Chapter 1 - He Ran to the Wrong Woman
Grant crossed the room so quickly that the hem of his cashmere coat swung behind him.
But he did not come toward Lily.
He went straight to Vanessa.
“Baby, what happened?”
For one second, I genuinely wondered whether eight weeks undercover had damaged my hearing.
Lily was shaking in my arms.
Her right hand was already swelling where Vanessa’s heel had pressed against it.
There were bruises on her arms.
Her lips were cracked.
And my husband was examining Vanessa as though she were the one who had survived something terrible.
Vanessa immediately pressed herself against him.
“She attacked me.”
Grant looked over her shoulder at me.
His expression hardened.
“You weren’t supposed to be back until next week.”
That sentence told me more than he realized.
Not welcome home.
Not are you alive.
Not what happened to Lily.
You weren’t supposed to be back.
I adjusted Lily against my chest.
“Take another look at your daughter.”
Grant barely glanced at her.
“She’s been difficult.”
My stomach turned.
“Difficult?”
Vanessa wiped an imaginary tear from beneath one eye.
“She destroyed one of my dresses.”
Lily’s fingers tightened around my jacket.
Grant sighed.
“She’s been acting out since you left.”
I looked at him.
“She is five.”
“She knows better.”
“Does she know why a grown woman was standing on her hand?”
Grant’s face changed.
Only slightly.
Enough.
He had known Vanessa disciplined Lily.
Maybe not that exact method.
But enough.
I stepped closer.
“When was the last time Lily saw a doctor?”
Grant folded his arms.
“She doesn’t need a doctor.”
“She stopped talking.”
His eyes moved away.
“When?”
Vanessa answered.
“About three weeks ago.”
My chest went cold.
“You never called me.”
Grant laughed.
“How?”
“You disappeared into one of your little secret missions.”
One of your little secret missions.
I had spent eight weeks helping dismantle a weapons-smuggling network tied to three states and two provinces.
Grant had signed federal confidentiality paperwork before I left.
He knew exactly why contact was restricted.
He also knew the emergency protocol.
My supervisor could always reach me if Lily was hospitalized.
He never called.
I looked at Lily’s face.
“Sweetheart, we’re leaving.”
Grant stepped in front of the door.
“No.”
My entire body became still.
“What?”
“You cannot walk in after two months and suddenly act like you’re the only parent.”
I stared at him.
He had no idea what happened when someone tried to physically block a federal investigator who had spent eight weeks around armed traffickers.
But Lily was in my arms.
So I kept my voice calm.
“Move.”
Grant looked at my jacket.
Then at my face.
Perhaps he remembered who I was outside this house.
He moved.
Vanessa laughed behind him.
“You think you can just take her?”
I turned.
“Yes.”
Grant said.
“Evelyn.”
I looked back.
For the first time, fear had entered his face.
Not fear for Lily.
Fear of losing control.
Then he said.
“You might want to talk to a lawyer before you do anything stupid.”
I almost smiled.
“Grant.”
He waited.
“I already am a lawyer.”
His face went pale.
He had forgotten.
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Before I joined federal investigations, I had spent five years prosecuting financial crimes.
And I had just walked into the most important case of my life.
