I walk out of the prison feeling lighter in a way. The sky is gray and heavy with the threat of snow, the parking lot slicked with melting ice, but inside, I feel almost warm. Hopeful, even. A feeling I’d nearly forgotten how to have. Maybe it was the admission. Telling my dad I’m falling for someone. Maybe he can learn to respect that. As much as I have to let him go, he has to learn to let me go too.
I get in the rental car and start the long drive toward the city, toward the airport, toward a flight that will take me back to Miami and the woman I can’t stop thinking about. I’m already composing the text I’ll send her when I land. Something sweet. Something that lets her know she’s been on my mind every minute we’ve been apart.
I’m so caught up in this unfamiliar optimism that I’m halfway to the airport before I notice my phone buzzing with a call from Rina.
And just like that, everything changes again.
chapter 20
Taio
“Taio. I’m glad I caught you.”
Rina’s voice is clipped, professional—the tone she uses when something important is happening. I pull over into a gas station parking lot, not trusting myself to have this conversation while navigating New York traffic.
“What’s going on? Is everything okay with the agency?” I’m always worried my sudden exposure could have consequences for Rina and the team.
“The agency’s fine. We’re all enjoying your new headlines.” A hint of amusement creeps into her voice. “Something about a thirst-trap bodyguard?”
I groan. “Please tell me you didn’t see those.”
“I saw all of them. I am your biggest cyberstalker. My favorite was the Twitter thread comparing your jawline to various Greek statues. Very thorough research.” She pauses. “I have to say, when you told me you needed this sabbatical, I didn’t expect you to end up on TMZ.”
“That makes two of us.”
“How is the pop star treating you? Everything going okay with the assignment?”
There’s genuine concern beneath the teasing. Rina’s always looked out for me, ever since I stumbled into the agency years ago, desperate and ashamed and looking for any way to pay off my father’s debts. She gave me a chance when no one else would.
“It’s good. She’s good. Actually, that’s kind of an understatement, but?—”
“Save it.” I can hear her smiling. “I can tell from all the pictures. You look at her like she hung the moon. It’s cute.”
“Like a manly cute though, right?”
“No. Not remotely. But that’s not why I called.” Her tone shifts, taking on an urgency I haven’t heard before. “This is about your father.”
My stomach tightens. “What about him?”
She takes a breath. “Something came across my desk a couple days ago. Some of my attorney friends spreading the usual drama. But a name stuck out to me.”
“What name?”
“Bryan Wright. The forensic accountant who testified about the fund transfers. The one whose documentation was the cornerstone of the prosecution’s case.”
“I remember him.” Wright had been devastating on the stand—calm, authoritative, armed with spreadsheets and bank records that made my father look guilty beyond any reasonable doubt. His testimony was what sealed the conviction.
“He’s been caught falsifying evidence in three other federal cases over the past eighteen months. Major scandal. The DOJ is reviewing every case he ever touched.”
I stop breathing for a moment. “What?”
“He was being paid off to cover up some bigger corporate scandals. He was purposely cherry-picking data, ignoring exculpatory evidence, drawing conclusions that weren’tsupported by the actual numbers.” Rina’s words come faster now, tumbling over each other. “Taio, if his testimony in your father’s case was based on the same faulty analysis?—”
“Then the conviction might not hold.”
“It’s grounds for appeal, at minimum. Potentially a new trial. And if the documentation he provided was fraudulent…” She trails off, letting me fill in the implications.
A new trial. The possibility of a reduced sentence. Maybe even release, with time served.
