The security measures Vasquez recommended transformed the rhythm of Wren and Cruz's daily life within days — a rotating detail of club members augmenting the federal protection detail assigned to their property, Ana's preschool drop-off suddenly accompanied by an escort that the four-year-old found more exciting than alarming, blissfully unaware of the reason behind her sudden entourage.
"I hate this for her," Wren admitted one evening, watching Ana color contentedly at the kitchen table while two agents conferred quietly on the porch outside. "She should get to just be a kid. Not grow up understanding armed guards as a normal part of daily life."
"She won't remember most of this," Cruz said, though his own tension was visible in the careful way he checked the windows each evening, a hab
