My sister called me at midnight and whispered, “Turn off every light. Go to the attic. Don’t tell your husband.” I thought she was losing her mind — until I looked through the floorboards….

The agent studied the photograph on my kitchen table.

Then he looked at me.

“We think Owen hid money before his arrest.”

I stared at him. “I don’t know anything about money.”

“We believe that,” he said. “But someone else doesn’t.”

Mara crossed her arms tightly. “Victor Hale never gave up all his contacts.”

My stomach turned cold.

Victor.

The man in the raincoat.

“He’s still in prison,” I whispered.

Reeves nodded once. “Prison doesn’t stop organized networks.”

Noah ran into the kitchen then, holding a crayon drawing.

“Mommy, look! I made a dinosaur!”

I forced a smile so he wouldn’t see the terror draining the color from my face.

Daniel Reeves watched him carefully.

Then he said the words that shattered whatever safety I still believed in.

“You and your son need protective surveillance immediately.”

That night, two unmarked FBI vehicles parked across from my house.

Noah thought they were “secret spies.”

I let him believe that.