Chapter 8 - The Day They Tried to Take My Daughter
It happened outside the federal building.
I had just finished giving a statement.
Sophie was in a front carrier against my chest.
Ethan was ten feet away speaking to an attorney.
Two security men stood near the SUV.
Safe.
We thought.
A woman approached me crying.
“Rachel Morales?”
I stopped.
Mistake.
“Yes?”
“My daughter worked with your mother.”
Something about grief makes you stupid.
Not unintelligent.
Open.
I turned fully toward her.
“What?”
She held out a photograph.
I reached.
The woman grabbed the baby carrier buckle.
Hard.
Sophie screamed.
Everything happened at once.
I hit the woman.
No hesitation.
No thought.
My fist connected with her face.
She stumbled.
A man rushed from behind a parked car.
Ethan reached him first.
I had never seen violence happen that quickly.
One second the man was running.
The next Ethan drove him into the hood of the car.
Security swarmed.
The woman tried again.
I kicked her.
Not gracefully.
Not dramatically.
I simply became an animal.
“You don’t touch my baby!”
Sophie screamed against my chest.
Agents rushed outside.
The attackers were restrained.
Ethan turned toward me.
His knuckles were bleeding.
“Rachel.”
“I’m fine.”
“Give me Sophie.”
“No.”
“You’re shaking.”
“No.”
“You’re shaking so hard.”
I tightened my arms.
“I’m not letting go.”
His entire expression changed.
He lowered his hands.
“Okay.”
Not take her.
Not listen to me.
Just okay.
He moved beside me.
Close enough that his shoulder touched mine.
No pressure.
Sophie cried.
I cried with her.
The attempted kidnapping was ordered by a political aide connected to Crane.
A desperate attempt to obtain leverage before investigators secured everything.
The aide was arrested.
Crane was later indicted.
For the first time, it looked like the chain might truly end.
But I was done.
That night, I told Ethan I was leaving Chicago.
He did not argue.
“I’ll arrange whatever security you choose.”
“I don’t want guards forever.”
“Then temporary.”
“I want a normal apartment.”
“Fine.”
“A normal job.”
“Fine.”
“Sophie goes to normal daycare.”
His expression finally cracked.
“Let’s not become reckless.”
I laughed.
He smiled.
Then I said, “I’m not going back to Los Angeles.”
He looked surprised.
“Where?”
“Chicago.”
“Why?”
“Elena is here.”
“Yes.”
“My history is here.”
“Yes.”
“And despite everything, it feels like I’m done running.”
Ethan was quiet.
“You don’t owe the Callahan family anything.”
“I know.”
“You don’t have to stay because Michael was your father.”
“I know.”
“Or because you own part of the company.”
“I know.”
“Then why?”
I looked upstairs toward Sophie’s room.
“Because this is the first place in years where I have people.”
He looked down.
“You had Elena.”
“I lost Elena because both of us were too stubborn.”
“And Dominic?”
“Unfortunately.”
He smiled.
“And me?”
I pretended to think.
“Still evaluating.”
“Cruel.”
“You’re rich. You’ll survive.”
I found an apartment in Lincoln Park.
Ethan hated it.
Not because it was bad.
Because it had a street entrance.
“I can secure the entrance.”
“No.”
“Camera?”
“One.”
“Two.”
“One.”
“Doorman?”
“No.”
“Rachel.”
“No.”
We compromised.
One camera.
Reinforced door.
A security response service.
No permanent guards.
Ethan called it madness.
I called it adulthood.
I found a job managing a neighborhood restaurant.
Better pay.
Daytime hours.
Health insurance.
For the first time, I did not work double shifts.
Sophie started sleeping longer.
Elena and I rebuilt slowly.
Not with one dramatic apology.
With coffee.
Phone calls.
Arguments.
Honesty.
Dominic and Elena rescheduled the wedding.
This time, I helped.
I also threatened Dominic twice.
Ethan was proud.
The Callahan shares stayed in trust.
I attended legitimate board meetings only when necessary.
The criminal side?
I wanted nothing to do with it.
Ethan respected that.
Mostly.
Then Claire remained in Chicago.
That became interesting.
I watched two emotionally damaged people avoid each other with extraordinary skill.
One evening, Claire came to my apartment.
Sophie loved her immediately.
Traitor.
“You still love him,” I said.
Claire nearly dropped her wine.
“Who?”
I stared.
She sighed.
“Yes.”
“Why aren’t you together?”
“Long story.”
“I apparently specialize.”
Claire smiled sadly.
“Ethan proposed to me eight years ago.”
“What happened?”
“I found out what he really did.”
“The crime-family part?”
“Yes.”
“You didn’t know?”
“Not enough.”
“And?”
“I left.”
“Fair.”
“He let me.”
I frowned.
“That sounds healthy.”
“It wasn’t.”
She looked down.
“I wanted him to fight for me.”
“That sounds unhealthy.”
“Yes.”
We laughed.
Claire continued.
“Then my father died. I blamed the Callahans. Ethan believed giving me space was kindness. I believed silence meant he never loved me.”
“Communication is apparently illegal in this family.”
“That seems accurate.”
I looked toward the window.
“You know he still loves you.”
Her eyes lifted.
“How?”
“I met him on an airplane and learned most of his facial expressions in six weeks.”
“What expression?”
“The one where he looks like being near you physically hurts.”
Claire went silent.
At Elena’s wedding, I seated them together.
Accidentally.
According to me.
Deliberately.
According to everyone else.
Elena wore ivory.
Dominic cried before she reached the aisle.
I cried because he cried.
Then I denied it.
Sophie wore a tiny green dress.
Ethan held her during the ceremony.
That photograph eventually appeared online.
THE KING OF CHICAGO WITH HIS BABY?
I nearly sued the internet.
After dinner, Ethan found me near the terrace.
“Your work?”
“What?”
He looked toward Claire.
“You seated her beside me.”
“Wedding charts are complex.”
“You’re terrible.”
“I’ve heard.”
He leaned against the railing.
“Thank you.”
I smiled.
“You’re welcome.”
“Don’t get excited.”
“Too late.”
Then a man approached.
Early forties.
Brown hair.
Expensive suit.
Familiar face.
I did not recognize him at first.
Then he smiled.
“Rachel?”
My stomach dropped.
Miguel.
Sophie’s biological father.
The man who disappeared before she was born.
Standing at my sister’s wedding.
May you like
Looking at Ethan holding his daughter.
And apparently realizing for the first time exactly how valuable Sophie had become.
