Julian and Eve peeked out through the tinted windows of the unmarked car as it pulled up next to the compound.
"God, Eve, my mother's in there . . ."
Eve squeezed his hand. "I know, Julian. I know."
Hal looked at them. "So, do you both understand what's going to go down today?"
"Yes," Julian said, his eyes fixed on the house behind the gate. "We'll stay in the car outside the compound until you give us the okay."
"Good." Hal glanced down at his notes and then back up at Julian. "My men have already swept the compound, and there is no sign of your father. We should be ready to move in on the house soon."
Julian nodded and swallowed a lump in his throat. "Thank you for letting us come along."
"Thank you for helping me bring down your father." Hal raised his eyebrows. "So many people have been waiting a long time for this."
"Including the two of us." The lump in his throat growing, Julian fixed his eyes on Eve's and tightened his fingers around hers. "Believe me, Agent Freeman—we've been waiting a long time for this."
Gwen took a deep breath in and pushed the door open. Straightening her back, she forged ahead to the receptionist's desk and asked for Margaret Edmondson.
"She'll be with you shortly," the receptionist said. "Just please have a seat over there."
"Thank you," Gwen said, her heart racing.
Taking a seat in the reception area, Gwen pulled her briefcase onto her lap and folded her hands on top of it. She could do this. She was a professional. She talked to people like Margaret Edmondson every day.
She had to find a way to calm her nerves.
Hadn't she risen to the occasion each and every time she had been faced with a challenge over the past few months? Hadn't she persevered?
There was no reason to think that this wouldn't go well—that, once again, she could prove that she had what it took to succeed no matter what life threw her way.
Focusing her attention on the woman who was approaching the reception area, Gwen smiled and rose to her feet.
This was it. It was do or die time.
"Ms. Hotchkiss?" the woman asked.
"Yes." Steadying herself, Gwen shook the woman's hand and gave her a warm smile. "It's so nice to meet you."
The last speaker of the day leaned into the microphone. "And that is how the mentoring program started at my youth center helped shape me into the man I am today."
Luis and Sheridan both started clapping; Sheridan's eyes glistened. "Oh, Luis, I would love to implement a program like the one he just described—to pair up some of the teens with the younger kids."
"Yeah, that would be great," Luis agreed. "Let's go talk to the speaker, Sher."
Luis put one hand on Sheridan's back to support her as she stood up from her seat. Slipping one hand around her waist, he navigated them over to the man who had been behind the microphone.
"Mr. Anderson." Luis stuck out his hand. "Luis Lopez-Fitzgerald. My wife and I really enjoyed your talk."
"Thank you, Luis." Kevin shook Luis's hand and then Sheridan's. "And, please, call me Kevin."
"Kevin." Luis smiled. "That's quite a program you have going on at your youth center. We'd love to start a similar one at ours."
"Yes," Sheridan agreed. "We run a youth center in Harmony, Maine, and we're always looking for new ideas to implement. The program you were speaking about seems so wonderful."
"Thank you," Kevin smiled, looking over his shoulder and waving over another man and a woman, "but I can't take any credit for that."
Kevin grinned as the man and woman joined him. "This is Mike and his fiancée, Dalla," he explained. "They run the youth center I used to attend. They're the ones you want to talk to—they started this program."
"It's wonderful to meet you." Sheridan reached over and shook Dalla's and Mike's hands, pausing for a second as her eyes met Mike's. Something about him seemed so familiar. But that was crazy—she had never met this man before.
"Sher? Sheridan?" Luis nudged her.
"Oh, I'm sorry." Sheridan snapped out of her trance. "I'm being completely rude. I'm sorry—it's just that you seemed so familiar to me for a second there," she said to Mike. "You must think I'm absolutely crazy."
"I don't." Mike laughed. "It's good to meet you, Sheridan. And I'm glad you want to know about our mentoring program."
"Thank you." Sheridan blushed and turned to Luis. "This is my husband, Luis. We run the youth center in Harmony, Maine, together—along with our friend Hank."
"Nice to meet you, Luis." Mike shook his hand. "It's good to meet another couple who are doing this together."
"Yeah." Luis grinned, his eyes sparkling at Sheridan as he slipped his hand back around her waist. "I couldn't do it without her."
Mike's eyes twinkled at Dalla's. "I feel the same way. I have since the moment I met her."
"Well, it took us a little while to get our act together." Luis smiled at Sheridan and cupped his hand around her belly. "But I think it's safe to say that we have."
Dalla smiled. "When is your little one due?"
"Sometime around the end of March," Luis beamed. "If you ask us, that's not soon enough."
"Well, it's great to see how excited you are about becoming parents," Mike said. "Kids can never get enough love."
"We agree," Sheridan said. "And the program you've started at your youth center sounds like a great way of encouraging that. If you have a little bit of time, we'd love to hear more about it."
Mike smiled and checked his watch. "Well, we have an appointment with one of the conference organizers in a few minutes, but would you like to meet up to talk in about an hour or so?"
Sheridan smiled and clasped her hand over Luis's. "That would be wonderful, Mike."
Rushing over to the bars that encased her bedroom windows, the woman took a sharp breath in. Outside the house, the private security guards her husband employed were stepping aside and letting some other uniformed men pass through.
What on earth was going on? Were these men taking over the compound? Where on earth was her husband? She hadn't seen him since he stormed out last night.
Was it possible that her prayers finally had been answered and he had been apprehended?
Down the hall, she heard some quickly approaching footsteps; her heart caught in her throat. Could that be her husband? Had he returned without her knowing it?
No doubt, he would blame her for everything going on downstairs. What would he do to her?
Taking a deep breath in, she steeled her back.
There was no sense fighting him; there hadn't been for a long time. Every time she had tried to fight back or escape, he had threatened their children, and there was no way she could take that chance.
Her children.
Dear God, what she would give to see them again. Of all the cruel things her husband had done to her over the years, keeping her in the dark about their son and daughter was perhaps the worst thing of all. She had no idea if her son was happy with the woman she'd seen him marry. She had no clue if her daughter was married at all . . . if she'd even grown up happy.
Rubbing her temples, the woman blinked back tears—nearly jumping out of her skin as the bedroom door opened behind her.
Oh, she couldn't even look.
She'd experience her husband's rage in just a few seconds; she couldn't do anything but grant herself these last few seconds of peace.
"Mother?"
Her head snapped up at the sound of his voice.
"Julian?" she gasped, her knees weakening as she turned to face him.
"Oh, Mother, I finally found you . . ."
