”
Reed read another page.
“He sold information.”
My heart stopped.
“What information?”
Tommy looked at me.
“About you.”
I stood.
“No.”
“Claire—”
“No. He left. He didn’t care enough to call on Christmas. Why would he suddenly care where I work?”
“Because Vincent wanted leverage,” Reed said.
I looked at him.
“And Derek had you.”
The truth hit like ice water.
My address.
My schedule.
My babysitter’s name.
Where Ava’s pediatrician was.
Everything Derek had learned while pretending we were building a family.
I sat down.
For the first time since the nightmare began, I cried.
Not loudly.
That would have been easier.
Tears simply fell while I stared at my hands.
I had spent almost a year telling myself Derek leaving was the worst thing he could do.
I had been wrong.
Reed crouched in front of me.
I had never seen him kneel for anyone.
“Claire.”
“I trusted him.”
“I know.”
“He knew I had nothing.”
His voice was quiet.
“That’s why men like him choose people who love them.”
I looked at Reed.
The sentence sounded personal.
Maybe betrayal had different faces but left the same scar.
My phone rang.
Unknown number.
Everyone froze.
Reed held out his hand.
I answered instead.
“Hello?”
Derek’s voice came through the speaker.
“Claire.”
My stomach flipped.
Reed’s eyes darkened.
“Where are you?”
Derek laughed nervously.
“That’s complicated.”
“You broke into my apartment?”
“I didn’t.”
“You told them where I lived.”
Silence.
“I made mistakes.”
“You sold information about your daughter.”
“It wasn’t like that.”
My anger became something clean and sharp.
“Then explain what it was like.”
“I owed money. Bad people were pressuring me.”
“And you gave them Ava?”
“I gave them your work schedule.”
“That led them to Ava!”
“I didn’t know she’d be there.”
Reed stood absolutely still.
Derek continued.
“Listen. Vincent wants Callaway. You’re just leverage.”
“Why call me?”
“Because I can get you out.”
Reed silently shook his head.
I ignored him.
“How?”
“Meet me.”
“Where?”
“A parking garage downtown. Lower Wacker. Nine tonight.”
“No.”
“Claire, please.”
“You disappeared before our daughter was born. Now you sold us to gangsters. You don’t get to say please.”
His voice cracked.
“They’ll kill me.”
I closed my eyes.
Once, that sentence would have controlled me.
Not anymore.
“What do they want?”
“Reed signs over the south-side businesses. He walks away. Vincent lets us go.”
Us.
As if Derek and I still belonged in the same word.
I looked at Reed.
“Why does Vincent want those businesses so badly?”
Reed didn’t answer.
Derek did.
“Because they’re not just restaurants and warehouses. Callaway has evidence.”
Reed’s expression changed.
“What evidence?” I asked.
Derek lowered his voice.
“Records. Payments. Judges. Cops. Politicians. Vincent’s entire network.”
Now I understood.
This wasn’t about territory.
It was about survival.
Reed had proof powerful men had been bought.
And Vincent believed I was the easiest way to make him surrender it.
“You have until nine,” Derek said. “If Reed doesn’t come, Vincent stops negotiating.”
The call ended.
I looked at Reed.
“You have records?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Insurance.”
“Against Vincent?”
“Against everyone.”
I stood.
“Then give them to the police.”
Tommy laughed without humor.
“Some of the police are in them.”
“Federal authorities.”
Reed and Tommy exchanged a glance.
That glance told me they had considered it.
“You want out,” I said.
Reed’s eyes snapped toward mine.
“You said you wanted out twelve years ago. Maybe this is how.”
“It isn’t that simple.”
“No. It’s terrifying. That’s different.”
I stepped closer.
“You built your whole life around making sure nobody could hurt you again. How’s that working?”
His jaw tightened.
“You have a gift for disrespect.”
“And you have a gift for avoiding obvious truths.”
Tommy covered a smile.
Reed looked at him.
“Leave.”
“Gladly.”
When we were alone, Reed spoke quietly.
“If I turn those records over, half the people connected to my father’s organization go down.”
“Good.”
“Including me.”
I hadn’t considered that.
“For what?”
“Conspiracy. Tax crimes. Obstruction. Things I did before I changed the business.”
“How long?”
“I don’t know.”
The possibility hit me harder than it should have.
“You could go to prison.”
“Yes.”
“Then why keep the evidence?”
“Because someday I intended to use it.”
“When?”
His gaze moved toward Ava sleeping in the next room.
“I think someday may have arrived.”
At 8:42 that evening, Reed put on a black coat.
“You’re not going to the garage,” I said.
“I am.”
“Then I’m coming.”
“No.”
“Derek won’t trust you alone.”
“I don’t need his trust.”
“You need him talking.”
Reed frowned.
I folded my arms.
“You can lock me upstairs. I’ll climb out a window.”
“You’re impossible.”
“So I’ve been told.”
At 9:03, we entered the parking garage together.
Tommy and two men remained out of sight.
Derek stood beside a concrete pillar.
When I saw him, old memories attacked me.
Sunday pancakes.
His hand on my stomach when Ava kicked.
The first time he called me worthless during an argument.
The apology afterward.
The broken plate.
The night I finally locked myself in the bathroom because his voice had frightened me.
Then the empty apartment when he disappeared.
Derek looked thinner now.
Afraid.
“Claire.”
“Don’t come closer.”
He stopped.
Reed stood beside me.
Derek stared at him.
“You brought him.”
“That was the point.”
A vehicle appeared at the far end of the garage.
Then another.
Black SUVs.
Reed swore.
Derek’s face drained of color.
“I didn’t know.”
“What did you do?” I whispered.
Men stepped out.
Vincent emerged from the second SUV.
He smiled.
“Thank you, Derek.”
Derek backed away.
“You said she wouldn’t be here.”
Vincent drew a gun.
“You’ve disappointed me enough times.”
The shot cracked through the garage.
Derek collapsed.
I screamed.
Reed pulled me behind a concrete pillar as bullets struck the wall.
Tommy’s men returned fire.
Car alarms exploded into noise.
Reed shoved something into my hand.
A flash drive.
“If we get separated, take this.”
“What is it?”
“Everything.”
“The records?”
“Yes.”
“Reed—”
“Get it to the FBI.”
Another bullet hit the pillar.
He looked at me.
And for the first time, there was no coldness in his eyes.
Only urgency.
“Claire, if I don’t walk out of here, you take Ava and build the life you were supposed to have.”
My throat closed.
“No.”
“You understand me?”
“No!”
Before he could answer, smoke filled the garage.
Someone grabbed my arm.
I screamed.
A cloth covered my mouth.
The world tilted.
The last thing I saw was Reed fighting toward me through the smoke.
Then everything went black.