Chapter 2 - THE MAN EVERYONE FEAREDI spent the next six hours learning that a broken leg could somehow become the least frightening problem in my life.
The orthopedic surgeon reset my tibia, wrapped my leg in a temporary brace, and told me surgery might still be necessary once the swelling went down.
Normally, that sentence would have terrified me.
Instead, I kept staring at the photograph Detective Martin Hale had left on the tray beside my bed.
Tyler.
Warehouse.
Three unknown men.
One murder victim.
The dead man was named Victor Salerno, an accountant who had worked for several redevelopment companies around Cleveland.
He had disappeared eight weeks earlier.
His body had been found near the river.
I remembered the story because Tyler had been strangely interested in it.
He watched every news report.
He even made jokes about the police being idiots.
At the time, I thought he was being Tyler.
Now every memory felt contaminated.
Detective Hale sat beside my hospital bed.
“How long have you been dating him?”
“Two years.”
“Living together?”
“Fourteen months.”
“Did he ever talk about Salerno?”
“No.”
“Warehouses?”
“No.”
“Gideon Locke?”
That made me hesitate.
“No.”
Hale studied my face.
“You sure?”
“I didn’t even know who Gideon was until tonight.”
“That’s difficult to believe.”
I almost laughed.
“Detective, yesterday I worked nine hours at a dental office, bought groceries at Target, and spent forty minutes arguing with Tyler because he forgot to pay the electric bill. I’m not exactly living inside a crime thriller.”
Hale almost smiled.
Almost.
Then the door opened.
Gideon walked in.
The detective’s expression hardened.
“You can’t be here.”
Gideon ignored him.
His gaze landed on the photograph.
“You showed her.”
“She deserves to know.”
“Yes.”
That one word surprised both of us.
Hale stood.
“Locke, if you interfere with my investigation—”
“I’m not interfering.”
“You arrived at a domestic violence scene with two private security contractors before first responders got upstairs.”
“She contacted me.”
“By accident.”
Gideon looked at me.
“That remains debatable.”
“It absolutely does not,” I said.
A faint smile touched his mouth.
Detective Hale noticed.
He looked between us like he disliked whatever equation was forming.
“Ms. Harper, do not leave the hospital without contacting me.”
“Am I in danger?”
Hale paused.
That was answer enough.
Gideon’s face went still.
“From whom?”
“I’m not discussing an active investigation with you.”
“Then discuss it with her.”
Hale hesitated.
Finally he said, “Tyler was arrested tonight on an outstanding assault warrant unrelated to you. During the arrest, officers found a burner phone.”
My stomach turned.
“Burner phone?”
“It contained photographs of several people.”
He pointed toward Gideon.
“Including him.”
Gideon showed no reaction.
“Anything else?”
Hale stared at him.
“A photograph of Ms. Harper.”
Everything inside me went cold.
“What?”
“Taken three days ago outside your workplace.”
I couldn’t breathe.
Tyler had taken photos of me?
No.
Detective Hale saw my confusion.
“We don’t believe Tyler took the photograph.”
Gideon stepped closer.
“Who sent it?”
“We’re working on that.”
“You’re failing.”
“Careful.”
“Someone photographed a woman who unknowingly became connected to your investigation before she ever contacted me. That means tonight wasn’t random.”
I hated how easily Gideon said the thing I was trying desperately not to understand.
I looked at Hale.
“Why would anyone photograph me?”
“We don’t know.”
Gideon answered quietly.
“Leverage.”
Hale snapped toward him.
“You don’t know that.”
“I know men who take photographs before they make threats.”
That sentence silenced the room.
I suddenly remembered something.
“Tyler asked about my office security cameras.”
Both men turned.
“When?”
“Last week.”
“What exactly did he ask?”
“He wanted to know if the parking lot cameras worked.”
Hale pulled out a notebook.
“Why?”
“I told him someone scratched my car. He asked if the cameras covered the employee lot.”
“Did that seem strange?”
“No.”
But another memory arrived.
“And he started asking about my boss.”
“What about your boss?”
“Whether Dr. Whitaker kept records at home. Whether patient billing information was stored on office computers.”
Hale’s pen stopped.
Gideon looked at him.
“What does Whitaker Dental have?”
“I don’t know,” Hale said.
But he did.
I could see it.
“What?” I demanded.
Hale looked at me.
“Your employer rents office space from Lakeview Medical Holdings.”
“So?”
“Lakeview is owned by one of Gideon’s companies.”
I turned toward Gideon.
He nodded once.
The room suddenly felt smaller.
My ordinary job wasn’t ordinary anymore.
My apartment wasn’t ordinary.
Tyler wasn’t ordinary.
Maybe even meeting him hadn’t been ordinary.
“How did you meet Tyler?” Gideon asked.
“At a restaurant.”
“Which one?”
“The Bridge House.”
His eyes sharpened.
“That’s mine.”
I stared.
“You own that too?”
“Yes.”
Tyler had approached me at the bar.
He had known the bartender.
He bought me a drink.
He made me laugh.
Two weeks later, flowers arrived at my work.
A month later, he told me meeting me was fate.
I felt sick.
“Was he watching me before we met?”
Nobody answered.
That silence hurt worse than any answer could have.
I looked at Gideon.
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
“Stop saying that!”
My voice cracked.
“I have spent two years with him. I slept beside him. I told him things. I defended him to my friends. I thought he had anger problems. I thought maybe if I stopped pushing him, stopped arguing, stopped making him feel—”
I stopped.
Gideon’s expression changed.
“You did not cause what happened tonight.”
I looked away.
He did not repeat it.
He simply stood there until I looked back.
Then he said, “Tyler made choices. Those choices belong to him.”
Hale cleared his throat.
“For once, Locke is right.”
That almost made me laugh.
The door opened again.
A nurse appeared.
“Ms. Harper? There’s a woman asking for you.”
“Who?”
“She says her name is Rachel Grant.”
Tyler’s sister.
I hadn’t seen Rachel in almost a year.
She entered looking terrified.
The moment she saw my leg, she covered her mouth.
“Oh God.”
I said nothing.
Rachel began crying.
“I’m sorry.”
“You didn’t do it.”
“No.”
She wiped her face.
“But I knew.”
The words landed harder than I expected.
“You knew he hit me?”
“I knew he had hit someone before.”
Gideon went completely still.
Rachel looked at him and paled.
“You’re Gideon Locke.”
“Yes.”
“I need to leave.”
“No,” I said.
Rachel looked at me.
“You came here for a reason.”
She stared at the door.
Then at Detective Hale.
Finally she whispered, “Tyler told me if anything ever happened to him, I should find something in your apartment.”
“What?”
“A flash drive.”
Hale stepped forward.
“Where?”
“He didn’t say exactly.”
She looked at me.
“He just said you’d never know it was there.”
Gideon’s phone rang.
One of his men spoke quickly on the other end.
His expression changed.
“What happened?” Hale asked.
Gideon lowered the phone.
“My security team was watching Lena’s apartment.”
“Your security team had better have a legal reason—”
“Someone broke in ten minutes ago.”
My breath caught.
Hale grabbed his coat.
“Did you see who?”
“No face. Hood. Gloves.”
“What did they take?”
Gideon looked directly at me.
“They didn’t take anything.”
“Then why break in?”
“They were searching.”
For the flash drive.
Rachel started shaking.
“There’s something else.”
We turned.
She pressed both hands together.
“Tyler said the drive could ruin powerful people.”
Hale asked, “Who?”
Rachel swallowed.
“He only gave me one name.”
May you like
She looked at Gideon.
“Yours.”
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