Chapter 2
2166 Words
Mira’s phone kept lighting up on the console.
News alerts. Social media clips. Two million views.
The video had been up less than an hour.
I stared at the screen. The wedding aisle. Celeste’s slap. Raimen’s empty face while I spoke. And in the comments, someone had already written: “Someone follow her.”
Someone already had.
My lip was still bleeding.
Copper. Salt.
I wiped it away with the back of my hand. The headlights were still behind us.
The black car that had followed us from the church was gone. I’d watched Raimen drive away after he pressed his hand to the glass—watched his taillights fade, watched him leave for the second time in my life. I thought that was the end of it.
Then, twenty minutes later, a different set of headlights appeared.
Slower. Patient.
I couldn’t see the car, only the lights. They stayed far enough back to be a shadow, close enough to be a threat. I didn’t know who was inside. I only knew it wasn’t him.
Mira saw it too. Her hands tightened on the wheel. She’d stopped crying somewhere on the highway. Now her face was set, her jaw tight.
“Same car?” she said.
“No.”
“Whose?”
I didn’t answer. I was watching Leo’s hand. The way his fingers curled around the fabric. He’d been holding it since Raimen drove away. He hadn’t let go.
Leo stirred. His eyes opened. He looked at me, then at the window, then at his hand.
“Is Daddy coming?” he asked.
I looked at the lights behind us. Still there. Still waiting.
“I don’t know, baby.”
He looked at his hand. At the tie. “He didn’t touch it.”
The words hit my chest like a stone.
“He wanted to,” I said.
Leo closed his eyes. His hand tightened around the tie.
I watched the headlights and waited for something to happen.
The gas station appeared at the edge of a town I didn’t know. Yellow light. Two pumps. A convenience store with a flickering sign.
Mira pulled in without asking.
Leo was awake now, sitting up, his tie back around his neck. I’d put it on him while he slept, straightening the clip, making sure it was right. He’d asked for it without waking up. His hand had reached for it in his sleep.
He was ready.
“Stay in the car,” I said.
He nodded. He was good at staying.
Mira got out to pump gas. I watched the road. The headlights didn’t follow. They passed the turn, kept going, disappeared into the darkness beyond the station’s light.
I didn’t believe for a second they were gone.
My phone buzzed. I looked at it.
UNKNOWN NUMBER: “Miss Vance. I’m with Sterling Holdings legal. If you refuse our settlement offer, we will be forced to take legal action regarding the child’s custody. We suggest you consider carefully.”
Eleanor’s people. Already threatening.
I turned the phone off.
When I looked up, a man was walking toward the car.
Tall. Heavy coat. Hands in his pockets.
He walked past Mira, past the pumps, straight to my window. He bent down. Looked at Leo.
“Cute kid,” he said.
I didn’t answer.
“You from around here?”
“No.”
“Didn’t think so.” He smiled. “You look like you’re running from something.”
“I’m not.”
He nodded at my dress. The white one, still stained, still wrinkled. “Nice dress. Looks expensive.”
I didn’t answer.
He pulled out his phone. Pointed it at Leo.
“Don’t,” I said.
“Just asking questions.” He zoomed closer. “The public has a right to know.”
He turned the screen toward me. A news article. My face from the wedding. Leo’s face from the park. The red tie.
“Billionaire Wedding Scandal: Secret Child Identified.”
“Where did you get that photo?” I said.
“It’s everywhere.” He kept filming. “Is this the kid? The secret Sterling heir?”
Leo shrank closer to me.
“Get away from the car.”
“Hey!” Mira’s voice came from behind him. She had the gas nozzle in her hand. “Get away from them.”
The man didn’t move. He kept filming.
Mira stepped between us. “You need to leave. Now.”
He lowered the phone. Smiled.
He didn’t hurry. People who know they’re dangerous never do.
He walked back toward the convenience store.
Mira got in the car. Her hands were shaking.
“He’s calling someone,” she said.
I looked. The man was on his phone, standing in the doorway, watching us.
“Go,” I said.
She drove. I looked back. The man was still on the phone, still watching.
I opened my phone again. The article had been updated. Leo’s school. Leo’s playground. A photo of the apartment building where we lived.
Someone had found everything.
We couldn’t go back. They’d be there tomorrow. Reporters. Cameras. People who wanted answers.
People who wanted to take him.
I looked at Leo. At the tie around his neck. He’d worn it for his father. His father had seen it through glass. Hadn’t touched it.
We stopped at a motel an hour later. Mira carried Leo inside while I paid cash. The room smelled like bleach and old carpet. One bed. A window facing the parking lot.
Mira laid Leo down. He curled on his side, his tie still on, his hand still holding it.
Even in sleep, his fingers stayed wrapped around the fabric.
“I’ll watch,” Mira said.
“No. You sleep.”
She didn’t argue. She lay down beside Leo, her arm over him, her face toward the door.
I sat by the window and watched the parking lot.
Empty.
A sedan passed the motel once. Then again ten minutes later.
I watched it disappear down the road.
The headlights from the highway hadn’t followed us this far. But the article was still out there. Leo’s face. His school. Our apartment. They knew where to look.
I touched my lip. The cut was still there, a thin line of dried blood. I wiped it again.
I looked at Leo. Asleep on the bed, his hand curled around the tie. He’d asked if Daddy was coming. I’d said yes. I didn’t know if it was true.
At three in the morning, a car door slammed.
I was at the window before I opened my eyes.
A sedan. Dark. Parked near the office. Not the headlights from the highway. Someone else.
A man stood by the driver’s door. He’d left the engine running; exhaust curled into the cold air. He walked toward the office, not toward our room. He went inside. The office light went on. I could see him talking to the clerk, gesturing, pointing.
The clerk shook her head.
The man turned. Looked directly at our room.
Leo stirred beside me. He sat up, rubbing his eyes. He saw me at the window and came to stand beside me.
“Mommy?”
“Shh.”
He looked out the window. At the man. At the sedan.
“Is that Daddy?” he asked.
“No.”
He was quiet for a moment. Then he said, “Why didn’t Daddy touch the tie?”
I put my hand over his on the glass. “He wanted to.”
Outside, the man finished his conversation with the clerk. He walked back to his car. He didn’t get in. He stood by the driver’s door, looking at our window.
He lifted his phone. Pointed it at us.
Leo’s hand was still pressed against the glass. His tie was visible around his neck.
The man smiled. He got in his car. The engine was already running. He didn’t leave.
Mira was awake now. “Who is it?”
I looked at the sedan. The man was still inside, the engine running, the lights off. He wasn’t Eleanor’s—her people had been the ones from the highway. He wasn’t press—press wouldn’t sit in a parking lot at four in the morning. He was someone else. Someone who’d found us anyway.
“I don’t know,” I said.
“We need to go.”
“We can’t. He’s watching.”
“Then what do we do?”
I looked at Leo. At his hand still pressed against the glass. At the tie still around his neck.
“We wait,” I said. “And we see who he’s waiting for.”
The sun was still an hour from rising when the sedan door opened again.
I’d been watching the clock. Five minutes. Ten. Fifteen.
The man stepped out of the car.
He walked toward our room. Not slow this time. Fast. Purposeful.
I moved to the door. My hand was on the knob.
He knocked three times. Hard. Fast.
I didn’t open it.
“Miss Vance.” His voice was low, urgent. “I’m not here to hurt you.”
I didn’t answer.
“My name is Elias Cole. I worked for Arthur Sterling. Raimen’s father.”
I went still.
“I’ve been watching you for three years. Not following—watching. Arthur’s money kept me in place. Arthur’s instructions kept me quiet.”
“Why?” I said through the door.
“Because Arthur knew what Eleanor would do long before you did. He knew she would come for you eventually. He wanted someone in place when she did.”
“Why tonight?”
“Because tonight she made a mistake.” His voice was tight. “Three years ago, she paid you to disappear. That was containment. Tonight, she let the world know you existed. That’s different. That’s a hunt.”
I looked at Leo. Asleep on the bed. His tie still on. His hand still reaching.
“She’s already hunting,” I said. “She has photos. She knows his school.”
“She knows where he was. She doesn’t know where he is now.” He paused. “But she will. Her people are five minutes out. They tracked the car you left the church in. They know you’re here.”
I looked at the parking lot. Empty.
“I work alone,” Elias said, as if reading my mind. “Arthur wanted it that way. One person. No network. No trail for Eleanor to follow. I’ve been waiting for this moment for three years.”
He pulled something from his coat—a folded envelope. He held it against the door.
“Arthur left this for you. A place. Somewhere Eleanor can’t find. Read it in the car. We don’t have five minutes.”
I opened the door.
He was older than I expected. Gray at the temples. Lines around his eyes. His hands were steady.
“How do I know you’re telling the truth?” I said.
“You don’t.” He looked past me, at Leo. “But I’ve been watching you raise that boy alone for three years. I’ve been waiting for Eleanor to show her hand. Tonight, she did.”
He held out the envelope.
I took it. It was thick. Heavy.
“What’s in it?”
“A way out.”
Behind us, Leo stirred. His eyes opened. He saw the man in the doorway and sat up.
“Mommy?”
“It’s okay, baby.”
Elias looked at Leo. At the tie around his neck. Something moved in his face.
“He has Arthur’s stillness,” he said quietly. “The way he watches. The way he waits. Some things carry through generations.”
He stepped back. Looked at the road.
“We need to move. Now.”
I looked at Mira. She was already awake, already moving, grabbing our things. She’d been waiting for this.
I picked up Leo. He pressed himself against me, his hand still on his tie.
“Where are we going?” he asked.
“Somewhere safe.”
He looked at the man in the doorway. “Is that Daddy?”
“No, baby.”
Leo was quiet for a moment. Then he said, “Is he going to help us?”
I looked at Elias. At the envelope in my hand. At the car waiting in the parking lot, engine already running, exhaust curling into the cold.
“Yes,” I said. “He is.”
We walked out into the dark.
The sun was still forty minutes from rising.
The road was empty.
Then headlights appeared on the highway behind us. Two bright eyes in the distance. Closing fast.
Elias was already behind the wheel. “They’re early.”
The engine roared. We shot forward.
In the back seat, Leo’s hand found the tie again. His fingers curled around it like a promise.
If Raimen wanted his son…
he was about to lose him forever.
- Writer
