Chapter 2 - The Little Boy Who Changed Everything
I was standing in the hallway, staring at my phone, when Kieran called.
“My sitter canceled,” I told him. “I'm sorry. I should have called sooner.”
“Where is Noah?”
“With Mrs. Kowalski. But she has to leave in twenty minutes.”
“Then bring him.”
I blinked.
“Bring him where?”
“To dinner.”
“Kieran, he's five.”
“I've met adults who are considerably less entertaining.”
I laughed despite myself.
Twenty-five minutes later, a black SUV pulled up outside my apartment. Kieran stepped out himself, wearing a charcoal coat over a dark sweater.
Noah was standing behind my legs, clutching his stuffed dinosaur.
He stared at Kieran.
Kieran stared back.
Then he lowered himself until they were eye to eye.
“You must be Noah.”
“Are you my mommy's boss?”
“No.”
“Are you rich?”
I closed my eyes.
“Noah!”
Kieran's mouth twitched.
“Apparently.”
“Do you have a dinosaur?”
“Not currently.”
Noah considered that disappointing.
“Then you should get one.”
“I'll look into it.”
That was how their relationship began.
Dinner was at a family restaurant, not one of the private establishments where Kieran usually took me. He ordered grilled chicken for Noah, listened to an uninterrupted explanation of dinosaurs, and didn't check his phone once.
When Noah spilled juice across the table, I reached for the napkins.
Kieran was already there.
“It's okay,” he told Noah. “Happens to everyone.”
Noah looked relieved.
On the drive home, he fell asleep against the window.
Kieran watched him in the rearview mirror.
“He trusts you,” I said.
“Shouldn't he?”
“He doesn't know you.”
“Neither do you, completely.”
That wiped the smile from my face.
Kieran glanced at me.
“I didn't mean that as a warning.”
“I know.”
But I wasn't sure I did.
Over the next month, Kieran became part of our routine. He never demanded that Noah call him anything special. He attended a kindergarten art show, where he stood in the back wearing a thousand-dollar suit and admired a crooked paper dinosaur as if it belonged in a museum.
He also learned that Noah hated peas, loved space, and insisted on sleeping with the hallway light on.
For the first time in years, I began imagining a future that didn't revolve entirely around surviving the next week.
Then Garrett called.
I was in Kieran's penthouse when his phone rang. He answered, listened, and immediately stood.
“What happened?”
A pause.
“Don't move. I'm coming.”
He ended the call.
“Garrett?”
“Someone broke into his apartment.”
“Is he hurt?”
“No. But they left something for him.”
Kieran grabbed his coat.
I followed him to the elevator.
“I'm coming.”
“Mila, no.”
“Your brother was my patient. I'm not going to pretend I don't care what happens to him.”
He studied me for a long moment.
Then he nodded.
Garrett lived in a guarded building overlooking Lake Michigan. He looked considerably healthier than the night I had first seen him, although his left shoulder still moved stiffly.
He greeted me with a tired smile.
“There's the nurse who saved my life.”
“You did most of the work by surviving.”
His expression changed.
“That's an interesting way to put it.”
On the dining table sat a small black envelope.
Inside was a photograph.
It showed Noah leaving kindergarten with me.
On the back, someone had written four words.
SHE KNOWS WHAT YOU DID.
Kieran's face turned frighteningly still.
“Who took this?”
Garrett looked at his brother.
“That's what I've been trying to tell you.”
“What?”
“Someone inside the family has been watching Mila.”
I looked between them.
“Why would anyone watch me?”
Neither answered.
Then Garrett reached into his desk and removed a folded piece of paper.
“Mila, there's something you need to know about your son's father.”
My heart stopped.
Noah's father had disappeared before he was born. I had spent years telling myself that his absence was an answer.
Garrett unfolded the paper.
“His name wasn't Daniel Hartley, was it?”
I stared at him.
“Daniel was his name.”
“No,” Garrett whispered. “It was the name he used when he met you.”
Kieran stepped forward.
“Garrett. Don't.”
May you like
But his brother was already looking at me.
“Your son's father was connected to our family. And I think he knew exactly who you were before you ever met him.”
