Page 194

“Why?”

“Because it was you.”

Her fingers tighten around mine. “Then pretend you’re talking to me.”

Claire calls my name from the corridor.

I look at Emma one more time before heading for the stage.

Applause follows me to the podium and cameras move at the back of the auditorium and photographers shift along the side aisles.

Claire’s prepared speech appears on the teleprompter.

I read the opening line. Then I look toward the front row.

Mom sits between Babs and Biddy with the sign stretched across all three laps. Theo occupies the seat beside them and somehow manages to look respectable.

Emma sits closest to the aisle. Her hand rests over our babies.

I stop following the teleprompter. “Three days ago, several articles accused me of using charitable organizations to build Wolf Shield.”

The room changes, and somewhere near the side of the stage Claire is probably reconsidering whether she should’ve trusted me with a microphone.

“Those accusations are false, and the documentation released this week proves that. I could spend today reading contracts and investment records, but you’ve already seen most of them.” I find Emma in the front row. “I’d rather explain why I was there.”

The room becomes attentive enough that I can hear a camera shutter from the back.

“My wife, Celeste, died almost five years ago.” Saying her name from a stage feels different from saying it at home, although the next words come easier once I’ve started. “She spent years helping women through shelters and organizations that supported people leaving abusive relationships. I knew she volunteered and donated money, although she protected the details because the women trusted her with their lives.”

Several shelter directors watch me from the front rows. “Before she died, Celeste asked me to keep helping people whenever I could. I agreed, although I didn’t understand how much that promise would shape what happened next.”

My gaze finds Mom. She’s holding Biddy’s hand.

“I was still working security for Spencer Stone after Celeste died. I left that job because I needed distance from the life I’d been living and from feelings I couldn’t act on without crossing a line I wasn’t willing to cross.” Emma keeps her eyes on me. “So I disappeared.”

Several cameras click.

“I traveled between shelters Celeste had worked with and others I found through the same networks. I assessed buildings, replaced locks, installed cameras, and fixed whatever security problems I could handle. Some organizations paid me. Others couldn’t, so I covered what they needed when I was able.”

I rest my hands against the podium.

“I was grieving, and work gave me somewhere useful to be. That was the plan.” I smile. “Then one shelter recommended me to another. Someone on a nonprofit board asked me to review security at his company. That became a commercial contract, which led to another, until Daniel Mercer eventually asked why I was doing all this work without building a company.”

Daniel sits several rows back and laughs.

I glance toward him. “I told him I wasn’t interested.” The room laughs with him. “He ignored me, which turned out to be useful.” Daniel lifts one hand. “Wolf Shield grew from there.”

I take a drink of water before continuing.

“For years, I kept that period of my life private because it involved grief, my wife, and people whose stories never belonged to me. I had no interest in turning any of it into publicity.”

My attention returns to Emma.

“The last week has taught me that when you leave a gap in your own history, somebody else may decide to fill it.” The room stays with me. “There’s one other part of that time I’ve never discussed publicly.”

Claire definitely didn’t approve this. I continue anyway.

“I left Spencer Stone’s security team partly because I’d developed feelings for his girlfriend.”