CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 4
Ryan tried to smile at the officer, but his jaw was clenched too tightly.
“My wife has been emotionally fragile,” he said. “Postpartum issues. She disappears, changes plans, makes impulsive decisions. I’m just trying to get my daughter home.”
My daughter.
Not our daughter.
Never our daughter unless there was an audience.
I felt the old fear rise in me, thick and familiar.
Ryan knew how to sound reasonable. He knew how to make concern feel like a cage.
The officer turned to me.
“Ma’am, is there a court order preventing him from seeing the child?”
“No,” I said carefully. “But there is no order forcing me to hand her over either. We’re separated. He changed the locks on our apartment and froze our account.”
Ryan laughed softly.
“That’s not true.”
“It is,” I said.
“Emily,” he warned.
Noah’s eyes moved to him.
“One more warning tone like that, and this conversation ends.”
Ryan stared at him.
“You don’t even know her.”
Noah did not blink.
“I know she looked terrified when she heard you were waiting.”
The words landed in the space between us.
Ryan’s face darkened.
Then he made his mistake.
He stepped toward me too fast.
Lily woke and began to cry.
Noah moved before Ryan reached us.
Not aggressively.
Just one clean step into his path.
Daniel and the other security guards closed in at the same time.
The officer lifted a hand.
“Sir, back up.”
Ryan froze.
Passengers nearby had stopped walking. Several phones came out.
For once, the recording was not aimed at Noah.
It was aimed at Ryan.
His expression shifted again.
He had lost control of the room.
That was when a woman’s voice called from behind him.
“Ryan?”
I looked past him and saw Marissa, the woman from his photos, hurrying through the terminal in high heels and a cream coat.
She looked irritated until she saw me.
Then her face changed.
Not guilt.
Fear.
Ryan turned sharply.
“What are you doing here?”
Marissa held up his wallet.
“You left this in the car.”
Noah’s security lead stepped closer to Noah and murmured something.
Noah’s expression hardened.
“What?” I asked.
He looked at Ryan.
Then at Marissa.
Then back at me.
“Emily, did Ryan know where you were flying?”
“No,” I said. “Only my cousin knew.”
Ryan smiled too quickly.
“Obviously she told someone.”
Noah’s security lead handed him a tablet.
Noah read the screen, then turned it toward me.
There was a screenshot of an airport escort request.
Filed under Ryan’s name.
Reason: welfare concern for spouse and infant.
Attached document: medical instability risk.
My hands went numb.
“I never had any diagnosis like that,” I whispered.
Ryan’s face went pale.
May you like
Noah looked at the officer.
“I think you should verify that document before anyone lets this man near her child.”
