Chapter 2: A Husband’s Version
The security lead came back with his phone in his hand.
“Ryan’s left the arrivals corridor,” he said. “We don’t know where he went. He could still be in the building.”
The words didn’t make me feel safer. They just gave my fear a wider place to look.
“Then tell me what happens if he finds us.”
Noah’s security lead glanced at Noah, then answered me. “We keep distance between you and him. We can change the route, and we can call airport police if he approaches. But you decide whether we move and where.”
“Good. I want to know the route before we take it.”
“You will.”
Noah stood beside us, quiet, not trying to turn the answer into a promise no one could keep. Lily stirred against my shoulder. Her little hand opened and closed over the rabbit’s worn ear.
A few minutes later, the security lead showed me the planned exit on his phone. We would avoid the main arrivals doors, take a service corridor to a different pickup point, and use a car already waiting there.
I studied the map. “Who’s driving?”
“One of our team.”
“I want Mara to verify him.”
Noah nodded. “That’s reasonable.”
I called my friend. Mara answered on the second ring.
“Emily? Are you out?”
“Not yet. I need you to help me verify our driver. And I need to ask you something. Has anyone contacted you about us?”
The pause was small, but I heard it.
“Someone called earlier,” Mara said. “They said they were you.”
My fingers tightened around the phone. “What?”
“They said your phone was almost dead and asked me to confirm my address. They knew you were coming with Lily. They asked what entrance to use.”
My mouth went dry. “What did you tell them?”
“Nothing. I asked what your middle name was.”
A breath escaped me—almost a laugh, but not quite. “And?”
“They hung up.”
Lily shifted. I pressed my cheek to her hair, breathing in the faint milk-sweet smell of her.
“Did they say who they were?”
“No. The number was blocked. I thought it might be you using someone else’s phone, but then you didn’t call back.” Mara’s voice sharpened. “Emily, was that Ryan?”
“I don’t know.”
I knew who had the most to gain from finding us. That wasn’t the same as knowing who had made the call.
“Don’t answer anyone asking where we are,” I said. “Even if they sound like me. If I need you, I’ll call from my number.”
“Okay. Are you safe right now?”
“I’m working on it.”
“I can come meet you.”
“No. Not yet. I don’t want you walking into this without knowing what’s happening.”
There was a beat of silence.
“Then send me the driver’s name and a photo,” Mara said. “I’ll call you back.”
The security lead sent the information. I read it aloud to Mara, then listened while she called the number on the driver’s identification and asked him questions I hadn’t thought to ask. She had always been good at sounding calm when she was frightened.
When she called back, she said, “That’s him. He knew my name and yours. I’m satisfied.”
It wasn’t much. It was enough for me to choose.
“Take us to a hotel,” I told the security lead. “Somewhere discreet. I’ll decide what comes after.”
He nodded. “Understood.”
Noah held open the door to the corridor, but let me go first. The airport’s bright public noise faded behind us. In the narrower passage, Lily woke and began to fuss, her face scrunching against my coat.
“I know, sweetheart,” I murmured. “I know.”
The driver waited beside a dark sedan at the alternate pickup point. Mara had verified him. I checked his face against the photo myself before letting him open the rear door.
Noah got in on the other side, leaving the middle seat between us. Lily quieted as the car pulled away, her rabbit tucked under her chin.
For a few blocks, nobody spoke. Rain stippled the window, turning the city lights into long, wavering lines.
Then my phone buzzed.
Ryan’s name appeared on the screen.
I didn’t open the message right away. My thumb hovered above it, and suddenly I was back in our apartment three weeks earlier, standing outside a lock that had belonged to both of us while he told me we could talk when I calmed down.
Noah looked toward me but said nothing.
I opened it.
You can’t just take Lily and disappear. You had no permission to leave with her. Call me now so we can fix this before it gets worse.
The words made my face burn.
Not because they were true. Because I could already hear how they would sound to someone who didn’t know about the changed locks, the inaccessible account, the pictures of Ryan smiling with another woman while I tried to figure out where Lily and I could sleep.
For one sharp second, I wanted to explain everything to him. I wanted to make him admit that leaving had not been a trick, that I had not taken Lily to punish him, that I was still her mother even when I refused to answer his demands.
Then I remembered how often I had tried to earn his agreement before trusting my own judgment.
I took a screenshot. I saved it. I didn’t reply.
The hotel lobby smelled of coffee and polished stone. A staff member led us through a side entrance, away from the glass doors and the people coming and going. I kept Lily in my arms while the room key was arranged. Noah stayed near the entrance with his team, giving me space without leaving me to wonder who was watching.
Inside the room, I locked the door and checked it once. Lily was wide awake now, kicking gently against my hip. I set her down on the bed beside her rabbit and opened my messages.
Mara had written:
Someone’s been asking the neighbors which house is yours. They said they’re trying to find you.
For a moment, the hotel room seemed to shrink around us.
May you like
Ryan wasn’t only telling people I had taken Lily.
He was already looking for the place we were supposed to go.
