When I was leaving the airport with my children, a gray jeep followed us, and when my ex-husband saw it, the color drained from his face

At the exit of Chicago Airport, I squeezed my children’s hands so tightly that Emma turned to me and quietly asked why my fingers hurt.

For six years, their existence had been only my secret. That morning I realized that someone had discovered this secret before me.

A gray jeep followed the taxi from O’Hare’s parking lot. At first I thought it was simply going in the same direction. Then the driver suddenly increased his speed, and the jeep did too. Its tinted windows were visible in the rear window. Its license plate could not be read.

“Mom, why is that car following us?” Ethan asked.

“Maybe it is our neighbor,” I answered, although my voice broke.

In truth, I knew it was not our neighbor.

Six years earlier, when Adrian Mercer placed the divorce papers on the table, he told me that he loved another woman. Three weeks later, the doctor turned the ultrasound screen toward me and said, “Two heartbeats.”

From that day on, I did not contact Adrian again. I moved to Boston, worked in a laboratory, and at night raised two infants. Now I was Dr. Evelyn Carter, but first of all, I was still the mother of two children.

And Adrian was called a billionaire logistics magnate in the newspapers. In Chicago, people spoke about him differently. They said he controlled cargo routes, nightclubs, and businesses whose names were not spoken aloud.

In the taxi’s rearview mirror I caught sight of his black armored vehicle. Adrian was standing by the airport door.

Six years disappeared in one second.

Silver streaks had entered his hair. He had a long scar on his jaw. But he was not looking at me. He was looking at Ethan and Emma.

Daniel Cross, his chief assistant, came to the taxi and opened the rear door.

“Mrs. Mercer.”

“Carter,” I corrected him.

Daniel’s gaze moved to the children.

“Mr. Mercer wants to speak with you.”

“I don’t want to.”

“He knows.”

My blood froze.

“What does he know?”

“About the children.”

Adrian slowly approached us. Ethan stepped in front of Emma, as always when he did not trust a stranger.

“Hello,” Adrian said.

“Who are you?” Ethan asked.

The corner of Adrian’s lips moved slightly.

“A person who wants to meet you.”

“Why?”

Adrian looked first at Ethan, then at Emma. Such pain appeared on his face that for a moment I, too, lost my breath.

“I know your mother.”

“From work?” Emma asked.

“No.”

“From school?”

“No.”

I already knew what he would say.

“Your mother was once my wife.”

“It was not yours to say,” I told him.

“They did not know?”

“Not here.”

Adrian lowered his head. Then he asked me quietly:

“Are they mine?”

I said nothing.

That silence told him everything.

His eyes closed.

“You were pregnant.”

“I found out three weeks after you left.”

“You hid my children from me for six years.”

“You chose another woman.”

“I asked you for a divorce. Not from them.”

Those words struck my heart. But before I could answer, Daniel looked behind us.

The gray jeep was already standing at the airport exit.

Adrian’s face changed immediately.

“Do not take the children out of the car,” he told me.

“What is happening?”

He touched the device attached to his ear.

“Three days ago someone opened your children’s medical records.”

“Who?”

Adrian did not answer me. His men spread out on both sides of the road.

The jeep’s door opened. A black glove appeared from inside, and someone reached a hand toward me. Adrian rushed to the taxi door, while I saw Daniel’s hand move toward the inner pocket of his coat, where something heavy and flat was hidden…

Daniel pulled not a weapon from his coat, but a small folder, and handed it to Adrian.

“They blocked the road,” he said. “Another car has appeared.”

Adrian opened the folder, but stopped at the sight of the very first page.

“That is my clinic record,” I said.

“Not only yours,” he replied. “Someone extracted the children’s names, dates of birth, and school address.”

I pulled Ethan and Emma to my chest. Raindrops struck the car window, and each удар sounded like the ticking of a clock.

“I do not trust your security,” I told Adrian.

“Neither do I trust everyone.”

“Then why should I go with you?”

“Because those people are already on your route.”

Two men got out of the jeep. Adrian shut the door and ordered the driver to leave. The car moved, and behind us the sound of tires rang out.

Emma found my hand.

“Mom, is he the man you are afraid of?”

Adrian heard the answer, but said nothing.

We entered an old hotel in the center of the city. Daniel stopped the elevator directly at the top floor. There Adrian placed the folder on the table.

“I have to tell you everything today,” he said.

“Then start with why you left me.”

Adrian opened the folder’s lock. Inside lay a white disc and a folded letter.

He placed his hand on the letter, but did not open it yet.

“I should have given this to you six years ago,” he said. “But before you read it, you need to know that I was not alone in my office that night…”

There were three knocks on the door…

The knock on the door sounded for the third time, and a heavy silence fell over the room.

Adrian looked at Daniel.

“Who is it?”

“The head of security,” came the answer.

“Name?”

There was no answer.

Daniel drew his weapon and stood beside the door. I led the children into the corner of the bathroom. Ethan covered Emma’s shoulders with his hands, while I could no longer distinguish my own heartbeat from the noise of the street.

Adrian picked up the white disc from the table.

“Six years ago, on the day of the divorce, a camera was working in my office. Only one person kept this recording.”

“Who?”

“Daniel.”

Daniel turned around.

“This is not necessary now.”

“It is necessary precisely now,” Adrian said.

He put the disc into a small device. First a hiss was heard in the room, then the young voice of my former husband.

“Evelyn must believe that I love another woman. If she learns the truth, they will kill her too.”

My breath caught.

A second man’s voice sounded in the recording.

“After the divorce you will send her to Boston. If she resists you, you will not save the children either.”

I looked at Adrian.

“You knew about the children even then?”

“No,” he said. “I knew you might be pregnant. The doctor’s report arrived on my desk that same day, but the document contained only one word: pregnancy.”

“Then why did you tell me nothing?”

Adrian’s voice broke.

“Because those men knew your address. The other woman I told you about was their agent. I pretended to love her so that they would believe you no longer meant anything to me.”

“And I was supposed to believe that your life was better than mine?”

“You were supposed to stay alive.”

Only the hiss of the device could be heard in the room. Emma was crying quietly. Ethan looked at Adrian as if he were seeing him for the first time.

Daniel lowered his head.

“The recording is falsified,” he said.

Adrian picked up the second sheet.

“Then explain why this copy was made with your password.”

Daniel’s face turned pale.

In the folder lay my clinic’s stamped request. Ethan’s and Emma’s data were written on it. Daniel’s signature was visible below.

“You opened the records,” I told him.

“I was only carrying out an order.”

“Whose order?”

He did not answer.

At that moment Adrian’s phone rang. An unknown number appeared on the screen. He answered and turned on the speaker.

“If you want to see the children alive, come to the old harbor warehouse before dawn,” a woman’s voice said.

I recognized that voice immediately.

Six years ago, this woman had told me that Adrian loved her more than me.

The call ended.

Adrian looked toward me.

“Laura is alive.”

But Daniel was already standing by the window and sending a message to someone. Adrian caught sight of his screen and understood for the first time that danger was waiting not only outside. The address Daniel had sent read: “The children will be ready at midnight…”