Chapter 4 - THE CARTER PROMISE
David was released from intensive care three days later.
The doctors wanted him to stay another week.
He refused.
Naturally.
His first question was:
"Where's Chloe?"
I stared at him.
"School."
He frowned.
"She went to school?"
"She's eight."
"She's supposed to stay somewhere safe."
"She needs a normal life."
His expression tightened.
"Normal ended when someone learned about her."
I stepped closer.
"No."
He looked at me.
"Normal ended when you entered our lives."
The words hurt him.
I saw it.
But he didn't fight back.
Instead, he nodded.
"You're right."
That was new.
David had never admitted fault easily.
We returned to Madison under heavy security.
David insisted on coming.
I refused.
Then he reminded me that three men had followed my car from the hospital.
I stopped arguing.
The Carter convoy arrived at my duplex.
Chloe thought it was exciting.
"Mom, are we famous?"
"No."
"Then why are there five black cars?"
"Because your father is paranoid."
David, standing behind me, raised an eyebrow.
"Accurate."
Chloe looked at him.
"You came!"
He smiled.
"Yes."
She ran toward him.
David froze.
Then slowly bent down.
She hugged him.
I watched his face.
He looked destroyed.
In the best possible way.
He touched her hair.
"Hi, kid."
She pulled away.
"You're very tall."
"So are you."
"No, I'm not."
He laughed.
It was the first time I had heard him laugh in years.
Chloe studied him.
"You have my eyes."
David glanced at me.
"Yeah."
"Mom says I got them from my father."
His smile disappeared.
"She was right."
Chloe looked between us.
"You are?"
I swallowed.
David crouched.
"Yes."
Her eyes widened.
"You're my dad?"
He nodded.
She stared.
Then asked:
"Why didn't you come?"
David's face broke.
"I didn't know."
She looked at me.
"Mom?"
I knelt beside her.
"I was scared."
"Of Dad?"
"Of his life."
Chloe considered that.
Then looked at David.
"Are you dangerous?"
David didn't lie.
"Sometimes."
She frowned.
"To me?"
"Never."
"Promise?"
David held out his little finger.
"Promise."
Chloe hooked hers around it.
The sight nearly broke me.
That night, David stayed in the guest room.
I found him sitting alone at midnight.
"Can't sleep?"
"No."
"Why?"
He looked toward Chloe's bedroom.
"She has my old teddy bear."
"What?"
"Michael showed me a photograph."
I smiled.
"You kept one too?"
He nodded.
He had carried a small stuffed rabbit everywhere as a child.
I never knew that.
"You really didn't know?"
"No."
"I sent one letter."
His expression changed.
"When?"
"After I discovered I was pregnant."
"I never got it."
I froze.
"Who did?"
He stared at me.
"Someone intercepted it."
Suddenly, everything changed.
Someone had known.
Someone had deliberately kept him from learning about Chloe.
"Who?"
"I don't know."
David stood.
"We're going to find out."
The next morning, his investigators found an old security report.
Eight years earlier, two men had followed me.
Both had worked for David's father.
One was dead.
The other had disappeared.
His name was Richard Carter.
David's uncle.
I stared at the file.
"Your uncle?"
David's expression became terrifyingly calm.
"He's been dead for six years."
"Then how could he have intercepted the letter?"
David looked at the final page.
Richard had been secretly transferring money to Vincent Hale.
My blood ran cold.
"Your uncle was working with your enemy."
"Apparently."
David picked up his phone.
"Find every record."
"What are you going to do?"
He looked at me.
"Not what I would have done eight years ago."
"What does that mean?"
"I'm not going to kill anyone."
I stared.
May you like
He smiled faintly.
"I'm going to make them answer."
