“Hey, Alex. What’s up?”

“Carol, we have a bit of a problem.”

“What’s that? Is something wrong?”

Alexander proceeded to tell his sister what had happened the day before. How Olivia lost her protection detail. How she walked from her appointment in the Prudential Center to her house. How she kept walking and was followed. How she tried to lose the tail, but it didn’t work. And how she ended up running, scared.

“Martin was able to pull up some of the street camera feeds. He found a guy matching the description that Olivia had given us. The timing was right.” He stood up and walked over to the large windows in his study, leaning his head on the chilly glass pane. “Oh, sis,” he moaned.

“Let me guess. It was Kiddish.”

“Yeah, it was.”

“Listen, Alex. I don’t want to alarm you, but if Kiddish is doing his own dirty work now, shit must be bad.”

“I know. I just…” He paced around his office, staring at all his old family photos. Photos of Olivia as a little girl. Photos of them in the sand. Then he stopped on a photo at the house in Newport when he and his parents went to visit one Christmas. That was their last Christmas together. Olivia wanted to play house, but before she would allow Alexander to play house with her, he had to marry her. So they had a play wedding ceremony. Her mother had snapped a photo of him wearing a top hat, Olivia wearing a long veil and a white dress. His heart dropped when he saw that. He knew his answer.

“What is it Alex? Are you okay?”

All of a sudden, everything became clear. “I just can’t lose her. That’s the girl I’m going to marry.”

“Alex, I know you don’t want to hear this from me again, but I think it’s time you tell her. And it’s time you finally opened that letter. There may be some answers there because, right now, I’m coming up empty. I can’t find anything on this guy. But I do know that his father never did any of his own dirty work. He would hire other people to do the real work. That’s how he and everyone who’s hired him have gotten away with it. This could be bad.”

“I know,” he sighed, resigning himself to do the one thing he was scared of most. “Just… Give me a few more days. I’m taking her to the charity auction tomorrow night. I’ll tell her after that. I promise.”

“Okay. You’d better or, at some point, I will tell her. You can’t keep this from her forever. She’s bound to figure it all out eventually.”

“I know,” he said quietly.

“Okay. See you tomorrow.”

“Carol?” Alexander said, grabbing his sister’s attention, debating whether to tell her that facial recognition returned a hit on Jack DeLuca, even though he had supposedly been dead for over twenty years.

“Yeah?”

“Nothing,” he exhaled. “Love you, sis.”

“Love you, too.”

Alexander hung up, thinking about how he could possibly tell Olivia the words she should never have to hear. Retreating back to the living room, his entire body warmed as he admired her curled up next to Runner, fast asleep. She looked so peaceful. He wanted to keep her there with him forever.

He gingerly picked her up, trying not to wake her. As he carried her upstairs, his heart sank. He prayed that this wouldn’t be one of the last nights he would ever hold her. He hoped she would forgive him for not telling her the truth when he was simply trying to protect her. That’s what he swore that he would do all those years ago.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

NOT GONE

A LITTLE GIRL LAY in a hospital bed. Tubes were attached to her and a machine measuring her heartbeat maintained a steady rhythm. That’s all Olivia heard for days, the constant beep…beep…beep… Voices sounded around her. She recognized some of them and desperately willed her eyes to open, but she couldn’t muster the strength. She felt something against her arm. Mr. Bear. Pulling the bear closer, she cried, wondering if anyone could even see the tears that fell from her eyes.

Hours passed. Maybe days. Olivia had no idea. She felt a small hand, not much bigger than her own, take hers. It had to belong to a child. “Olibia. You need to wake up now. Please,” the voice begged. Olivia tried and tried to open her eyes, but she couldn’t.

Then nothing. Again. She pulled Mr. Bear into her arms once more, knowing that she needed to keep him close for some reason. More time passed before she heard two voices speaking low. They didn’t belong to a child, though. They belonged to two older men.

“Thomas, I understand what you’re saying, but this is my decision,” one of the voices said forcefully.

“Is this really necessary?” another voice asked.

“Of course it is! It’s the only way. They knew, Thomas. They knew.” A small cry erupted from the voice. “I need to protect everyone. She’s dead, Thomas. She’s fucking dead and this is the only way I know. They’ve threatened to hurt everyone close to me. They’ve already killed my wife! Who’s next? My daughter? Me?” he said, the fear in his voice evident. “You need to do this. Pay off whoever you have to, but make sure it happens.”

“If you’re sure,” the voice called Thomas said.

“I am.” There was a brief pause. “Just one request, though. I know there will be new identities, but…please, still call her Olivia. If not her first name, at least her middle name. When Marilyn found out she was pregnant, she was so excited. She just knew she was having a little girl. She called her Olivia since day one. Please, whatever you do, just keep that name. For Mary.”

“You’re sure about this? You won’t be able to see her. She will grow up without a father.”

“She’s already lost her mother.”

“But Jack… There’s got to be another way.”

“There’s no other way! They want me dead! They want everyone dead! They need to think that we perished in that crash. If they don’t believe that, they’ll keep coming after everyone I hold dear, including you and your family. I cannot have that on my conscience.”

“You’re not thinking clearly. You were just in a nasty accident.”

“I’ve never had as clear of a head as I do now, Thomas.”

There was a loud sigh. “Okay. Fine. I’ll get it done. We’ll assign a protection detail for you once you are relocated. I won’t be able to tell you where Olivia will go.”