Page 111 of Secret Baby Daddy

Cordelia reaches into the folder beside her and removes a small encrypted drive.

“It was addressed to you.”

For several seconds, Calder doesn’t move.

“You didn’t know it existed?”

“No.” Cordelia shakes her head. “Neither did I. Hayes was only able to recover it after the archive data and Roman’s records were combined. He verified that the file predates Jonah’s death. He didn’t play the full recording once he realized who it was meant for.”

She holds the drive toward him.

“This belongs to you.”

Calder takes it like it weighs considerably more than something that small has any right to.

Cordelia rises.

“I think the rest of this conversation should be private.”

She leaves us alone.

For a long moment, Calder only stares at the drive in his palm.

“You don’t have to listen now,” I say.

“Yes,” he says quietly. “I do.”

He connects it to the secure tablet on Cordelia’s desk.

The file contains less than a minute of audio.

Jonah’s voice is younger than I expected.

Tired.

Afraid.

Alive.

“Dominic, if you’re hearing this, something probably went wrong.”

Calder stops breathing beside me.

“I need you to understand something before you start doing what you always do and turning every outcome into a calculation of what you should have seen sooner.”

A faint sound comes through the recording.

Almost a laugh.

“If this goes wrong, don’t let Roman tell you afterward that you were the reason. I came to you because I thought you’d listen. Maybe I waited too long to make you understand how scared I was.”

Calder’s hand tightens around the edge of the desk.

“You trusted someone I don’t trust anymore. Maybe I’m wrong about him. But that’s different from wanting me hurt.”

A pause.

Then: