Chương 6
"And?"
"And because I canceled the meeting."
Marcus frowned.
"Why?"
Thomas looked uncomfortable.
"Because someone was following her."
The room went still.
Marcus stared.
"Who?"
"I don't know."
"That's not good enough."
"I agree."
Thomas looked at him.
"I saw a car outside my office yesterday."
Marcus felt a cold feeling move through him.
"Yesterday?"
"Before your flight landed."
The timing was too close.
Too many pieces were moving at once.
Marcus stood.
"I’m going to find her."
Thomas also stood.
"Marcus."
"What?"
"Be careful."
Marcus looked at him.
The warning sounded different coming from Thomas.
Not dramatic.
Not fearful.
Just tired.
Like someone who had already learned what happened when people were not careful.
"I don't know what Claire found," Thomas continued.
"But I know she was scared."
Marcus held his gaze.
"And you still didn't tell me."
Thomas lowered his eyes.
"I thought I was protecting you."
Marcus almost smiled.
Everyone seemed to use those words.
Protecting.
Helping.
Saving.
Sometimes he wondered if those words were just excuses people used when they made decisions for someone else.
He left without saying goodbye.
The hotel was fifteen minutes away.
The entire drive, Marcus kept one hand on the steering wheel and the other near his phone.
He considered calling Maya.
He considered waiting.
He considered doing what he had always done and handling everything alone.
That last option felt familiar.
It also felt exhausting.
When he arrived, he found Maya sitting in the hotel lobby with a cup of untouched coffee in front of her.
She saw him immediately.
Her expression changed.
Not surprise.
Recognition.
Like she had been expecting him.
"You talked to Thomas."
It was not a question.
Marcus stopped in front of her.
"You knew I would."
Maya looked down.
"Yes."
The honesty caught him off guard.
"Why?"
"Because Claire's handwriting was involved."
Marcus reached into his jacket and placed the envelope on the table.
Maya stared at it.
Her face changed.
For the first time since he met her, she looked completely unprepared.
"You have that."
Marcus watched her carefully.
"She wrote your name."
Maya swallowed.
"She shouldn't have."
The words bothered him.
"What does that mean?"
Maya looked around the lobby.
People moved through the entrance.
A couple checked in at the front desk.
A businessman argued quietly into his phone.
Normal life continued.
Maya lowered her voice.
"It means Claire knew something was going to happen."
Marcus felt anger rise.
"Something happened."
Maya looked at him.
"That's not what I mean."
He sat down across from her.
"Then explain."
She looked at the envelope.
"I can't."
"Why?"
"Because I don't know what Claire told you."
Marcus stared.
"My wife is dead."
Maya flinched slightly.
"Don't do that."
"Do what?"
"Make it sound like I don't understand."
Her voice was quiet.
"My father died when I was sixteen."
Marcus said nothing.
"My mother disappeared two years later."
He watched her fingers tighten around the coffee cup.
"I spent most of my life thinking people left because they wanted to."
She looked toward the window.
"Claire was the first person who made me wonder if that wasn't true."
Marcus softened slightly despite himself.
Only slightly.
"How did you meet her?"
Maya looked back.
"Through our mothers."
"That's impossible."
"No."
She shook her head.
"It's just something neither of us understood at first."
The answer created more questions.
Marcus felt them building.
He wanted to demand everything.
Instead, he asked the one thing that mattered most.
"Did Claire know she was in danger?"
Maya did not answer.
That was the answer.
Marcus looked away.
The lobby suddenly felt too bright.
"She knew."
Maya's voice was barely audible.
"Yes."
He closed his eyes.
For one second, he was back in the hospital.
The smell of disinfectant.
The sound of machines.
The doctor saying words he could not accept.
He had spent months believing losing Claire was a terrible accident.
Now there was a possibility that the worst day of his life had been connected to something she had been afraid of.
"Why didn't you tell me on the plane?"
Maya looked down.
"Because you looked like someone who had just learned how to breathe again."
The answer hurt because it was kind.
And Marcus did not want kindness from her.
Not when she had been part of a world Claire kept hidden.
"You don't get to decide what I can handle."
Maya nodded.
"I know."
"Then why did you?"
She looked at him.
"Because Claire asked me not to."
Marcus froze.
The words were simple.
But they changed everything.
"You talked to her after she died?"
"No."
Maya's eyes moved to the envelope.
"Before."
Marcus felt his heartbeat quicken.
"How long before?"
Maya looked away.
"Two days."
The silence that followed felt enormous.
Claire had known.
Claire had planned.
Claire had written something.
And Maya had been carrying that knowledge alone.
Marcus reached for the envelope again.
This time, he opened it.
Inside was a single folded piece of paper.
He recognized Claire's handwriting immediately.
Only three lines were written.
Marcus,
If you are reading this, I failed to keep you away from this.
Please trust Maya.
She knows what I couldn't tell you.
His hands went cold.
Because beneath Claire's name was something else.
A sentence he had not expected.
A sentence that made every explanation before it feel incomplete.
She is the reason Emma is alive.
Marcus looked at the door.
Then at the window.
Then back at Maya.
The room suddenly felt smaller than it had a minute earlier.
Not because anything had changed physically.
Because now every ordinary detail seemed capable of hiding something.
The hum of the air conditioner.
The footsteps in the hallway.
The elevator bell somewhere beyond the wall.
All of it felt like evidence of someone else moving nearby.
"Who knew you were here?"
Maya asked.
Marcus looked at her.
"You tell me."
Her face tightened.
"I didn't tell anyone."
May you like
"Thomas knew."
"Thomas already knew I was coming to Denver."
