Mara drove home without turning on the radio.
Her father's words followed her through every intersection.
Daniel Thomas Reed.
She had seen his driver's license. His employment badge. The lease. Every ordinary document that made up an ordinary life.
Yet now she was wondering how much of that life had been constructed for her.
When she entered the apartment, Daniel was standing at the kitchen sink.
He turned.
“How did it go?”
Mara put her keys down.
“My father gave me something.”
Daniel dried his hands.
“What?”
“A folder.”
He went still.
That was the second time she had seen that reaction.
Not surprise.
Recognition.
Mara walked to the table.
“Have you ever used another name?”
Daniel looked at her.
“Yes.”
The answer came so quickly that she almost stepped backward.
“How many?”
“One.”
“What name?”
He sat down.
“Evan Reed.”
Mara stared at him.
“That's it?”
“No.”
She waited.
Daniel rubbed his palms together.
“There are things I didn't tell you.”
Her heart sank.
“That's a very gentle way of saying you lied.”
“I didn't lie about loving you.”
“That isn't what I asked.”
He looked toward the window.
“When we met, I was trying to leave a life behind.”
“What life?”
“One where people knew too much about me.”
Mara sat across from him.
“Were you involved in something illegal?”
“No.”
“Were you arrested?”
“No.”
“Were you hiding from someone?”
Daniel did not answer immediately.
“Yes.”
The apartment suddenly felt smaller.
“Who?”
“I can't tell you yet.”
Mara laughed once, without humor.
“You can't tell me? Daniel, we're married.”
“I know.”
“You stood in a courthouse yesterday and promised me a life together.”
“I meant it.”
“Then tell me the truth.”
He leaned forward.
“The truth is that I wanted one part of my life to belong only to me.”
Mara shook her head.
“That doesn't explain anything.”
“No.”
“Then explain the car.”
His expression changed.
“What car?”
“The black sedan outside the courthouse.”
He looked away.
“You saw it.”
“Yes.”
Daniel stood.
He walked to the window but did not open the curtain.
“Was someone following you?”
“I don't know.”
“You do know.”
He remained silent.
Mara felt anger replacing fear.
“Daniel.”
He finally turned.
“I recognized the driver.”
“Who was it?”
“Someone I hoped I'd never see again.”
Before she could ask another question, his phone rang.
Daniel looked at the screen.
Unknown number.
He declined it.
It rang again.
He declined it a second time.
Then a message appeared.
Mara saw only one line.
*They know where you are.**
Daniel locked the phone.
“What does that mean?”
“It means we need to leave.”
Mara stared at him.
“Leave where?”
“Anywhere but here.”
She stood.
“No.”
Daniel looked surprised.
“No?”
“You don't get to decide that alone.”
“I am trying to keep you safe.”
“And I'm trying to understand why my husband apparently has a secret life.”
His jaw tightened.
“You don't understand what you're dealing with.”
“Then help me understand.”
He looked at her for a long moment.
Then he reached beneath the kitchen cabinet and pulled out a small metal box.
Mara had never seen it before.
He unlocked it.
Inside was a photograph.
Three men stood outside a large office building.
Daniel was younger.
Beside him stood a gray-haired man Mara recognized immediately.
Her father.
Mara's breath caught.
She looked from the photograph to Daniel.
“What is my father doing with you?”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“That is the part I was trying to protect you from.”
Mara took the photograph.
On the back was a date from twelve years earlier.
And beneath it, a handwritten sentence.
*If anything happens to me, trust Daniel.**
She looked up.
“Who wrote this?”
Daniel's answer was barely audible.
“Your father's closest friend.”
Mara remembered that name.
Arthur Vale.
A man her father had spoken about only once after Mara was a child.
A man everyone had believed died in an accident.
She looked back at the photograph.
“Arthur wasn't killed in an accident, was he?”
Daniel said nothing.
That silence was enough.
Her phone rang.
This time it was her father.
She answered.
“Dad?”
His voice sounded strained.
“Where are you?”
“At home.”
“Is Daniel with you?”
Mara looked at her husband.
“Yes.”
Her father's breathing changed.
“Listen carefully. Do not tell him I called.”
Mara's pulse quickened.
“Why?”
“Because someone has been using his old name.”
“What?”
“I found evidence this morning.”
“What evidence?”
Her father lowered his voice.
“Someone has been sending messages from an account belonging to Arthur Vale.”
The line went dead.
Mara slowly lowered the phone.
Daniel watched her.
“What did he say?”
She stared at him.
“Arthur Vale is alive.”
Daniel's face drained of color.
He reached for the photograph.
Then someone knocked on the apartment door.
Three slow knocks.
Neither of them moved.
A fourth knock followed.
Daniel whispered one sentence.
“Don't open it.”
Mara looked toward the door.
“Why?”
“Because nobody who knows me should be here.”
Click here to continue reading: PART 3: A Familiar Stranger Appeared at Their Door Carrying Evidence That Turned an Old Family Tragedy Into a Present Threat
She Married the Man Everyone Dismissed, Then One Phone Call Made Her Family Question Everything They Knew
Part 2 of 20
