“Not stories,” she says through her sobs. “Lies.”
“Lies.” In my eagerness to make her understand, I agree. “They got too big. I couldn’t just change course in the middle. I was trapped. There was no way out.”
She wails.
“Mrs. A!”
The pressure on my foot eases. I glimpse Mr. A hovering beside his wife, folding one arm around her shoulder. He eases her away from the door and over to a chair. Frantic, I clutch the doorknob, trying to push the door open, longing to reach them, desperate to help.
Mr. A comes back to face me. “It’s time for you to leave, son.”
“No! Not yet. Let me come in. Just five minutes.”
He shakes his head.
“Two,” I bargain. Then: “Just give me sixty seconds. Please, just let me explain.”
“You’ve already explained enough.”
“I didn’t do it right. You still don’t understand. You don’t have all the facts.”
He sighs, the deepest and heaviest sound I’ve ever heard. “Are you a billionaire, son?”
I look straight into his exhausted eyes. “Yes.”
“There,” he says. “That’s the only fact we need.”
He starts to close the door, but I stop it with my palm. “Wait!” I lower my voice because I don’t want to distress Mrs. A any more than I already have. “You aren’t safe here. There’s a…business associate of mine who’s made threats.”
Mr. A glances at his wife, then steps closer to the door. “What kind of threats?”
“Ones my security team and I take very seriously. I need you to come with me now. Take five minutes, pack a bag, but it isn’t safe for you to stay here.”
“Oh, Cole,” he sighs. “What the hell have you done?”
And that’s the first time I’ve ever heardhimswear. I can’t begin to answer his question. Instead, I say, “I’ll put you up at a hotel. It’s not safe for you to be in this house.”
After a moment, he shakes his head. “Thank you for the warning. Take care, now.” He starts to close the door.
“Evan!” I beg.
“Cole,” he answers evenly. “How do I know you’re telling the truth now? This could just be one of the stories you made up—like working for a defense contractor. Like marrying that girl.”
“I did marry Kate. And I’d never lie about your safety. How can I prove that to you? What can I do to make you understand?”
He shakes his head sadly. “Nothing. Even if you’re right, and someone wants to hurt us, that’s all because we welcomed youinto our home. But you aren’t welcome here any longer. And the sooner you leave our doorstep, the sooner yourbusiness associatewill figure that out. The sooner Linda and I can get back to living our ordinary lives in our ordinary house, with our ordinary jobs that we’ve never had to lie about to anyone.”
“I understand you’re angry. I know you’re hurt. But you can’t just?—”
“Goodbye, Cole. Don’t call us again.”
He closes the door in my face.
The trip back to the SUV is the longest walk I’ve ever taken in my life. Jacobson sits behind the wheel like a crash-test dummy, staring straight ahead. “I need a full security team out here,” I say. “Now. And they need to keep the Andersons from ever suspecting they’re under my protection.”
“It’ll take?—”
“Now,” I repeat. “I’ll pay whatever it costs.” If I’m going bankrupt, this is the best way I can think of to blow the last of my funds.
