Chapter 3 - The Husband Who Was Supposed to Be Gone
Ethan Bennett had been missing for three years.
Roman found him in thirty-seven minutes.
That was the first time I understood what people meant when they said Roman Hail didn’t search for people.
He closed doors until there was nowhere left to hide.
At 5:18 that afternoon, Victor entered Roman’s private study.
“He used a credit card yesterday.”
I stared at him.
“Ethan?”
“Hotel outside Baltimore.”
Roman stood by the fireplace, one arm still in the sling.
“Still there?”
“No.”
“Camera?”
Victor handed him a tablet.
Roman watched.
I stepped beside him.
There was Ethan.
Older.
Thinner.
But unmistakably Ethan.
He crossed a hotel lobby carrying a duffel bag.
Then another man entered the frame.
Dean Mercer.
My knees nearly gave out.
“Play it again.”
Victor did.
Ethan shook Dean’s hand.
Then Dean gave him an envelope.
Roman stopped the video.
“How much cash?”
“Unknown.”
“Where did Ethan go?”
“Rental car southbound.”
“Plate?”
Victor recited it.
Roman looked toward another guard.
“Find it.”
I couldn’t stop staring at Ethan’s face.
Three years.
Three years of wondering if he was alive.
Three years of explaining to Lily why she didn’t have a daddy at preschool pickup.
Three years of getting angry at myself every time I wondered whether he might someday knock on the door and apologize.
“He came into my apartment,” I whispered.
Roman looked at me.
“You didn’t know.”
“No.”
“You were drugged.”
“I had the flu.”
“Maybe.”
I turned sharply.
“What?”
Victor placed a clear evidence bag on the table.
Inside was the bottle of cold medicine from my apartment.
“We had someone collect it.”
“You searched my apartment?”
Roman didn’t apologize.
“We found traces of prescription sedative.”
I stared at the bottle.
“I bought that sealed.”
“Then someone replaced it.”
I thought about that night.
Mrs. Dalton had brought soup upstairs.
Lily had watched cartoons.
I remembered taking medicine.
Then nothing until morning.
“Ethan drugged me?”
“We don’t know.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Because I won’t lie to you to make you feel better.”
I looked at Roman.
There was nothing comforting about him.
Maybe that was why I believed him.
A guard entered.
“We found the rental vehicle.”
“Where?”
“Old Harbor Nine warehouse.”
Roman and Victor exchanged a look.
I noticed.
“What?”
Victor said, “You stay here.”
“No.”
Roman didn’t even turn.
“Claire.”
“He’s my husband.”
“Ex-husband.”
“He’s Lily’s father.”
Roman’s jaw tightened.
“That doesn’t make this safer.”
“It makes it my business.”
Roman finally faced me.
“Your daughter needs you alive.”
I stepped closer.
“And she needs answers.”
“You’re not coming.”
“I know what Ethan looks like.”
“So do our cameras.”
“I know how he thinks.”
Roman said nothing.
That meant I had landed a point.
Victor sighed.
“This is a terrible idea.”
“Thank you,” Roman said.
“I meant bringing her.”
“I know.”
Thirty minutes later, I was inside an armored SUV between Roman and Victor.
Roman had refused pain medication because he wanted a clear head.
I hated how much I respected that.
The Harbor Nine warehouse sat near an abandoned rail yard.
Rain had started.
Roman’s men surrounded the property.
Victor checked his radio.
“Rear team in place.”
Roman looked at me.
“You stay in the vehicle.”
“I thought we discussed this.”
“We discussed you coming. We did not discuss you getting shot.”
“I’m beginning to understand why people find you difficult.”
“I’ve never lost sleep over it.”
Then the warehouse door opened.
Ethan stepped outside.
My lungs stopped working.
He looked directly at our SUV.
Then raised both hands.
Roman got out.
I followed before he could stop me.
“Claire!”
Ethan saw me.
His face broke.
“Claire.”
I wanted to hit him.
I wanted to scream.
Instead I said, “You came into my apartment.”
His face went pale.
“I can explain.”
“You drugged me?”
“No.”
“Did you?”
“No!”
Roman stepped forward.
“Then start explaining.”
Ethan looked at him.
Fear entered his eyes.
“Roman Hail.”
“You know me.”
“Everybody knows you.”
“That answer bores me.”
Ethan glanced toward the surrounding guards.
“Dean said you were dead.”
Roman’s expression didn’t move.
“He was disappointed.”
Ethan looked sick.
“I didn’t know they were going to use Lily.”
I slapped him.
Hard.
Roman said nothing.
Ethan touched his cheek.
“I deserved that.”
“You knew something.”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
He looked toward Roman.
“Dean hired me six months ago.”
“For what?”
“To move money.”
Roman’s voice sharpened.
“Through Harbor Nine?”
Ethan nodded.
“I used to do bookkeeping for them before Claire and I met.”
I stared.
“You told me you worked in construction.”
“I lied.”
“What else?”
“Claire—”
“What else?”
He looked at Lily’s photograph on my phone.
“I left because Dean threatened you.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Don’t turn abandoning us into heroism.”
“I’m not.”
His eyes filled with shame.
“I was a coward.”
That honesty hurt more than an excuse.
Roman stepped closer.
“What was the assassination for?”
Ethan rubbed his face.
“Dean said Roman was going to discover missing freight.”
“How much?”
“About eighty million over three years.”
Victor whistled softly.
Roman didn’t react.
“Whose money?”
“Not yours.”
“Then whose?”
Ethan looked around.
“Senator Malcolm Voss.”
Victor’s face changed.
Roman whispered, “That’s impossible.”
“Why?”
Roman looked at me.
“Voss is one of the most powerful men on the eastern seaboard.”
Ethan continued.
“He used Roman’s freight network to move things nobody was supposed to inspect.”
“What things?” I asked.
“Money. Weapons. Sometimes people.”
I felt sick.
Roman’s eyes hardened.
“Dean allowed trafficking through my docks?”
Ethan nodded.
“He made millions.”
“And the truck?”
“Voss ordered Roman removed after Roman started auditing container numbers.”
Roman took one slow breath.
“What did Lily have to do with it?”
Ethan’s face collapsed.
“Nothing at first.”
“At first?”
“Dean knew Claire worked at Blackridge. He started watching her because he thought I’d contacted her.”
“You did.”
“Three nights ago.”
“What happened?”
“I went to warn her.”
“You drugged her?”
“No. Dean did.”
I stepped toward Ethan.
“He was there?”
“Yes.”
“And you let him?”
Ethan looked down.
“I was afraid.”
I slapped him again.
This time tears filled my eyes.
“My daughter was in that apartment.”
“I know.”
“You let that man stand beside her while I was unconscious.”
“I know.”
Roman’s voice cut through the warehouse.
“Why prepare the statement before the crash?”
Ethan swallowed.
“Because Dean needed a reason Roman would slow down before reaching the south gate.”
Roman understood first.
“They expected Lily to be in the courtyard.”
“Yes.”
My stomach turned.
“Why?”
“Dean planned to have one of the house staff call Lily toward the driveway.”
Roman’s expression became terrifyingly calm.
“They were going to use my daughter as bait?”
Ethan nodded.
I couldn’t breathe.
“But she wasn’t supposed to be hurt,” Ethan said quickly.
I lunged at him.
Roman caught me around the waist.
“Claire.”
“She’s three!”
“I know.”
“He knew!”
“I know.”
I was shaking.
Roman held me until I stopped fighting.
Ethan looked destroyed.
Then headlights appeared outside.
Victor turned.
“Vehicle approaching.”
A black sedan came through the gate.
Victor raised his weapon.
The rear door opened.
Dean Mercer stepped out.
Roman slowly released me.
Dean smiled.
“You really should’ve stayed dead.”
Then the warehouse lights shut off.
Gunfire erupted outside.
May you like
And Ethan pushed me to the ground.
A bullet hit him instead.
