Chapter 2
Sophie
My condo smelled like citrus, emotional avoidance, and denial. I padded over to my floor-to-ceiling windows on socked feet and looked out at the Potomac that rippled past downtown Georgetown. It was relentless, like the feelings churning deep inside me.
I stared at the gloomy river, goose bumps breaking over my skin even though I was dressed in thick corduroy pants and an alpaca-wool sweater. It felt like this winter weather was dragging on.
I didn’t know if it was the constant worry for my family that made it impossible to move on from the accident, but I couldn’t continue like nothing had happened.
Sometimes I woke up believing Jonathan was still alive, but then I remembered my encounter with Jacqueline and Sienna’s kidnapping, and I knew it was wishful thinking.
Utterly exhausted.
That was the way I felt as I stood in the elevator watching the numbers move into negative digits.
I fought the urge to lean back and close my eyes, fearing the fatigue would pull me under.
But that wouldn’t change my reality. Jonathan was dead and buried.
My protests and questions about his death remained unanswered.
And then, the moment things had returned to some semblance of normal, Sienna was taken.
Thankfully, Kristoff got her back with the help of his morally gray friends.
But now, it was a new year. It’d be a better one. It had to be.
The hospital elevator’s ding startled me. I straightened as the doors slid open, stepping into the garage and searching for where I parked my new car.
The early January cold hit me like a slap, sharp and bitter, and I fought off a shiver.
My Uggs were silent against the concrete as I made my way down the lane of cars. I was distracted thinking about IV lines and the dosage I’d need to administer in room 6 tomorrow morning, when I sensed a presence behind me and smelled a hint of expensive perfume.
My steps slowed and I threw a look over my shoulder. No one. I turned back around and was met with three men and a familiar figure I wanted nothing more than to forget.
Jacqueline.
I should have recognized that scent—it drowned out the rot that festered underneath it.
My eyes darted to the men who appeared to be flanking her and I opened my mouth to call out to the guard I knew would be at the entrance of the garage.
“Don’t you dare,” she warned. “Or my friend here will be forced to end you.”
A man with cold eyes and darkness swirling around him pressed a gun to my temple, and fear snapped awake in me.
I’d never seen a gun up close before and the doctor in me was instantly uncomfortable with a device that shattered lives. A device that killed Jonathan, despite the nonsense police report that stated he’d been battered by the river and drowned.
I froze.
My whole body locked up the way it had the night Sienna was taken. The way it had in the car when the world spun and metal screamed. The way it had when Jonathan’s eyes stared blankly at me.
“You haven’t heeded my warning.” She tsked, almost as if she were scolding a child. “And now you’re a loose end.”
“You killed Jonathan,” I whispered with false bravado. My voice sounded far away, like it belonged to someone else. “We both know it.”
“You know nothing.” Jacqueline smiled coldly. “But I need you to know something before I resort to my next steps.” The gun pressed harder, sending my pulse into overdrive. “Your questions… your relentless pursuit of so-called justice… they were the reason for Sienna’s misfortune.”
The words didn’t land all at once. They slid into me gradually, like poison diluted in water.
I swayed on my feet and had to close my eyes to recenter myself.
“She fought like a cat,” Jacqueline went on, almost conversational. “But she’s no match for me. Of course, everyone thinks the kidnapping was the result of her hacking into some criminal’s bank account, but I want you to know the truth.”
My stomach twisted, and I could taste bile on my tongue.
“You’re lying,” I choked out.
“Am I?” Jacqueline shrugged and tilted her head, a cruel gleam shining in her eyes.
“Oh, what the hell do I care? Believe what you will,” she said.
“But this is your last warning. Stop asking questions about Jonathan, or I’ll be forced to deal with the youngest member of your family.
How do you think Kristoff would feel about that? ”
That cracked something open.
Kristoff had wanted children for so long, and now that he’d finally found the love of his life and had a large family, this woman would destroy it with a smile on her face.
I couldn’t let that happen.
“Your curiosity will fade,” she continued, her goonie still pressing the gun firmly against my temple.
“But if you don’t stop, it’ll destroy everything.
Families. Lovers. Futures.” She leaned closer, her mouth near my ear now.
“If you’re not careful, you’ll watch your family crumble one by one.
I’ll leave you for last so you can witness it all unfold. ”
My heart stuttered. “What?”
“Oh, Sophie. You don’t actually think I’ll let you win, do you?” She laughed, the sound eerie in the echo of the garage. “Maybe you should run somewhere far away where my mafia won’t find you.”
Jesus Christ.
The woman had lost her mind. Her mafia? What in the hell did that even mean?
“I’ll give you a little hint”—one of her goonies spoke up for the first time—“we operate in all fifty states.”
The realization came like punctuation at the end of a sentence: I had to leave. Not for her or me, but for my family’s safety.
“Yes, Sophie, be smart.” Jacqueline must have read it in my expression, because she stepped back and her men did the same. The gun was no longer at my temple, but I felt it there just the same.
She turned to leave, but paused ten feet away.
“Start over,” she said. “Somewhere you can pretend none of this ever happened. We’ll be watching you. Make one wrong move, and you and your family will no longer have a future.”
Then she was gone, leaving behind the sickly smell of her perfume.
The doorbell yanked me out of the memory I was desperate to forget.
Glancing at the clock, I noted it was three in the afternoon. My party was about to start.
I squared my shoulders, adorned my best and bravest mask, then took a deep breath in.
Ding. Dong. Ding. Dong.
I slowly exhaled.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
Pinching the bridge of my nose, I headed to the front door.
Ding. Dong. Bang. Bang.
Okay, now I was getting pissed off. My guests should learn patience. I was tempted to move even slower.
I was just about to reach for the safety latch when another string of banging sounded.
“Come on, Soph,” Violet, or Dr. Freud as she often went by, shouted. “I don’t want to stand in your hallway all night.”
I swung open the door and came face-to-face with my friend.
“For the love of God, are you trying to break my door down?” I grumbled, wrenching it open just as another aggressive knock rattled the frame. I barely finished the sentence before I was pulling her into a hug. “Besides, who buzzed you in?”
My four-story building had an exterior entrance and was locked at all times. There was a porter Monday through Friday, but on the weekend, we were on our own, and owners were extra cautious about buzzing anyone in.
“I’m very convincing,” Violet announced. “As you well know.”
I rolled my eyes, squeezing her tighter.
“Welcome,” I said, my voice muffled against her jacket.
“First she scolds me, then she drags me inside,” she remarked theatrically, stepping back with exaggerated care, one hand pressed to her chest as if wounded. “Honestly, my emotional health can’t take this abuse.”
“I’m going to kick your ass if you don’t get inside,” I said, smiling. We’d met in the first year of college and had stayed in touch, but our lives had taken us in different directions in the years since. When we were together though, it was like no time had passed.
“Talk about mixed messages,” Violet teased, freeing her long blonde hair from where it’d gotten stuck under the strap of her bag.
“We’d all miss it if she stopped.” The unmistakably familiar voice echoed from down the hallway.
My gaze snapped past Violet, sweeping the long stretch of tiled floor behind her. It was empty, aside from the flickering overhead lights casting uneven shadows along the walls.
I couldn’t see her, but I could hear the faint, steady rhythm of footsteps climbing higher, the sound thinning as it slipped between the floors of my four-story building.
Sienna appeared a moment later, her almond-shaped, honey-colored eyes meeting mine.
“There you are,” I exclaimed, rushing to meet her halfway down the hall. “I can’t believe you made it,” I added, excitement tangling in my chest.
“You need to tell your building manager to install an elevator,” she huffed, though her smile softened the complaint. “I hope this is a good surprise.”
Her gaze flicked briefly to Violet, lingering just long enough to tell me she hadn’t expected to see her here.
“Of course,” I said at the same moment Violet said, “Outside the office, we’re just a bunch of friends hanging out.”
Sienna nodded. As far as I knew, she hadn’t been back to see the good doctor since her failed second attempt. I didn’t blame her; therapy wasn’t for everyone, especially if you weren’t completely ready.
“Kristoff knows you’re in town?” I asked carefully. Sienna attended MIT, and although she used to pop to New York regularly, she rarely left the campus these days.
“Uh-oh…” She winced, then forced a light laugh. “Of course.”
He didn’t, then. And the quiet plea in her eyes made it clear that she was trusting me not to say a word.
I let out a worried breath.
“You shouldn’t be roaming the streets alone,” I scolded. “I don’t want anything happening to you.”
“I had an escort,” she rushed to say. “He’s scarier than anyone else on the street.”
I arched my eyebrow, waiting for an explanation, but it never came.