Chapter 4 - The Flower Shop Secret
Verbena Lane was closed when Paige arrived the next morning.
That had never happened.
The sign said CLOSED.
The windows were dark.
The cash register was gone.
The back door stood open.
Cain wanted Paige to stay in the car.
She refused.
Together they entered.
The shop smelled like roses and wet soil.
Rows of empty buckets lined the walls.
No employees.
No owner.
Nothing.
Then Paige noticed the ledger beneath the counter.
She opened it.
Every delivery was recorded.
Names.
Addresses.
Amounts.
And a second set of numbers written in red ink.
Cain stared at them.
“Shipment codes.”
Paige looked closer.
Some of the addresses were hospitals.
Others were shelters.
Others were private homes.
And several had names she recognized from her social work coursework.
People classified as missing.
Paige’s stomach turned.
“Why would a flower shop have this?”
Cain answered quietly.
“It wouldn’t.”
He opened a hidden compartment beneath the counter.
Inside was a stack of passports.
Paige covered her mouth.
“They used flower deliveries.”
Cain nodded.
“Flowers are invisible.”
That was why the routes were so flexible.
That was why no one questioned drivers.
Paige remembered how often she had been asked to leave bouquets at side entrances.
She had believed she was just doing a job.
She sat down.
“I may have delivered evidence.”
Cain crouched in front of her.
“You didn’t know.”
“That doesn’t make it better.”
“It makes it innocent.”
Paige looked at him.
“You really believe that?”
“Yes.”
It was the simplest answer he had ever given her.
They discovered a hidden office upstairs.
There was a computer still running.
One file contained Paige’s name.
Her stomach tightened.
Cain opened it.
A personnel summary.
HOME ADDRESS.
DAUGHTER.
MOTHER.
WORK SCHEDULE.
CLASS SCHEDULE.
EVERYTHING.
Paige stared.
“How long have they been watching me?”
Cain did not answer.
The answer was obvious.
Too long.
Then another file appeared.
SUBJECT: PAIGE HOLLISTER.
OBJECTIVE: IDENTIFY ACCESS TO ARCHIVE.
Status: Active.
Underneath was one photograph.
Paige in her classroom.
And another.
Meadow on a playground.
Paige slammed the laptop shut.
“Take us home.”
Cain looked at her.
“There is no safe home anymore.”
She stared back.
“Then build one.”
Cain’s expression softened.
That evening, they met with Henry and Ruth.
Cain placed the flower-shop records on the table.
Ruth immediately recognized them.
“I knew it.”
“What?”
“They never destroyed the network.”
Cain looked at her.
“You knew they were using the flower shop?”
“I knew someone was using it.”
Henry added, “Victor needed a distribution chain nobody would question.”
Paige sat silently.
Cain noticed her hands shaking.
He reached across the table.
He did not touch her.
Not yet.
Instead he said, “You can stop.”
Paige shook her head.
“No.”
She looked toward her daughter, who was coloring beside the window.
“I started working because I wanted Meadow to have a life better than mine.”
Cain followed her gaze.
“And now?”
“Now I want her to live in a world where women don’t disappear because they’re poor and nobody cares.”
Cain studied her.
“You think social work can change this?”
“I think people change it.”
He smiled faintly.
“Then maybe I’ve been working with the wrong people.”
That night, Paige fell asleep at the table.
Cain found her there.
Her textbook was open.
Her laptop displayed an overdue tuition notice.
He covered her with a blanket.
Bianca watched from the doorway.
“You’re getting attached.”
Cain did not look up.
“I know.”
“Then walk away before she becomes leverage.”
Cain looked at Paige.
“She already is.”
The next morning, a package arrived.
Inside was a recording.
Luca’s voice.
Eight years old.
Paige listened first.
Then Cain.
Luca said, “If you’re hearing this, Victor has won. But there is one person he can’t account for. Ruth’s daughter. She won’t know what she carries because Ruth will make sure she grows up ordinary.”
Cain looked at Paige.
“Me.”
Luca continued.
“Protect the daughter. Not because she is useful. Because she is the last innocent thing connected to this.”
The recording ended.
Cain closed his eyes.
Paige whispered, “Your brother knew me before I knew him.”
“Yes.”
“Did he save us?”
Cain nodded.
“In a way.”
A second recording began automatically.
Luca’s voice returned.
“Cain, if you ever hear this, there’s one thing you need to know.”
Silence.
Then:
May you like
“Do not become our father.”
Cain stopped breathing.
