Page 62 of Once Vanished
“You should have seen the startled look on his face when I kicked in that classroom door,” Riley said with grim satisfaction.“He really thought I’d do exactly what he expected—choose Jilly and abandon you.His arrogance blinded him to any other possibility.”
“That’s what brings the smart ones down,” Bill whispered.“They can’t imagine being outsmarted.”
Riley nodded, remembering the genuine surprise that had flashed across Leo’s handsome features when she’d burst in, weapon drawn.He’d never anticipated that she would find out where he was.
“ShadowCipher was the wild card,” she said.“Leo’s egotism alienated the ally he couldn’t afford to lose.”
“The hacker?”
“Yes, two massive egos colliding.Apparently Leo treated him like an underling, and ShadowCipher didn’t appreciate having his expertise taken for granted.”
“Lucky for us.”
“Lucky for us,” she agreed.
A comfortable silence settled between them, broken only by the steady beep of the heart monitor and the distant sounds of the hospital awakening for the day.Riley studied the bruises on Bill’s neck again, imagining the rope digging into his flesh, cutting off his air.
“How did you do it?”she asked suddenly.“How did you keep fighting?Leo took the stool away … you were hanging there before I reached you.”
Bill’s gaze drifted to the ceiling, as if seeing that classroom again.“I didn’t want to die,” he said simply.“And I couldn’t let you find me dead … blaming yourself.”
“I should go,” she said, suddenly aware of the strain speaking was placing on him.“You need to rest.”
Bill’s fingers tightened around hers.“Come back later?”
“Try and stop me.”She leaned forward and pressed a gentle kiss to his forehead.“Sleep now.”
His eyes were already drifting closed as she rose from the chair.Riley stood watching him for a moment, the steady rise and fall of his chest a reminder of how close she’d come to losing him forever.
As she slipped from the room, the weight of the last few days hit her once more.But something else accompanied it now—a sense of hard-won victory.They’d faced Leo’s twisted game and emerged battered but unbroken.Together.
*
When Riley left the hospital, the morning sun had fully risen.She felt her exhaustion as she slid into her car, but there was one more thing she needed to do before she could go home to her daughters.
She needed to see Leo Dillard face to face—needed to look into the eyes of the man who had nearly destroyed everything she loved.With hands that were steadier than she felt inside, she started the engine and pulled away from the hospital, heading toward the Rappahannock Regional Jail.
The drive gave Riley too much time to think.Images ran through her mind: Susan Martinez’s throat opening beneath Leo’s blade; Bill suspended from that noose, his face hidden beneath that hood; Jilly stumbling toward her in the darkness outside the abandoned school.Each memory carried its own burden of guilt and fear and rage.
By the time she reached the jail’s parking lot, Riley’s resolve had hardened into something cold and immutable.She wasn’t here for closure—she knew better than to expect that from a man like Leo.She was here to see him contained, to assure herself that the danger he posed was, for now at least, neutralized.
The facility loomed before her, all concrete and steel and institutional indifference.Riley badged her way through the initial security checkpoint, her FBI credentials earning her more deference than questions.But at the administrative desk, the officer in charge—a stocky man with skeptical eyes—pushed back.
“Agent Paige, I understand your involvement in this case, but Dillard hasn’t even been processed for arraignment yet.Normally, we wouldn’t allow—”
“This isn’t a normal situation,” Riley cut in.“I’m not here in an investigative capacity.This is personal.”She held the officer’s gaze, allowing him a glimpse of what the past days had cost her.“He took my daughter.”
After a moment’s hesitation, he nodded.“I’ll have someone escort you.Ten minutes, no more.”
“Thank you.”
A younger officer led her through a series of security doors, each one sealing shut behind them with a definitive clang of metal on metal.They reached a separate wing that housed high-risk detainees.“He’s in a cell by himself,” the officer explained.“Given the nature of his alleged crimes, we’re keeping him isolated from the general population.”
The cell was at the end of a short corridor.Leo was sitting on the edge of a narrow cot, looking relaxed, almost meditative.He wore the standard orange jumpsuit.
“You have ten minutes,” the officer said, unlocking the door and stepping aside to let her enter.“I’ll be right outside.”
Leo looked up as Riley stepped into the cell, and a smile spread across his face—the same charming, confident smile she remembered from his days in her classroom.