Chapter 2 - The Man Waiting at the Gate
Blaire grabbed Fiona before Luca could speak.
“Who knows her full name?”
Luca’s question came quietly.
“David. Family. Her preschool.”
“Who gave her that rabbit?”
Blaire looked down at Bunny.
“My mother.”
“When?”
“Before Fiona was born.”
Luca’s expression hardened.
“Where is your mother?”
“She died four years ago.”
The answer silenced him.
Security closed the aircraft door again.
Passengers protested.
Luca ignored them.
“Blaire, listen carefully. Nobody takes Fiona anywhere without your permission.”
“You don’t know David.”
“No.”
His eyes shifted toward the door.
“But David doesn’t know me either.”
Five minutes later, security moved Blaire and Fiona through a service corridor.
Luca stayed beside them.
“Your car can take you wherever you’re going,” he said.
“My cousin is expecting me.”
“We’ll take you there.”
“I don’t need rescuing.”
“I know.”
That stopped her.
David had spent years helping her in ways designed to prove she could not survive without him.
Luca had answered differently.
Not you need me.
I know.
They entered a private arrivals area.
Through the glass, Blaire saw David.
He looked exactly as he had three days earlier.
Perfect hair.
Gray coat.
Controlled expression.
As though he had not destroyed her life.
Then he saw Luca.
The color drained from his face.
That frightened Blaire more than anger would have.
David knew him.
Luca noticed too.
David pushed toward the security barrier.
“Blaire!”
Fiona woke.
“Daddy?”
Blaire’s heart cracked.
David pointed at Luca.
“Get away from him.”
Luca did not move.
“You seem unusually interested in who she stands beside.”
“This is family business.”
“You stopped making it family business when you locked a mother and a three-year-old child out of their home.”
David stared at Blaire.
“You told him?”
“She didn’t have to.”
That was a lie.
But it worked.
David’s eyes flicked toward the security cameras.
“Blaire, come with me.”
“No.”
His face changed.
“Now.”
“No.”
It was the smallest word she had spoken all week.
It felt enormous.
David lowered his voice.
“You have no idea what you’ve gotten yourself into.”
Luca stepped forward.
“Then explain it.”
David laughed once.
“You think you’re protecting her?”
“I think you’re frightening her daughter.”
David looked at Fiona.
For a moment, shame appeared.
Then vanished.
“I’m her father.”
Blaire tightened her arms.
“Then start acting like it.”
Security escorted David away from the restricted area.
Before leaving, he looked over his shoulder.
Not at Blaire.
At Luca.
“You should ask her mother what she stole from your family.”
Blaire went cold.
“My mother is dead.”
David smiled without warmth.
“I know.”
Then he disappeared.
In Luca’s SUV, Blaire sat beside Fiona while New York passed outside the tinted windows.
“What did he mean?”
Luca did not answer immediately.
“I don’t know.”
“You recognized those letters.”
“Yes.”
“What are they?”
He looked at Fiona.
“Not here.”
Blaire almost demanded an answer.
Then her phone rang.
Megan.
She answered immediately.
“Megan?”
Her cousin was crying.
“Blaire, don’t come here.”
“What?”
“Someone broke into the apartment.”
Blaire sat upright.
“Are you hurt?”
“No. I wasn’t home. The police are here.”
“What did they take?”
“That’s the weird part.”
Megan swallowed audibly.
“Nothing.”
Luca was watching Blaire.
Megan continued.
“They didn’t take my laptop. Jewelry. Cash. Nothing.”
“Then what were they looking for?”
“I think they were looking for you.”
Blaire’s skin prickled.
“Why?”
“The spare room was destroyed. Mattress cut open. Drawers emptied. Closet ripped apart.”
Fiona shifted against her.
Then Megan said, “There was something written on the mirror.”
Blaire closed her eyes.
“What?”
“WHERE IS THE RABBIT?”
The call ended.
Blaire looked down.
Fiona was awake.
She had heard everything.
Her tiny arms tightened around Bunny.
“Mommy?”
“Yes?”
“Grandma told me Bunny had a secret.”
Luca leaned forward.
Blaire stared at her daughter.
“When did Grandma tell you that?”
Fiona frowned.
“She didn’t.”
“But you just said—”
“She told Bunny.”
Blaire’s breath caught.
Children mixed dreams with memories.
But Fiona began pulling at the rabbit’s damaged ear.
“There’s something hard.”
Luca crouched beside her.
“May I?”
Fiona looked at Blaire.
Blaire nodded.
Luca carefully examined the silver tag.
There was a seam.
He pressed his thumbnail beneath it.
The metal opened.
Inside was something impossibly small.
A memory card.
Nobody spoke.
Luca placed it on the table in the private security vehicle.
“L.S.F.,” Blaire whispered. “What does it mean?”
Luca stared at the card.
“My father created a private trust twenty-six years ago.”
“What trust?”
“The Sterling Family Foundation.”
Blaire felt the world tilt.
“L.S.F. is backwards.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“That was how my father marked documents he never wanted our attorneys to identify.”
Blaire shook her head.
“My mother had nothing to do with your family.”
Luca’s expression told her he did not believe that.
His phone vibrated.
A security message.
He read it.
Then read it again.
“What?”
Luca turned the phone over.
Too late.
Blaire had seen the name.
DAVID VANCE.
“He texted you?”
“No.”
“Then what is that?”
Luca’s jaw tightened.
“My security team ran him through our corporate records.”
“And?”
“David worked for Sterling Global.”
Blaire stared.
“He sells commercial insurance.”
“He does now.”
“When?”
“Six years ago.”
Her marriage had begun five years ago.
“What did he do?”
Luca looked directly at her.
“Internal asset recovery.”
Blaire’s pulse began pounding.
“What does that mean?”
“He found things people wanted hidden.”
The car slowed.
Ahead stood a private entrance to a glass tower.
Luca’s security chief opened the door.
“Sir, we recovered the deleted employment file.”
Luca stepped out.
Blaire followed.
“What employment file?”
The security chief handed Luca a tablet.
“There was an authorization attached to Vance’s original assignment.”
“Signed by whom?”
The man hesitated.
“Your father.”
Luca stared at the screen.
Then Blaire saw another line beneath David’s name.
TARGET: ELEANOR HALE.
Her mother.
Before she could speak, the elevator doors opened behind them.
A woman stepped out.
She saw Blaire.
Then Fiona.
The woman dropped the folder in her hands.
“Oh my God.”
Blaire backed away.
May you like
The woman’s eyes filled with tears.
“You have Eleanor’s face.”
