“Alessandria Santos Halliwell Thomas.”
My wife’s eyes flutter open and her gaze locks with mine.
“What’s my middle name?”
A chill tickles down my spine and I feel uneasy.
“Santos?”
She’s trying to tell me something but it’s not connecting. Something lurks behind her eyes and the only thing I can focus on is the horror in them. It has me slowly dying inside as the last remnant of hope in me withers. The earlier rush of adrenaline I felt at her possibly figuring something out comes crashing down.
Gabe slams a clenched fist on the table. “Fuck! How did we miss this?!”
Apparently, he’s quicker than I am.
Anger takes over, and if not for my son sleeping, I may have turned this table already and lunged for the photos.
“Will someone please tell me what the hell is going on?”
The table tempts me.
Ria starts to shake, wrapping an arm around herself and handing two photos to Ben.
Ben’s eyes widen and he hands them to me.
The first one is a picture of Ria’s mom––I recognize her because Ria is the spitting image of her––but a much younger version, possibly in her early twenties. She’s with a man around the same age inside a posh restaurant. They look cozy and happy as they smile for the camera.
The other photo is from the airstrip. In the photo, CJ is talking to a man who looks to be in his fifties, surrounded by armed bodyguards.
The man CJ is talking to is the same man in the photo with Ria’s mom.
“Noah.”
I don’t look up. I can’t.
I’m horrified. Frightened.
Ria is in deeper than we even knew.
This man will not stop until he gets her.
I throw the photos on the desk, tucking my wife in my chest.
She never knew her father but she’s aware that her middle name is his.
And she knows what he looks like based on a photo her mom kept.
A single photo.Thatphoto.
The very same one I had come across on our first night together. The one on her bedside table.
Then it clicks.
Sotnas read backwards isSantos.
Ria’s father.
He’s been watching her this whole time because Ria is his daughter. And now for some reason, he’s decided he wants her back.