Chapter 2 - A Ride in the Dark
"I am not getting into a car with you," Clara backed away until her spine hit the brick wall of the café. Her heart hammered against her ribs like a trapped bird.
Julian didn't blink. "You can get into the SUV voluntarily, Clara, or Reynolds can assist you. Either way, you aren't walking down this street alone while my head is spinning with questions only you can answer."
Before she could scream or run, the heavy metal door of the café opened. Reynolds stepped out, holding her worn winter coat and her canvas tote bag. He didn't look hostile; he looked entirely mechanical as he held the garments out to her.
"Mr. Vance," Clara said, her voice dropping into a register of desperate reason. "If this is about what your manager said—about my medical history—that is private. You have no legal right to detain me."
"Legal?" Julian let out a low, humorless sound that wasn't quite a laugh. "I don't operate on what is legal, Clara. I operate on what keeps my family alive. For the last six months, someone has been leaking my private residential schedules to rival syndicates. My children have been targets twice. Then I walk into a coffee shop, and my three fifteen-month-old triplets react to a stranger as if she’s their mother."
He leaned in, his voice dropping to a harsh whisper. "You’re going to sit in my car, you’re going to drink a cup of coffee that hasn't been insulted by that manager, and we are going to talk about Mercy General Hospital."
Clara froze. The mention of the hospital felt like a physical blow to her stomach. "How do you know where—"
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"I know everything within ten minutes of asking," Julian said, gesturing toward the waiting black Escalade at the curb. "Get in."
Reluctantly, her limbs heavy with a terrifying mixture of dread and an impossible, buried hope, Clara pulled her coat on and climbed into the back of the armored SUV. The tinted windows sealed her into a world of leather, silence, and the faint, sweet scent of baby powder lingering in the air.
