Chapter 1 - THE MEN DANIEL WAS RUNNING FROM
Daniel ripped at the passport in Emily’s hand hard enough to bend the cover.
“Give it to me!”
Emily tightened both hands around it.
“No.”
They were beside an open suitcase in the parking-garage drop-off lane outside O’Hare, rain blowing sideways beneath the concrete overhang. Seven months pregnant, Emily had followed Daniel there after finding his packed bag hidden behind boxes in the garage.
He had told her he was going to work.
His suitcase said otherwise.
Daniel grabbed her upper arm and shoved her sideways.
Emily stumbled into a stationary luggage cart and caught herself with both hands.
Her stomach never touched it.
A ground attendant in a reflective vest turned sharply toward them.
Daniel barely noticed.
“I’m getting on that plane!”
Emily straightened.
Fear burned away beneath anger.
“You’re not disappearing and leaving your daughter with your mess.”
For three weeks Daniel had insisted the withdrawals Emily found were gambling debts.
Bad decisions.
His words.
He said he could fix them if she stopped asking questions.
Then Emily found the international ticket.
One-way.
Tonight.
Daniel lunged for the passport.
Emily slapped him once.
Hard.
“Touch me again and you leave without anything.”
He stared at her.
Then grabbed her wrist.
The airport employee moved instantly.
“Hey!”
The man drove Daniel backward with one hard strike to the upper torso and shoved him away from Emily.
Daniel crashed against his suitcase.
The employee planted himself between them.
“Stay away from her.”
Daniel barely reacted.
His attention had shifted beyond Jack’s shoulder.
Three men were walking toward them from the terminal.
Not running.
Not shouting.
Just coming directly toward Daniel.
His entire face changed.
Emily had never seen him look that afraid.
She followed his stare.
“You think I’m running because of gambling?” Daniel whispered.
Emily froze.
“Then what are you running from?”
Daniel looked at her pregnant stomach.
Then at the approaching men.
“They weren’t told our daughter survived.”
For a moment Emily could hear only rain and terminal traffic.
“What?”
Daniel backed away.
One of the approaching men called his name.
“Daniel Mercer.”
Daniel grabbed the suitcase handle.
Jack blocked him.
The tallest of the three men stopped several yards away and raised both hands.
“We’re not here to touch anybody.”
Daniel looked almost more frightened by that.
Emily stared at him.
“Who are they?”
Daniel said nothing.
The tall man answered instead.
“My name is Nathan Cole. I’m an investigator.”
He glanced at Emily’s stomach.
Then back at Daniel.
“I work for the couple who spent the last three months believing your baby died.”
Emily’s fingers slowly closed around Daniel’s passport.
May you like
She looked at her husband.
And suddenly gambling was no longer the worst thing she thought he might have done.
