Chapter 2 - The Man Caleb Was Running FromThe darkness lasted six seconds.
It felt like six hours.
Emergency lights came on.
Red.
Low.
Eerie.
Marcus moved toward the door.
Dominic stopped him.
“No.”
“We need to get downstairs.”
“No.”
He looked at Evelyn.
“She's the target.”
“Why?”
“Because someone expected her to come here.”
Evelyn stared.
“I came because of a text.”
“Yes.”
“But nobody knew I received it.”
“Exactly.”
Dominic's gaze shifted to Marcus.
“Someone leaked the number.”
Marcus looked grim.
“Then the leak came from inside.”
Dominic nodded.
He handed Evelyn a phone.
“Call someone you trust.”
She laughed bitterly.
“I don't have anyone.”
“Family?”
“My mother lives in Ohio.”
“Friends?”
“Caleb isolated me from most of them.”
Dominic's jaw tightened.
“Of course he did.”
“You sound like you know him.”
“I know men like him.”
Evelyn stared.
“You think Caleb is dangerous.”
“I know he is.”
“Then why did he date me?”
Dominic looked at her.
“That may be the wrong question.”
“What should I ask?”
“Why did someone want you to date him?”
Her stomach tightened.
“What?”
He continued.
“Your relationship began eighteen months ago.”
“Yes.”
“Three months after your mother sold a house.”
Evelyn frowned.
“How do you know that?”
“Because the money from that sale was transferred to you.”
“My mother's money?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“Two weeks later, Caleb appeared.”
She stared.
“That can't be a coincidence.”
“No.”
He slid another document toward her.
Caleb's employment history.
Bartender.
Server.
Freight clerk.
Private assistant.
Every job had lasted less than a year.
But there was one strange pattern.
Each position brought him near wealthy clients.
Near financial systems.
Near access.
“He was using people.”
“Yes.”
“Was I one of them?”
Dominic looked at her.
“At first.”
She swallowed.
“And now?”
“Now I don't think he knows what to do with you.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means he may have started caring.”
Evelyn laughed.
“That would almost be funny.”
“Why?”
“He told me I was exhausting to love.”
Dominic's eyes narrowed.
“He said that?”
“Yes.”
“He was wrong.”
Her heart skipped.
Dominic looked away.
Marcus returned.
“Caleb escaped.”
“Where?”
“East warehouse.”
Dominic nodded.
Evelyn stood.
“Take me there.”
“No.”
“He knows me.”
“That makes you more vulnerable.”
“It also makes me useful.”
Dominic stared at her.
For the first time, he seemed genuinely uncertain.
Then he nodded.
“Stay beside me.”
The east warehouse was nearly empty.
Caleb had left blood on the floor.
Not his.
Someone else's.
Evelyn found a phone.
Her phone number was saved under one name.
THE KEY.
She stared.
“What does that mean?”
Dominic looked at it.
His expression darkened.
“Your father.”
“My father?”
“Who was he?”
“Dead.”
“How?”
“Heart attack.”
Dominic looked at her.
“Was it?”
“I don't know.”
He walked away.
She followed.
“You know something.”
“Yes.”
“Tell me.”
Dominic stopped.
“I knew your father.”
Her breath caught.
“What?”
“Ethan Hart.”
“Yes.”
“He worked for my family.”
“How?”
“Financial intelligence.”
Evelyn stared.
“He was an accountant.”
“He was much more than that.”
“What happened?”
Dominic's expression hardened.
“He disappeared the same week Caleb entered your life.”
She felt dizzy.
“That's impossible.”
“Not anymore.”
He pulled an old photograph from his wallet.
Evelyn recognized her father.
Beside him stood a younger Dominic.
And another man.
Caleb.
Her knees weakened.
“No.”
Dominic caught her.
“Easy.”
“Caleb knew my father.”
“Yes.”
“And you knew him too?”
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“Almost twenty years.”
Evelyn looked at the photograph.
Then at Dominic.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because your father asked me not to.”
“Why?”
Dominic's eyes darkened.
“Because he thought someone inside my organization had betrayed him.”
Evelyn whispered,
“Who?”
May you like
Dominic looked toward the darkness.
“We never found out.”
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