Chapter 1 - The Message That Stopped Everything
Ryan Bennett saw the red and blue convertibles before he understood what was happening between them.
They were flying around the curved private road inside Hawthorne Ridge, his family’s sprawling estate outside Franklin, Tennessee.
Too fast.
Far too close together.
Then Ryan saw the flash of deep pink between the cars.
Noah.
His nine-month-old son.
Ryan slammed his black SUV across the road ahead of them.
Both convertibles braked hard.
But seconds earlier, Victor had been sitting in the passenger seat of the red car with Noah in his arms, laughing while the baby screamed.
Victor was Ryan’s thirty-eight-year-old cousin, the son of Ryan’s late aunt. He had grown up around the Bennett family almost like another brother.
He leaned toward the narrow space between the moving cars.
“Catch him good this time,” Victor laughed. “Otherwise let the little brat bounce.”
Derek Shaw, Victor’s longtime friend, reached from the passenger seat of the blue convertible.
Victor never completely released Noah, but he swung the crying baby across the gap before Derek secured him with both hands.
The sight was enough to make Ryan’s vision narrow.
He jumped from the SUV.
“What the hell are you doing?”
Ryan tore open the blue passenger door, took Noah from Derek, and backed away with his son locked tightly against his chest.
Noah grabbed Ryan’s shirt.
His entire little body shook with crying.
Ryan looked at Victor.
“You treat my son like a toy?”
Victor’s grin disappeared.
For once, Derek wasn’t laughing either.
Ryan was reaching for his phone to call estate security when Victor’s mounted phone connected automatically to the red convertible’s speakers.
A new voice message began playing.
A woman Ryan didn’t recognize said:
“Victor—Ryan still doesn’t know why his mother paid you the night Noah was born.”
Ryan stopped.
Victor went pale.
Derek looked immediately toward the ground.
Ryan stared at his cousin.
“What did she pay you for?”
Victor reached desperately toward the phone.
Ryan got there first.
He looked at the sender.
LAURA BENNETT.
Victor’s ex-wife.
The message ended.
Ryan looked down at Noah.
Nine months old.
Nine months since the night the message referenced.
Victor slowly stepped out of the convertible.
“Ryan, don’t.”
That was the wrong thing to say.
May you like
Because until that moment, Ryan had been furious about what Victor had just done.
Now he wanted to know what Victor had already done.
