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EIGHTY-ONE

“MOMMY!”

Grace and Lincoln rush to me when I walk into David’s hospital room. I bend down, and we do a group hug. My eyes immediately fill, tears streaming down my cheeks. How much I want to go back. How badly I want to rewind and change so many things. No matter what happens — life for these kids will never be the same.

Camille, recognizing her place, steps outside but makes eye contact with me before doing so.

We all break down, everyone’s emotions at a high boil. I have to remember what they know, what they think — that Daddy is hurt badly, but nothing more. They have no idea how much danger we’re all in, and I can’t tell them.

David looks exactly the same, hooked up to all the tubes. No change, the doctor told me before I got to the room. Wait and see. I kiss David’s forehead.

Then I place my hand on his cheek, cold to the touch.

Oh, David.

“I don’t care what your name is,” I whisper. “I know you. I love you. I love that you risked your life to testify against a mobster, that you risked your life to jump into a freezing river to save someone you’ve never met. That you mist up when you look at our children. That’s the man I know. That’s the man I love. Come back to us, David.”

I press my lips against his, then walk away.

Outside the room, Camille is waiting for me. We step away from the police officer guarding the room and move down the hallway.

“I just got a visit from the FBI,” she says.

“Oh, you’re kidding. Oh, that’s just …” I fall against the wall. “That’s just great.”

“An agent named Blair,” she says. “He knows, Marcie. He’s figured it all out — David’s identity, my role. He worked on the original Cagnina case. Sounds like he’s never really let go of the case.”

“Let me guess,” I say. “They want Cagnina. They don’t give a shit about David or me or the kids.”

“That … pretty much sums it up. He’s coming over tonight to the house.”

The FBI is going to sink its claws in me and make me do whatever they ask.

Meaning that the very thing Silas specifically instructed me not to do is going to happen whether I like it or not.