Chapter 13 - SOPHIE’S FATHER
Z
I slapped Eleanor Callahan.
Nobody stopped me.
Not Ethan.
Not Declan.
Not even the two armed men behind her.
The sound cracked through the room.
Eleanor turned her face slowly back toward me.
A red mark formed across her cheek.
“You deserved that,” I said.
“Probably.”
Ethan stared at his mother.
“You employed Daniel?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Seven years after Isabelle died.”
“What did he do?”
Eleanor sat.
As if this were a board meeting.
As if she hadn’t just turned my dead boyfriend into another secret.
“Financial intelligence.”
“He was an accountant.”
“Yes.”
“For who?”
“For companies connected to Roman.”
My stomach turned.
“So he was spying.”
“Essentially.”
“Did he know who you were?”
“Of course.”
“Did he know who I was?”
Eleanor hesitated.
That hesitation hurt more than the answer.
“Yes.”
I stepped backward.
“No.”
“Rachel—”
“No.”
Ethan reached toward me.
I moved away.
“Daniel knew about my father?”
“Yes.”
“He knew about the ledger?”
“Yes.”
“He knew I had the medal?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“He never reported it.”
“Because he loved me?”
Eleanor looked at me with something almost like pity.
“I believe so.”
I hated her for that look.
“What did you send him to do?”
“Monitor Roman’s money.”
“And Adrian?”
“He discovered Daniel.”
“That’s why Daniel was killed.”
“Yes.”
I closed my eyes.
For months after Daniel disappeared, I had hated him.
I hated him while pregnant.
I hated him during labor.
I hated him when Sophie woke screaming at three in the morning and I had nobody to hand her to.
I hated him for leaving.
Now I learned he hadn’t.
And somehow that hurt worse.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Eleanor answered calmly.
“You were irrelevant.”
Ethan moved so fast Declan stepped forward.
“Careful.”
His voice made the room freeze.
“My fiancée is not irrelevant.”
Eleanor stared at him.
“No. Not anymore.”
I turned away.
I needed air.
Again.
Apparently Callahan family revelations required outdoor breathing.
I walked into the garden.
Ethan followed.
“I need a minute.”
“I know.”
“Then why are you following me?”
“Because last time someone gave you a minute, you answered Roman Marconi’s phone call.”
I laughed despite myself.
Then cried.
It happened so suddenly I hated it.
Ethan reached for me.
This time I let him.
“I thought he abandoned us.”
“I know.”
“I told Sophie he didn’t want her.”
My voice broke.
“She couldn’t understand me. But I said it.”
Ethan held me tighter.
“You didn’t know.”
“What if he was trying to protect us?”
“Probably.”
“That doesn’t make it better.”
“No.”
“Why does everything good in my life come with a body count?”
He didn’t answer.
He didn’t insult me with reassurance.
He just stood there.
That was why I loved him.
Because sometimes Ethan Callahan knew the right thing to say.
And sometimes he knew silence was better.
Later that night, Eleanor gave us Daniel’s file.
Everything.
Photographs.
Reports.
Bank transfers.
Handwritten notes.
I sat at Ethan’s desk until sunrise reading the dead man I had loved.
Daniel had first seen me because I was in a surveillance photograph of Adrian.
He investigated me.
Learned who my father was.
Then, according to his notes, he met me accidentally at the diner.
Except it wasn’t accidental.
He had gone there intentionally.
The first line hurt.
R.M. subject’s daughter located.
The next entries became less professional.
Rachel works late Thursdays.
Rachel hates customers who snap their fingers.
Rachel gives leftover pie to homeless man behind diner.
Rachel laughs before finishing jokes.
Then:
This assignment is becoming compromised.
Then:
I cannot use her.
And finally:
I love her.
I covered my mouth.
Ethan sat across from me.
He had read everything too.
“He was going to leave Eleanor,” he said.
“How do you know?”
“Last report.”
I opened it.
Daniel wrote:
I’m done. Rachel is pregnant. I will not bring a child into this. I’ll provide one final account transfer proving Roman’s network, then I’m gone.
Below that, another line.
If anything happens to me, keep them out of Chicago.
My tears fell.
He hadn’t abandoned us.
He had died trying to leave.
I felt relief.
Anger.
Grief.
Love.
All at once.
“Did your mother know I was pregnant?”
“No.”
“How do you know?”
“Because if she had, she would have watched you.”
“That does not make me feel better.”
“It wasn’t meant to.”
We found one more thing.
A bank account.
Opened under Sophie’s name.
Funded two weeks before Daniel died.
Fifty thousand dollars.
Untouched.
I stared.
“He was saving for her.”
“Yes.”
“I don’t want Callahan money.”
“It isn’t Callahan money.”
“Roman’s?”
“Stolen from Roman.”
I looked at Ethan.
He shrugged.
“Your daughter’s father had a sense of humor.”
For the first time that night, I smiled.
By morning, we thought we understood.
Daniel had infiltrated Roman’s network for Eleanor.
He met me.
Fell in love.
Decided to leave.
Adrian discovered him and had him killed.
Case closed.
Except nothing in our lives closed that cleanly.
At 9:42, Declan entered holding a tablet.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“We found Daniel’s last outgoing message.”
My heart stopped.
“To who?”
Declan looked at me.
“You.”
I stood.
“I never got it.”
“It was never sent through normal cellular service. It was stored in an encrypted account.”
“What does it say?”
He turned the tablet.
A video.
Daniel appeared.
Alive.
Tired.
Terrified.
I pressed play.
“Rachel.”
My heart shattered at the sound of his voice.
“If you’re seeing this, something happened.”
He looked over his shoulder.
“I need you to know I didn’t leave because I stopped loving you.”
I began crying.
Ethan’s hand found mine.
Daniel continued.
“There are things I should have told you. About your father. About Chicago. About the Callahans.”
He inhaled.
“But the most important thing is this.”
He leaned closer to the camera.
“Do not trust Eleanor Callahan.”
I looked toward the door.
Eleanor stood there.
Daniel’s voice continued.
“She isn’t working against Roman.”
May you like
My blood froze.
“She’s working with him.”
