In fact—
Maya hesitated.
Alex whispered, “Say it.”
She did.
“Your father arranged your first meeting.”
I sat down.
“What?”
The restaurant where Alex and I met at twenty-four had not been random.
My father knew Alex would be there.
He encouraged me to attend a friend's birthday dinner that night.
He had been studying Alex.
He wanted access.
Through me.
My entire marriage had begun as someone else's plan.
Sophie reached for my hand.
The irony nearly destroyed me.
My daughter had been manipulated into marrying Jake.
And decades earlier, my own father had manipulated me into meeting Alex.
“But why send Caroline after Sophie?”
Maya shook her head.
“We don't know.”
Alex looked furious.
“Where is Thomas?”
“We tracked him to a rural property fifty miles north.”
“Then we're going.”
Maya shook her head.
“No. Federal agents are already—”
Her phone rang.
She answered.
Listened.
Then looked at us.
