Chapter 2
For three seconds, Dad didn’t move.
Neither did I.
The only sound was the police sirens outside and Mom crying downstairs.
Then Dad looked at the phone in my hand.
His face changed.
Not angry.
Terrified.
“Give me that.”
I backed toward the window.
“Emily,” the man said through the speaker. “Do not go near him.”
Dad stepped forward anyway.
“Give me the phone right now.”
I lifted it higher.
“No.”
His eyes widened.
I had never told him no like that before.
Dad reached for me.
The front door exploded open downstairs.
“Federal agents!”
“Hands where we can see them!”
Boots slammed across the floor.
Dad froze.
Then he grabbed my arm.
I screamed.
The bedroom door burst inward so hard the broken lock flew across the carpet.
Three men rushed inside wearing dark jackets.
The first one pointed a weapon at Dad.
“Let the girl go, Ryan.”
Dad released me immediately.
A second agent pulled me behind him.
The first man lowered his weapon only after Dad dropped to his knees.
I recognized his voice.
The man from the phone.
He was tall, gray at the sides of his dark hair, with tired eyes that looked like they had seen too many bad things.
He stared at the red mark on my cheek.
His jaw tightened.
“I’m Daniel Cole.”
Dad laughed once.
It sounded strange.
“You’re still following her around?”
Daniel ignored him.
“Where is Sarah?”
A scream came from downstairs.
Daniel ran.
I tried to follow, but another agent stopped me.
“Stay with me.”
“That’s my mom!”
“We’re bringing her up.”
Dad suddenly shouted from the floor.
“Sarah caused this!”
I stared at him.
He looked nothing like the father who had made pancakes for me two days earlier.
His hands were cuffed behind his back.
His shirt was wet from the sink.
His eyes were full of hate.
“She lied to you, Emily.”
“Stop talking,” the agent warned.
Dad kept going.
“Your mother has lied to you your whole life.”
“Ryan.”
Daniel’s voice came from the hallway.
He had returned.
Mom was beside him.
Her lip was split.
Her hair was soaked.
One side of her face was red.
But she was standing.
I ran to her.
“Mom!”
She dropped to her knees and held me so tightly I could barely breathe.
“Oh, baby.”
“I called him.”
“I know.”
“I’m sorry.”
Mom pulled back.
“Sorry?”
Tears filled her eyes.
“You saved us.”
Dad snorted.
Mom turned toward him.
Something changed in her face.
I had seen Mom frightened a thousand times.
I had never seen her look at Dad like that.
Not frightened.
Finished.
Dad smiled.
“You really think they can protect you forever?”
Daniel moved between them.
“That sounds like a threat.”
Dad looked at him.
“You know what it sounds like.”
Daniel crouched.
“And you know what witness intimidation carries.”
Dad said nothing.
Mom held my hand.
I whispered, “Why did he say you lied?”
Mom closed her eyes.
Daniel looked at her.
“We need to move now.”
“Tell her,” Dad said.
Mom flinched.
Dad smiled wider.
“Go ahead, Sarah. Tell our daughter who you really are.”
“Get him downstairs,” Daniel ordered.
Two agents lifted Dad.
He twisted toward me as they moved him.
“My name isn’t Ethan!”
The words hit me harder than the slap.
I stared.
“What?”
Mom went pale.
Dad laughed as the agents dragged him down the stairs.
“My name is Ryan Hale!”
Mom covered her mouth.
Daniel cursed under his breath.
Dad shouted from downstairs.
“Ask your mother who Vincent Hale is!”
The front door slammed.
Silence filled the house.
I looked at Mom.
“Who’s Vincent Hale?”
Mom sat on my bed.
She suddenly looked older.
“Emily, we have to leave.”
“Who is he?”
“Please.”
“Dad said his name isn’t Ethan.”
Her hands began shaking.
Daniel knelt in front of me.
“Your father used a different name when he met your mother.”
I stared at him.
“Why?”
Daniel looked at Mom again.
She nodded.
He spoke carefully.
“Because your mother was protected by the federal government.”
“I know that part.”
“No, sweetheart.”
Mom wiped her tears.
“You don’t.”
She took my hands.
“My name really is Sarah Bennett.”
I frowned.
“That’s your name now.”
“It was my name before.”
I didn’t understand.
Mom swallowed.
“Twelve years ago, before you were born, I worked as an accountant for a company in Chicago.”
“What company?”
“Hale Development.”
Daniel watched the hallway while she spoke.
Mom continued.
“It looked like a construction company. It wasn’t.”
She took a breath.
“They moved illegal money. They bribed officials. They threatened people. And the man who owned it was Vincent Hale.”
The name made Dad’s last words echo in my head.
Ask your mother who Vincent Hale is.
Mom’s voice dropped.
“One night I stayed late. I heard arguing in Vincent’s office.”
Her fingers tightened around mine.
“I saw him kill someone.”
My stomach twisted.
“What?”
“I saw everything.”
Daniel spoke quietly.
“Sarah became a federal witness.”
Mom nodded.
“I also had access to the company accounts. I copied records. Bank transfers. Payments. Names.”
“And they put you in witness protection?”
“Yes.”
“Because Vincent wanted to hurt you?”
“He wanted me dead.”
The room suddenly felt too small.
I looked toward the window.
Police officers filled our yard.
Neighbors stood behind yellow tape.
Everything I thought was normal had disappeared in ten minutes.
“Then why did you marry Dad?”
Mom broke.
She covered her face.
“I didn’t know.”
I stared at her.
“Know what?”
Daniel answered.
“Ryan Hale is Vincent Hale’s son.”
I felt cold.
Mom reached for me.
I pulled away without meaning to.
“No.”
“Emily—”
“No.”
Dad had taken me fishing.
Dad had taught me to ride a bike.
Dad had sat beside me when I had the flu.
Dad had also slapped me across the kitchen floor.
Both things were true.
I hated that.
Mom cried.
“When I met him, he called himself Ethan Walker.”
“That’s why everyone calls him Ethan.”
“Yes.”
“You didn’t know?”
“I swear to you.”
“Then when did you find out?”
Mom looked at the broken bedroom door.
“Three months ago.”
My heart pounded.
“What happened three months ago?”
She took a long breath.
“I found a second phone in his truck.”
Daniel stood very still.
“I thought he was having an affair.”
Dad almost drowned Mom tonight.
But somehow those words still hurt.
Mom continued.
“I opened the phone.”
“What was on it?”
“Messages.”
“To who?”
She whispered.
“His mother.”
I thought about Grandma Diane.
Birthday cards.
Christmas cookies.
A woman who always hugged me too hard and called me her little angel.
“No.”
Mom nodded through her tears.
“Diane isn’t Diane Walker.”
My throat closed.
“She’s Diane Hale.”
Daniel’s phone buzzed.
He looked down.
His expression became serious.
“What?”
Mom stood.
Daniel read the message again.
“Ryan’s transport hasn’t reached the federal building.”
Mom’s face drained.
“What does that mean?”
“It means we’re moving.”
He touched his earpiece.
“Cole to perimeter. Lock everything down.”
Agents started shouting downstairs.
I grabbed Mom’s arm.
“Is Dad coming back?”
Daniel looked at me.
“I don’t know.”
That answer scared me more than a lie would have.
He turned to Mom.
“Take nothing.”
Mom stared around our house.
The kitchen table.
The family pictures.
My backpack on the floor.
Everything we owned.
“Daniel—”
“Sarah.”
His voice softened.
“If Ryan’s people know we’re here, this house is dead.”
Mom nodded.
We walked downstairs.
There was blood beside the sink.
Mom tried to block my view.
I had already seen it.
Outside, an agent opened the back door of a black SUV.
Daniel put me in first.
Mom climbed beside me.
As the vehicle pulled away, I looked through the window.
Our house got smaller.
Police lights flashed against my bedroom.
The broken window.
The broken door.
My old life.
Then Mom’s phone rang.
Everyone in the SUV froze.
Mom stared at the screen.
UNKNOWN NUMBER.
Daniel took it.
“Don’t answer.”
Another message appeared.
A photograph.
Mom gasped.
I leaned closer.
It was Dad.
He was standing beside a dark car.
No handcuffs.
No police.
He looked directly into the camera.
Under the picture were seven words.
YOU SHOULD HAVE KEPT YOUR MOUTH SHUT.
May you like
Then another message arrived.
THIS TIME I’M TAKING EMILY TOO.
