Chapter 8 - The Wife Before Me
I read the sentence three times.
“What first wife?”
Elias looked at Lou.
“Where did this come from?”
“Caleb sent it twenty minutes ago.”
I stepped between them.
“Elias.”
He did not look at me.
“What first wife?”
“There was a woman named Sofia Raines.”
My chest tightened.
“You knew her?”
“Yes.”
“Did Caleb marry her?”
“I didn’t know they were legally married.”
“But they were together.”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
Elias’s expression closed.
“She died.”
The room went quiet.
“How?”
“Car accident.”
“And what did you do?”
“Nothing.”
I held up the photograph.
“Caleb seems to disagree.”
Elias took a breath.
“Sofia worked for me.”
“As what?”
“Courier. Occasionally an informant.”
My stomach dropped.
“She was spying on Caleb?”
“On Victor.”
“Did Caleb know?”
“Eventually.”
“Did you send her into danger?”
“Yes.”
The answer came without decoration.
I hated him for it.
Maybe because Caleb had lied so often that Elias’s honesty landed like a blade.
“What happened the night she died?”
“She called me from the highway. Said she had evidence Victor was buying his way into the Vale trust.”
Seven years ago.
Before Caleb met me.
“What evidence?”
“A document.”
“Did you get it?”
“No.”
“Because she died.”
“Yes.”
“And Caleb thinks you killed her?”
“He thinks I abandoned her.”
“Did you?”
Elias looked away.
That was answer enough.
I stood.
“You told me my mother saved your life. You promised to protect me from this world. Meanwhile you were using another woman to fight your wars.”
His eyes came back to mine.
“Yes.”
“Why should I believe you’re different now?”
“I’m not asking you to.”
June began crying in the nursery.
The sound cut through us.
I went to her.
When I returned, Lou was sitting at the table, both hands covering his face.
“We have to get his family,” I said.
Marco answered. “We will.”
“How?”
“Caleb wants a trade.”
“No trade,” Elias said.
Lou looked up, devastated.
I turned on Elias.
“His son is twelve.”
“I know.”
“You said no one takes children.”
“And I mean it.”
“Then act like it.”
His eyes flashed.
“I am not handing Caleb three more hostages.”
“Then give him what he thinks he wants.”
Elias went still.
“What?”
“Me.”
“No.”
“Not actually.”
“No.”
“I’m talking about a trap.”
“No.”
“You use traps.”
“With people trained to survive them.”
“Elias, I survived Caleb for three years.”
“That is not training.”
“It should count as a degree.”
Marco looked down, hiding another almost-smile.
Elias paced once.
“Caleb knows you’re under protection.”
“Then make him think I’m angry at you.”
“That won’t be difficult if you keep talking.”
I ignored him.
“We send a message. I tell Caleb I heard about Sofia. I tell him I don’t trust Elias anymore. I offer to meet him without the twins.”
“He’ll demand them.”
“I refuse.”
“He may hurt Lou’s family.”
“He may hurt them anyway.”
Lou whispered, “She’s right.”
Elias looked at him.
Lou stood.
“My son dies if we do nothing.”
The plan formed quickly.
I would call Caleb from a traceable line. Marco would locate him. I would sound frightened, furious, betrayed.
That part required no acting.
Caleb answered on the second ring.
“Ava.”
My skin crawled.
“You were married before me.”
Silence.
Then, softly, “He told you.”
“He admitted he knew Sofia.”
“He killed her.”
“Elias says he didn’t.”
“He always says he didn’t pull the trigger. That’s how he sleeps.”
Across the room, Elias’s jaw tightened.
I continued.
“You knew who I was before we married.”
Caleb breathed out.
“So you know about Vale.”
“You married me for money.”
“I married you because I loved you.”
I almost broke character.
“You threw me into the street after childbirth.”
“You humiliated me.”
“With daughters?”
“You don’t understand my father.”
“No. I understand you.”
His voice sharpened.
“Vance is using you.”
“Maybe.”
That word got his attention.
I swallowed.
“I want out.”
Elias’s gaze snapped to mine.
“Out of what?” Caleb asked.
“His penthouse. His guards. All of it.”
“You want to come home?”
The eagerness in his voice sickened me.
“I want Lou’s family released first.”
Silence.
Then Caleb laughed.
“You sound different.”
“I almost died.”
“That changes people.”
“Yes.”
“Bring the girls.”
“No.”
“Ava.”
“No.”
His voice hardened.
“They belong with their father.”
“They have names, Caleb.”
A pause.
“What?”
“Ivy and June.”
Another pause.
I realized with a shock that he had not known.
He had never asked.
“You named them?”
“Yes.”
“Ridiculous.”
Something inside me went cold and clean.
Elias saw it happen.
I said, “Release Lou’s family. Then I’ll meet you.”
“Where?”
“You choose.”
Caleb gave an address in Queens: an abandoned wedding hall near the river.
“Midnight.”
He hung up.
Marco was already tracking.
“Got him.”
“Where?” Elias asked.
“Signal bounced.”
Elias cursed.
“But background audio gave us something,” Marco said. “Train horn pattern. Industrial fan. Could be Red Hook.”
Lou stood.
“My family?”
“We move now,” Elias said.
Three teams left.
I stayed in the penthouse because that had been the actual plan.
For forty minutes, I paced with June against my shoulder.
Then Marco called.
Elias put him on speaker.
“We found the building.”
“And?” Lou asked.
“Empty.”
Lou’s face collapsed.
“There’s a television inside,” Marco continued. “Photo was taken here. But they moved them.”
Caleb had anticipated us.
A phone on the table rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
Caleb’s voice.
“Did you really think Vance was the only one who knows how to trace a call?”
I closed my eyes.
“Where are they?”
“Safe for now.”
“You promised.”
“No, Ava. You assumed.”
Elias stepped closer.
Caleb continued.
“Ask your new protector to tell you the rest of Sofia’s story.”
“I don’t care.”
“You should. Because she wasn’t only my wife.”
I looked at Elias.
Caleb’s next sentence changed the room.
“She was carrying Elias Vance’s child when she died.”
Elias went completely still.
My hand tightened around the phone.
“Ask him,” Caleb whispered. “Ask him whether he knew.”
The line went dead.
I looked at Elias.
May you like
“Did you?”
For the first time since I met him, Elias could not answer me.
