Chapter 8 - The Night Vincent Almost Became His Old SelfVincent did not tell Claire about the photograph immediately.
For eleven minutes.
He later counted them.
Eleven minutes was how long the old Vincent survived.
He called Daniel.
“Get security to Halcyon.”
Then he stopped.
Closed his eyes.
And called Claire.
She answered from her office.
“Hey.”
“Kane sent me something.”
Her voice changed.
“What?”
“A photograph of you.”
Silence.
“When?”
“Taken today.”
“Where?”
“Outside Halcyon.”
Claire breathed slowly.
“What did it say?”
Vincent told her.
She became quiet.
“Are you okay?”
The question surprised him.
“Claire.”
“I’m serious.”
“He threatened you.”
“Yes.”
“And I’m asking whether you’re okay.”
Vincent looked at the photograph.
“No.”
“Thank you for telling me.”
“I want security with you.”
Claire hesitated.
Vincent waited.
“How much?”
“One person.”
“Visible?”
“No.”
“Do I know who?”
“Yes.”
“Do they report my movements to you?”
“No.”
Claire considered.
“Okay.”
Vincent exhaled.
“But only until Kane is dealt with.”
“Yes.”
“And you do not use this as an excuse to turn my life into a fortress.”
“I won’t.”
“Vincent.”
“I won’t.”
Claire heard something in his voice.
“What are you planning?”
“Nothing.”
“Wrong answer.”
He almost smiled.
“I’m angry.”
“That I believe.”
“I want to do several things I promised myself I wouldn’t do anymore.”
“Such as?”
Vincent looked toward the dark city.
“Things better left unsaid.”
“Then say them.”
“Claire—”
“Say them so they stop being plans and become thoughts.”
He was silent.
Then he told her.
Not details.
Not instructions.
Just the truth.
He wanted Kane frightened.
He wanted him gone.
He wanted to use every old connection.
Every old debt.
Every old weapon of influence.
When Vincent finished, Claire said nothing for several seconds.
“Do you still want to?”
“Yes.”
“Are you going to?”
“No.”
“Why?”
Vincent looked at the photograph again.
“Because I don’t want the man protecting you to become someone you need protection from.”
Claire closed her eyes.
“Come over.”
“To your apartment?”
“Yes.”
“Now?”
“Yes.”
Vincent arrived twenty minutes later.
Claire opened the door.
He expected conversation.
Instead she wrapped her arms around him.
Vincent stood motionless.
Then held her.
Not tightly.
Claire tightened her arms herself.
“You can hold me.”
He did.
For several minutes, neither spoke.
Finally Claire whispered, “I hate that he can still reach into our lives.”
“So do I.”
“But you told me.”
“Yes.”
“That matters.”
Vincent rested his face against her hair.
“I almost didn’t.”
“But you did.”
The next morning, Claire met the security specialist assigned to her.
Her name was Lena Ortiz.
Thirty-eight.
Former federal agent.
Calm enough to make Claire immediately suspicious.
“You carry a gun?”
“Yes.”
“Do I want to know where?”
“Probably not.”
Claire nodded.
“We’ll get along.”
Lena almost smiled.
For a week, nothing happened.
Then Sophie disappeared.
Not literally.
But at nine fifteen on Wednesday morning, she failed to arrive.
At nine thirty, Nora called.
No answer.
At ten, Claire called.
No answer.
At ten fifteen, Lena asked for Sophie’s address.
Claire’s stomach turned.
They reached Sophie’s apartment at eleven.
The door was open.
Claire’s heart stopped.
Lena moved in front of her.
“Stay here.”
“I’m not staying—”
“Claire.”
Something in Lena’s voice stopped her.
Two minutes later, Lena returned.
“She’s not inside.”
“Is there blood?”
“No.”
“Signs of a struggle?”
“No.”
Claire called Vincent.
He answered immediately.
“Sophie is missing.”
Silence.
“Where are you?”
Claire almost laughed from fear.
“Try again.”
Vincent breathed.
“Is Lena with you?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
“I need help.”
Those words cost Claire something.
Vincent heard it.
“What do you need?”
“Find her.”
He did not say anything.
He understood exactly what Claire was asking.
Not ownership.
Not control.
Help.
“I will.”
Daniel activated every legitimate resource Rowe businesses possessed.
Security footage.
Company records.
Phone contacts.
Claire contacted Sophie’s family.
By two o’clock, they discovered Sophie had received a message the previous evening claiming Claire needed her to retrieve original Halcyon drawings from a storage facility.
Claire had sent no such message.
At three twelve, Sophie called.
Claire nearly dropped the phone.
“Sophie?”
Crying.
“I’m sorry.”
“Where are you?”
“I don’t know.”
Claire’s blood went cold.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Is anyone with you?”
“No.”
Sophie explained.
She had driven to the address.
A man took her phone.
Forced her into another car.
Drove for nearly an hour.
Then left her in an empty warehouse office.
The door was unlocked.
Her phone sat outside.
Nothing else had happened.
Claire understood.
This was not kidnapping for money.
It was a message.
“Can you see anything outside?”
“Train tracks.”
Vincent stood beside Claire listening.
Daniel was already working.
Within seventeen minutes they identified the location.
Police reached Sophie first.
She was unharmed.
Terrified.
But safe.
Claire arrived at the hospital.
Sophie burst into tears when she saw her.
“I’m quitting.”
Claire hugged her.
“Okay.”
Sophie pulled back.
“What?”
“If you want to quit, quit.”
“I thought you’d tell me not to.”
“No.”
Claire took her hand.
“You don’t owe this company bravery.”
Sophie cried harder.
“I love working for you.”
“I know.”
“I don’t want him to take that.”
Claire looked at her.
“Then don’t decide tonight.”
Outside the room, Vincent waited.
Claire walked toward him.
“He used her because of me.”
“No.”
“Vincent.”
“Kane used her because Kane chose to use her.”
Claire’s eyes filled.
“If she had been hurt—”
“She wasn’t.”
“But—”
Vincent touched her face.
“Don’t borrow guilt from someone else’s cruelty.”
Claire stared at him.
“You learned that in therapy?”
“Yes.”
“Expensive?”
“Extremely.”
She laughed through tears.
Then Vincent’s phone rang.
Daniel.
He answered.
Listened.
His expression changed.
Claire knew immediately.
“What?”
Vincent hung up.
“They found the man who took Sophie.”
“Who?”
“Someone who works for Kane.”
Claire’s eyes hardened.
“Police?”
“He won’t talk.”
Vincent looked away.
Claire saw it.
The temptation.
Old Vincent knew how to make men talk.
Claire stepped closer.
“What are you going to do?”
“Nothing.”
“Truth.”
Vincent looked at her.
“I want to see him.”
“Why?”
“Because I can make him tell me where Kane is.”
“How?”
Silence.
Claire nodded.
“There it is.”
“Claire—”
“No.”
“I’m not going to hurt him.”
“Would you have?”
Vincent did not answer.
“That’s why you can’t go.”
His jaw tightened.
“He targeted someone who works for you.”
“Yes.”
“He photographed you.”
“Yes.”
“And you’re asking me to wait for police who may not be able to prove Kane ordered any of it.”
“Yes.”
Vincent turned away.
Claire grabbed his hand.
He stopped.
“You told me once that if I ever chose you again, you wanted it to be because the man you became gave me a reason.”
He looked at her.
“This is the reason.”
Vincent’s face changed.
“Not the coffee.”
Claire squeezed his hand.
“Not the dinners. Not the transparency with your phone.”
Her voice trembled.
“This.”
Vincent looked toward the hospital room.
Claire continued.
“Who are you when becoming the old Vincent would be easier?”
Silence.
Long.
Painful.
Finally Vincent pulled out his phone.
He called Daniel.
“Turn everything over to the police.”
He listened.
“All of it.”
Another pause.
“Yes.”
He hung up.
Claire exhaled.
Vincent looked at her.
“I hate this.”
“I know.”
“I feel weak.”
“You’re not.”
“It feels like it.”
Claire touched his face.
“That’s because you spent your entire life confusing restraint with weakness.”
Vincent closed his eyes.
She kissed him.
Not passionately.
Not romantically.
A quiet kiss in a hospital corridor.
When she stepped back, Vincent looked different.
Not relieved.
Not victorious.
But certain.
Three days later, police arrested Elias Kane.
Not for Sophie.
Not yet.
Financial investigators had used documents Vincent surrendered to uncover fraud connected to Kane’s acquisition of the Halcyon debt.
The investigation widened.
Kane was released pending proceedings.
But his leverage collapsed.
His investors abandoned him.
His attorneys stopped returning calls.
The threat began shrinking.
One month later, Sophie returned to work.
Claire did not ask her to.
Sophie arrived at nine with coffee.
Nora looked up.
“You sure?”
Sophie put down her bag.
“No.”
Claire smiled.
“Good answer.”
That evening, Claire went home with Vincent.
This time, she carried four suitcases.
Vincent saw them.
He said nothing.
Claire looked at him.
“You’re not going to ask?”
“I’m afraid.”
She laughed.
“I’m moving back.”
Vincent’s face went completely still.
“Permanently?”
Claire raised an eyebrow.
He corrected himself.
“As permanently as you choose.”
“Better.”
He smiled.
Claire handed him a suitcase.
“You can carry this.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“And Vincent?”
“Yes?”
“My apartment lease has six months left.”
His smile remained.
“Keep it.”
Claire studied him.
“You mean that?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Vincent picked up the suitcase.
“Because home should be where you choose to stay.”
Claire followed him inside.
May you like
For the first time, the Rowe estate did not feel like the place she had returned to.
It felt like a place they were beginning again.
