Chapter 11
Ryan panicked.
That was useful.
“You said Friday.”
Linda glared.
“Shut up.”
“No.”
He looked at her.
“You said Vale waits until Friday.”
Linda’s face hardened.
“You’re embarrassing yourself.”
Ryan laughed.
“Me?”
He pointed toward Noah.
“You told me keeping him sick would buy time.”
Emily went completely still.
Ryan realized.
Too late.
He looked at her.
“I didn’t mean—”
“You knew.”
“No.”
“You knew she was giving Noah something.”
Ryan stepped forward.
“I knew she was keeping him calm.”
James closed his eyes.
Even Linda looked annoyed by how stupid that sounded.
Emily whispered:
“You watched our baby become weak.”
Ryan shook his head.
“I thought it was temporary.”
There it was.
The word people use when they want cruelty to sound reversible.
Emily looked at him.
“How many nights?”
Silence.
“How many?”
“Not every night.”
That was worse.
She began crying.
Ryan tried to touch her.
I stopped him.
He looked at me.
“She’s my wife.”
Emily answered:
“Not anymore.”
Ryan froze.
Linda rolled her eyes.
“Oh, don’t make permanent decisions while emotional.”
Emily looked at her.
“You built my entire life around that sentence.”
Linda’s expression tightened.
Good.
Ryan’s phone vibrated again.
UNKNOWN:
DOCK COMPLETE.
NEXT PHASE MOVING.
I held it up.
“What is next phase?”
Ryan stared.
“I don’t know.”
I believed him.
That was the problem.
Vale no longer needed him.
Linda’s confidence faded slightly.
I looked at her.
“You know?”
“No.”
“You’re lying.”
She smiled.
“You’re guessing.”
Then Emma suddenly tugged my sleeve.
“Grandpa.”
“Yes?”
“Daddy has another phone.”
Ryan went pale.
Where?”
She pointed.
“Car seat.”
Noah’s infant carrier.
My bodyguard searched beneath the padding.
Found a slim burner phone taped underneath.
Ryan stopped breathing.
I turned it on.
One message thread.
Vale.
Linda.
Not Ryan.
The final message:
IF RYAN FAILS, USE EMILY.
I looked at Linda.
Ryan did too.
May you like
She stared at the floor.
For the first time, he understood his own mother had built a backup plan that sacrificed him.
