Chapter 6 - You’re Sleeping Beside Me Tonight
I didn’t tell the agents.
That was probably the stupidest decision I had made in thirty-nine years.
It was also the first decision that felt entirely mine.
For one night, everybody had decided what I could know.
What I could risk.
Where I could go.
My father had done it.
Evan had done it.
Mateo had done it.
I was finished being protected into helplessness.
I showed the photograph to Evan.
He went pale.
“No.”
“That was my reaction.”
“Claire, no.”
“Very original.”
“You can’t go.”
“I can.”
“You won’t.”
I looked at him.
“Would you like to physically stop me?”
He knew better.
Nora entered the interview room.
“What happened?”
I showed her.
She covered her mouth.
“Is that real?”
“Yes.”
Evan paced.
“They want the ledger.”
“They want the cipher too.”
He stopped.
“No.”
“You’re staying here.”
“Claire—”
“They kidnapped you once. I’m not delivering you back.”
“And Mateo?”
“I’m getting him.”
“How?”
I had been thinking about that.
My father hid the ledger because Victor could not decode it.
Evan had the cipher.
Which meant the physical book mattered less than Victor believed.
Unless we gave him something better.
A trap.
The federal agent in charge was named Joanna Price.
Forty-something.
Calm.
Eyes that missed very little.
I had lied to her approximately seven minutes earlier.
I decided to stop.
I showed her the photograph.
She stared at me.
“You were going to leave without telling me.”
“Yes.”
“That would have been exceptionally stupid.”
“I have received that feedback.”
She almost smiled.
Almost.
“What does Hale want?”
“The ledger.”
“Where is it?”
“Safe.”
“With Reyes?”
“Yes.”
“Can you access it?”
“I know where.”
Agent Price sat down.
“Then we do this correctly.”
The plan took two hours.
Victor specified a location in the new message.
The Halston Grand.
Room 814.
Of course.
Back where it began.
He wanted symbolism.
Powerful men often did.
The hotel had been partially closed because of the previous night’s security breach.
Federal agents occupied three floors without advertising the fact.
I wore a wire.
So did Evan.
The real ledger went into a leather bag.
The pages had been photographed.
The cipher existed only in Evan’s memory.
At noon, I returned to the hotel.
I walked through the same lobby where gossip reporters had waited earlier.
My photograph was already everywhere online.
MYSTERY WOMAN KISSED BY MATEO REYES.
MAFIA HEIR’S GALA ROMANCE.
WHO IS CLAIRE DONOVAN?
Not one story mentioned the kidnapping.
Good.
Victor wanted scandal to hide crime.
For the moment, it was working for us too.
The elevator carried me to eight.
Room 814.
I knocked.
The door opened.
Margaret stood there.
My aunt looked twenty years older than she had the night before.
“Claire.”
I walked past her.
Mateo sat near the window.
His hands were tied.
Blood stained his shirt near the shoulder.
He was conscious.
When he saw me, fury crossed his face.
“What are you doing here?”
“Nice to see you too.”
“I told you not to come.”
“You also announced my sleeping arrangements to two hundred people without consultation. Your judgment is questionable.”
Even injured, he almost smiled.
Victor stood near the desk.
“You two are charming.”
“Let him go.”
“Ledger.”
I lifted the bag.
“Mateo first.”
Victor laughed.
“This is not a negotiation.”
“It is now.”
I set the bag on the bed.
Then stepped away from it.
Victor looked at Margaret.
She retrieved it.
Opened it.
The ledger was inside.
Victor’s face relaxed.
“Finally.”
“Untie him.”
Victor ignored me.
“Evan?”
“Safe.”
“The cipher?”
“With him.”
“Then the ledger is useless.”
“Not entirely.”
“What did you do?”
“My father built a second cipher.”
A lie.
Victor’s eyes narrowed.
“Where?”
I tapped my temple.
“Here.”
Mateo stared at me.
He knew I was bluffing.
Victor didn’t.
At least not yet.
“I want proof.”
I walked toward the ledger.
Margaret stepped away.
I opened to a page.
Account 4471.
Name: Meridian Holdings.
Beside it were three dates.
I had memorized them that morning.
“Take the month from the first date. Subtract the final digit of the account. Apply that number to the initials.”
Victor watched.
“What does that give you?”
“Location.”
“Which is?”
“Geneva.”
His expression changed.
Lucky guess?
No.
Agent Price had found that account.
It really was Geneva.
Victor looked impressed.
Mateo looked horrified.
He understood what I was doing.
Making myself valuable.
“Untie him,” I repeated.
Victor considered.
Then nodded.
Margaret cut Mateo’s restraints.
He stood slowly.
His shoulder was bleeding but not badly.
He came toward me.
Under his breath:
“You are insane.”
“Later.”
“You should not be here.”
“Later.”
Victor smiled.
“Bedroom.”
I looked at him.
“What?”
“All of you.”
That was not part of the plan.
He pointed toward the adjoining suite.
“We’re leaving through another route.”
My pulse increased.
Agents were waiting for the agreed signal.
I had not given it yet.
Victor took the ledger.
Margaret opened the bedroom door.
Inside, another man waited.
The fake server.
Gun in hand.
Beyond him, the connecting door led to another suite.
Then another.
Victor had built a path through multiple rooms.
Smart.
We moved.
Mateo stayed beside me.
His fingers brushed mine once.
Deliberately.
A question.
Are you wired?
I pressed my thumb twice against his hand.
Yes.
He understood.
We reached the final suite.
Victor opened a service exit.
Stairs.
If we entered them, the agents might lose us.
I stopped.
“My shoe.”
Victor looked back.
“What?”
I bent down.
“Broken heel.”
I wasn’t wearing heels.
He looked at my sneakers.
Damn.
Mateo moved first.
He hit the gunman’s wrist.
The gun fired into the ceiling.
I dropped.
Victor ran.
Margaret screamed.
Mateo drove the gunman into the wall.
I grabbed the ledger from the floor.
Then the service door opened.
Federal agents flooded in.
“FBI! DROP IT!”
Victor froze halfway down the stairs.
Margaret raised her hands.
The gunman collapsed.
It should have ended there.
It didn’t.
Victor smiled.
Then he took out a phone.
“Claire.”
I looked at him.
“You really should have checked on Evan.”
My blood turned cold.
Agent Price shouted, “Phone down!”
Victor pressed the screen.
Nothing happened.
His smile disappeared.
Agent Price smiled instead.
“We did check.”
Evan had been moved forty minutes earlier.
Victor was out of moves.
For the first time, I saw fear.
Real fear.
He looked at Margaret.
She looked away.
Agents handcuffed him.
Then her.
As Victor passed me, he said softly:
“You think Mateo is different from his father?”
Mateo stepped between us.
Victor laughed.
“No matter how clean the suit, Reyes blood is Reyes blood.”
I expected Mateo to react.
He didn’t.
He simply watched Victor disappear down the stairs.
Then he turned to me.
“You lied about the cipher.”
“Yes.”
“You made yourself the most valuable person in the room.”
“Yes.”
“You came alone.”
“Technically, I came with twenty-seven federal agents.”
“You could have been killed.”
“So could you.”
“I know.”
“That doesn’t make yours more important.”
He stared at me.
I stared back.
Then Agent Price cleared her throat.
“I hate interrupting whatever this is, but Mr. Reyes needs medical attention.”
The next six hours were chaos.
Statements.
Ambulances.
Evidence.
Search warrants.
Calls from my board.
Calls from reporters.
Calls from donors.
By evening, Victor Hale had been charged with kidnapping, conspiracy, attempted extortion and enough financial crimes that Agent Price stopped listing them.
Margaret agreed to cooperate.
That hurt more than I expected.
She had murdered my mother.
Maybe not deliberately.
Maybe not with a plan.
It didn’t matter.
She had concealed it.
Helped Victor.
Forged my name.
Betrayed every holiday dinner and birthday card that came after.
Some wounds did not become smaller just because the person who caused them was sorry.
Evan was safe.
Nora was safe.
The foundation accounts were frozen temporarily.
My board placed me on administrative leave.
I should have been devastated.
Instead, I felt strangely free.
At nine that night, I found Mateo sitting in a private hospital room.
His shoulder had been stitched.
He was wearing a white shirt someone had brought him.
No jacket.
No armor.
He looked almost normal.
Almost.
“You shouldn’t be here,” he said.
“I have heard that sentence enough for one lifetime.”
He looked toward the window.
“Victor will cooperate.”
“Probably.”
“He’ll name people.”
“Agent Price said the same.”
“Some of them will come after us.”
“Us?”
His gaze returned.
“You know what I mean.”
“No, actually.”
He stood.
“You should stay somewhere secure tonight.”
I folded my arms.
“Are you about to say the line again?”
His mouth twitched.
“No.”
“Coward.”
That surprised him.
Good.
I stepped closer.
The room became quieter.
“Why did you kiss me?”
“I told you.”
“To make them think I was leaving with you.”
“Yes.”
“That was the only reason?”
Mateo looked at me for a long time.
“No.”
My heart did something deeply inconvenient.
“What was the other reason?”
“I had wanted to for approximately twenty seconds.”
I laughed.
“Twenty seconds?”
“You were yelling at a donor who tried to cut the pediatric wing budget.”
“I was not yelling.”
“You were terrifying.”
“He wanted to replace neonatal equipment with a sculpture.”
“I know.”
“That sculpture cost six hundred thousand dollars.”
“I know.”
“And you found that attractive?”
“Very.”
I shook my head.
“You are strange.”
“So I’m told.”
I stopped directly in front of him.
His expression became serious.
“I meant what I said.”
“Which part?”
“I won’t touch you without permission.”
The difference between the ballroom and this room felt enormous.
I looked at his mouth.
Then back into his eyes.
“You may kiss me now.”
He didn’t move immediately.
Maybe he wanted to be certain.
I nodded once.
Then Mateo kissed me.
No audience.
No threat.
No declaration.
Just a kiss I chose.
When we separated, his forehead rested lightly against mine.
“You’re still not sleeping in my bed.”
I smiled.
“That depends.”
His eyebrow lifted.
“On?”
“Whether you snore.”
He laughed.
A real laugh.
I had never heard it before.
Then my phone rang.
Evan.
I answered immediately.
“Hey.”
His voice was strange.
“Claire.”
Every muscle in my body tightened.
“What happened?”
“Agent Price opened the last sealed page in Dad’s ledger.”
I looked at Mateo.
“And?”
Evan was silent for two seconds.
Then:
“There’s another name.”
“What name?”
He swallowed.
“Yours.”
“I already saw mine.”
“No.”
His voice dropped.
“Not Claire Donovan.”
May you like
A pause.
“The name Dad said you were born with.”
