I didn’t wait for the SUV to reach us.
I started the engine, pulled away from the curb, and turned into traffic just as the black vehicle accelerated behind us.
“Seat belts,” I ordered.
Sophie scrambled into her booster seat. Rachel fastened Ruby’s belt with trembling fingers.
“Where are you going?”” Rachel demanded.
“Somewhere with people and cameras.””
“They’ll follow us.””
“Then let them.””
I drove toward the busiest intersection I could find, checking the rearview mirror every few seconds. The SUV stayed two cars behind us, matching every turn.
Sophie leaned forward between the front seats.
“Daddy?””
“I’m here, sweetheart.””
“Is that the man from my school?””
My hands tightened around the wheel.
“Tell me exactly what happened.””
Sophie looked at Rachel, then back at me.
“On Tuesday, a man came to the school office. He said he knew you and that you were running late. He told Mrs. Bennett he was supposed to pick me up.””
I felt cold spread through my chest.
“What did he look like?””
“He had dark hair and a shiny watch. He smelled like the medicine Grandpa used to take.””
Rachel made a strangled sound.
“What medicine?”” she asked.
“My dad’s heart medicine,” I said automatically.
My father had taken a bitter herbal tincture every morning. It had a distinctive smell, almost like burnt wood and cloves.
I hadn’t thought about it in years.
Sophie continued.
“He said his name was Mr. Victor. But Mrs. Bennett called you, and you said nobody was coming for me.””
I remembered that phone call.
I’d been in a meeting when Sophie’s school called to verify an unfamiliar pickup request. I’d told them not to release her, thanked the secretary, and returned to work.
I hadn’t thought twice about it.
I should have.
“What happened after that?”” I asked.
“Mrs. Bennett told him to leave. He got mad.””
“How mad?””
Sophie rubbed her fingers together.
“He said you were making a mistake. Then he looked at me through the office window and said, ‘You have your mother’s eyes.’”
Rachel pressed a hand over her mouth.
I pulled into the underground parking garage of a large hotel and drove toward the security booth. The SUV followed us down the ramp.
“Damien,” Rachel whispered, “don’t stop here.””
“There’s security.””
“Victor owns half the security companies in Atlanta.””
I glanced at her.
“You expect me to believe that?””
Before she could answer, the SUV accelerated.
It shot around the corner, blocking the ramp ahead of us.
A man stepped out.
He wore a charcoal suit, a white shirt, and a silver watch that caught the fluorescent light. His dark hair was neatly combed, and he looked to be in his late fifties.
He wasn’t carrying a weapon.
He didn’t need to.
He approached my windshield with the calm confidence of someone who had spent his life making other people obey him.
Rachel whispered, “Victor.””
I locked the doors.
Victor tapped the glass twice.
“Damien,” he called, smiling faintly.
“It’s been a long time.””
I rolled down the window just enough to speak.
“Stay away from my daughters.””
His smile widened.
“Your daughters? That’s an interesting choice of words.””
“Get out of my way.””
“I understand you’re upset. Rachel has always been emotional. She doesn’t understand the larger picture.””
Rachel leaned forward.
“You kidnapped Olivia!””
Victor looked at her without changing expression.
“Olivia made dangerous decisions.””
“You took her away from her husband and children!””
“I gave her an opportunity to cooperate.””
“Where is she?”” I demanded.
Victor’s gaze returned to me.
“That depends on what you intend to do with the information you’ve been given.””
I wanted to open the door and drag him to the ground.
Instead, I kept both hands on the steering wheel.
“You have one minute to tell me where my wife is.””
Victor glanced toward Sophie.
“She’s grown so much.””
Sophie shrank against her seat.
“Daddy, that’s him.””
Victor’s expression softened in a way that made my skin crawl.
“Hello, Sophie. You don’t remember me, do you?””
“No.””
“Of course not. You were very small the last time I saw you.””
I felt Rachel grip my shoulder.
“Don’t listen to him,” she whispered.
Victor sighed.
“Damien, I know you believe you’re doing the right thing. But there are people who would pay an extraordinary amount of money to get their hands on those girls. People who don’t share my restraint.””
“My father is dead,” I said.
“Whatever arrangement you had with him is over.””
For the first time, Victor’s smile disappeared.
“Your father understood the consequences of exposing the family business. You don’t.””
“Then explain them.””
“Not in a parking garage.””
He stepped back from the car and gestured toward the SUV.
“Bring Ruby to me, and I’ll tell you where Olivia is.””
Ruby began to cry.
Rachel wrapped her arms around her daughter.
“No,” she said.
Victor’s eyes hardened.
“Rachel, you have no idea what you’ve done.””
“I know exactly what I’ve done.””
“You stole a child from the people who were legally responsible for her.””
“You stole her from her mother!””
Victor leaned toward the open window.
“Careful. You might regret saying that in front of the girls.””
I raised the window.
Then I put the car in reverse.
The SUV behind us blocked the way we’d come, but a maintenance truck was entering through the side gate. I accelerated toward the narrow opening, forcing the truck driver to brake as I squeezed past.
A horn blared.
Someone shouted.
The SUV lurched forward, but I was already climbing the exit ramp.
I drove until we reached a police station.
Victor didn’t follow us inside.
That frightened me more than if he had.
An officer took our statements, called a supervisor, and promised to review the school incident. Rachel gave them the threatening messages, but when they tried to verify the sender, the number led to a prepaid phone that had already been disconnected.
The school had security footage of Victor.
The officer watched it twice.
Then he looked at me.
“Mr. Cole, this man used credentials belonging to a private security contractor. We need time to establish who he is and whether the documents he presented were genuine.””
“He tried to take my daughter.””
“I understand.””
“No, you don’t. He has been following her.””
The officer lowered his voice.
“We’ll increase patrols around the school. For tonight, keep the children somewhere secure.””
I left the station furious and terrified.
Rachel suggested a hotel, but I refused. If Victor could track my car, he could track my reservations. Instead, I called my attorney, Martin Shaw, a man who had handled my family’s legal affairs for fifteen years.
He answered on the third ring.
“Damien? It’s late. What’s happened?””
“I need you to investigate my father’s trust. Every document, every transfer, every private agreement he made in the year Olivia disappeared.””
Martin went silent.
“Why now?””
“Because I think my father helped kidnap my wife and separate my daughters.””
A long pause followed.
Then Martin said something that made me pull the car to the side of the road.
“Damien, you need to be very careful about what you uncover.””
“Why?””
“Because your father came to see me the week before Olivia vanished. He left a sealed envelope with instructions that it wasn’t to be opened unless both of his granddaughters were alive and together.””
My mouth went dry.
“Both of them?””
“Yes.””
“Martin, what was in the envelope?””
“I don’t know. Your father instructed me to keep it sealed. But he also left a message for you.””
“What message?””
Martin’s voice dropped to a whisper.
“He said that if you ever discovered the truth about Olivia, you should never trust the person who claimed to have saved her.””
I looked at Rachel in the passenger seat.
She had gone completely still.
“Martin,” I said slowly, “who was that person?””
“I don’t know. But your father wrote down a name.””
I waited.
Martin took a breath.
“Olivia Cole.””
The phone nearly slipped from my hand.
“My wife?””
“Yes.””
“That makes no sense. She’s the one who disappeared.””
“I know.””
I stared through the windshield at the darkening Atlanta skyline.
Beside me, Rachel was crying silently.
And in the back seat, Sophie and Ruby sat shoulder to shoulder, their identical gray eyes fixed on the same photograph of their mother.
I turned toward Rachel.
“You told me you didn’t know where Olivia was.””
Rachel looked up at me.
“I don’t.””
“Then why did you react when Martin said her name?””
She wiped her cheeks with shaking fingers.
“Because your father wasn’t talking about your wife.””
“What are you talking about?””
Rachel looked at the twins.
Then she whispered the words that changed everything.
“Damien, Olivia didn’t disappear alone.””
She reached into her purse and pulled out a second photograph.
It showed two women standing outside a hospital.
One was my wife.
The other had the same face.
The same eyes.
The same dimple.
But the woman beside Olivia wore a hospital identification bracelet bearing a name I’d never seen before.
*OLIVIA COLE.*
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And on the back of the photograph, in my wife’s handwriting, were six words:
If I die, trust my sister.
