WPCTS2

Victoria leaned heavily against her bedroom door after shutting herself inside. She didn’t know how she was still managing to stand. She didn’t even have the energy to flip on the light switch on the wall beside her. After setting up Cruz, falling for Nash, then losing her brother, that week had to qualify as the worst one in her entire life. Just when everything seemed to be going right for a change, it couldn’t have gone more wrong. She had never felt more physically, emotionally and spiritually drained.

She hadn’t been surprised when Nash showed up at the gravesite. She couldn’t miss him. That ridiculous yellow car screamed, “look at me”, in the sea of black vehicles. Somehow it seemed more dramatic than his appearance at the funeral home would have been. She had hated herself for the involuntary leap of her heart when she first saw him. It wasn’t fair that he should seem so unscathed when she had lost everything, her brother and her heart. She wanted to hate him, but she couldn’t. She wanted to blame him, but she didn’t. She was actually ashamed of herself for wanting him even after everything that had happened, but she couldn’t deny it even to herself.

Her head dropped back listlessly against the door. She was beyond exhausted. She wasn’t even sure how her body was still moving because it felt so detached. She was glad that Steve had suggested that they use the bar instead of her home for the customary gathering after the funeral. She didn’t think that she could have stood having everyone in her home, her sanctuary. She should have left the club hours ago, but, forever the hostess, she had put on a brave face and endured until the end. She was ever so grateful to Steve for chasing everyone off. She would have to remember to give him a nice bonus. He had been her rock, a real friend.

Victoria pulled the beaded French comb loose from her hair and let her silky locks cascaded over her shoulders. She wanted nothing more than a hot bath and a week to hibernate under the covers. Maybe then she would feel like facing the world again. At the moment, she didn’t care if she ever saw the light of day.

Her shoes came off next and she sunk her toes into the plush carpet. Russell will never know that sensation again, she thought before she could stop herself. She closed her eyes as she sent up a silent prayer for the torment to end. Since she had watched her brother die, random thoughts began springing into her mind of things that Russell would never do. It was driving her insane. She almost welcomed the exhaustion. At least she knew that she would get some sleep that night.

As she reached up behind her neck to unfasten her dress, a voice rose out of the darkness. “I’d stop there, if I were you.”

Victoria gasped, then placed her hand over her heart as a floor lamp was switched on across the room. “Don’t you ever turn a light on?” Nash asked.

“You could have just come to the front door like everyone else,” she snapped back as she rapidly collected herself.

He shifted slightly. “I didn’t particularly want it slammed in my face,” he countered.

She smiled then, but there was no warmth behind it, only sarcasm. “Good guess.” Turning her back on him, she picked out a satin robe and gown from her dresser drawer, then walked into the master bath. “So I guess you heard,” she said through the partially open bathroom door. “I don’t know why I’m surprised, but I am. I didn’t think they would let anyone else in.”

“Greed, love or power will get you most anything,” he returned cryptically. He knew he had to say something if he wanted her to keep talking. He suspected that she was hinting to the odd reception at the grave side, but he couldn’t be certain.

Victoria shook her head as she let her expensive dress pool on the floor without a second thought. “I might have expected a comment like that from Cruz, but I wouldn’t have thought you were so pessimistic, Nash.”

“Not a pessimist, a realist,” he argued.

“And to think that I had you pegged as a surrealist,” she returned sarcastically.

He chuckled in spite of the situation. He knew that something was up and Victoria obviously thought that he was there because of it. “So what’s everyone saying?” he asked, hoping to keep her on track.

“That it was a deliberate power play, of course,” she returned as she slipped on her gown. “Leave it to the men to assume conspiracy theories.”

“Do they think you’re involved?” he asked cautiously.

“I’m still breathing, aren’t I?” she shot back as she ran her fingers through her hair after putting on her robe.

“So why do they think it’s a conspiracy?” he prompted once more when she didn’t volunteer anything further.

There was another long silence before Victoria stepped out of the bathroom, cinching her robe tight around her waist as she studied him. “You don’t know,” she said in amazement. She had followed right along with his lead. It was the first time in a long time that someone had tripped her into revealing anything. “I must be tired to have fallen for that one.”

Nash chuckled as he stood from the armchair by the French doors. “That’s one of the things that I admire about you most, Miss Castle. You think fast on your feet.”

She gave him a disbelieving look. “All right, Nash. I’ll give you one for free,” she said as she folded her arms across her chest. She was in no mood for their usual parry and thrust. She was tired and wanted to go to bed. “The organization saw the death of Cruz Montipinia as a power play. Rumors started going around about how Teddy Malone got to Cruz through Corday, then eliminated the only competition he had. No one wants to go up against Teddy because no one knows who he is. Or who you are.” She waved it off. “Seems like a split personality thing to me.”

Nash chuckled as he stood directly in front of her. “So they think I want to be chairman of the board, eh?” His head tilted to one side as he studied her. “What do they think about you?” he asked curiously.

Victoria let out a burst of air. “They think that I want to play Scarlett to your Rhett,” she replied. It was the most ridiculous thing she had ever heard. As far as she was concerned, that just proved how little her associates knew her. “They actually believe that I sold out my brother because I preferred your bed to Cruz’s.”

Her voice had been matter-of-fact, but he knew that she was hurting from the assumption. “The offer still stands for protection, Tory.”

“And I still don’t see the need for it,” she countered as she folded her arms over her chest. She didn’t know why she was standing there arguing with him when all she wanted to do was lose herself in him.

“I would have thought seeing all of those company men at your brother’s funeral would have been enough to scare you a little.”

“I don’t scare easily.”

Nash shook his head. She was being stubborn, just like he knew she would. “Considering the fact that all of those drug kingpins thought it necessary to attend a funeral of a man that wasn’t even a dealer makes me wonder why they were there. Even though Montipinia is gone, they still came. Either you have the respect of a lot of very powerful people, which doesn’t surprise me, or they were there for show. Which means that they still think that you have something that they want.” He tipped his head to one side. “Now, I don’t know about you, but I’d be a little concerned.”

When her eyes rose back to his, her expression was of boredom. “You’re forgetting one thing. I’ve lived with these people for the past several years. I’ve made it my business to know their business and to stay out of it. I’ve gotten good at covering my tracks. The only time that I was even close to being exposed was when I was with you.”

He gave her half a smile. “I have to give you that one,” he admitted. If Cruz had survived the shooting, there would have been little doubt as to who had set him up and Nash would probably be attending Victoria’s funeral that day instead.

The conversation had gone about as well as he could have hoped. She was still angry and hurt. “I guess you know what you’re doing,” he said softly. He straightened as he cleared his throat. He hated to leave, but he wasn’t about to wait for her to throw him out. “I’m really sorry about your brother. Good night, Ms. Castle. Or perhaps I should say good luck.”

* * *

Rachel drew in slow, controlled breaths as her heart raced. She held her gun in both hands next to her ear as she darted a glance around the corner. As she pressed herself back against the wall, she squeezed her eyes shut. The arrogant jerk is standing right by the door, she thought. At least she had the advantage of knowing the dark apartment.

Taking a deep breath, she stepped out just enough to get a good angle on the intruder. “Hold it right there! You picked the wrong apartment buddy. I’m a cop and I will not hesitate to shoot you if you move.”

There was a long pause before he finally spoke. “I would hope that a mother would at least hesitate before shooting her own son.”

Rachel thought that she was going to have a heart attack right on the spot. “Samuel,” she breathed his name, then fell rather than stepped across the hallway to flip on the light switch. The light assaulted her eyes, but she couldn’t close them. He son was standing only a few yards away. She was afraid to even blink in case he disappeared again.

Samuel Chon stepped out of the shadows. “Sorry to drop in on you in the middle of the night like this,” he apologized a little awkwardly. “But you never seem to be alone.”

“Oh no. That’s okay. I mean, anytime is fine.” She put her fingers over her mouth as she stared at him. He really was there. He was speaking to her. She wasn’t dreaming. “I don’t know what to do,” she admitted, then laughed nervously. She had imagined that moment so many times, but was at a complete loss.

He gestured to the living room next to him. “Would you mind if we had a talk?” he asked.

“Oh yes. I mean no!” A million things were leaping through her mind and she wasn’t able to make sense of any of them. “I mean....” She closed her eyes in an attempt to close her mouth. “You know what I mean,” she finally got out, then looked down at her pajamas. The least she could do was get dressed. “Make us some coffee and let me get changed.”

When, she disappeared, Samuel looked around him in confusion. Everything was dark except for the hallway and he didn’t have a clue where the kitchen was let alone the coffeepot. Part of him wanted to turn around and walk back out the door and part of him wanted to do what he was told. He didn’t think that he could wait any longer to talk to her, so he opted for the latter. The first problem was finding the kitchen.

“What have I done?” Rachel asked herself incredulously as she stood in the middle of her bedroom, gun still in hand. “My son shows up at my apartment after eighteen years to meet me and I tell him to put on a pot of coffee, then leave? I must be an idiot!”

She started for the bedroom door, then stopped herself. “Calm down. Calm down Rach,” she ordered herself, then listened for a second and heard cabinet doors closing. He was looking for the coffee. A heavy sigh left her, then she snapped into action again when she realized that he was still waiting for her to change clothes. Rushing over to her dresser, the tried to open the drawer, but couldn’t because the gun was still in her hand. She looked at it blankly, then put it down on her dresser so that she could get out her clothes.

Exactly two minutes later, Rachel had changed into jeans and a lightweight sweater, brushed her hair and teeth and stood by her bedroom door again ordering herself to calm down. She was just about to open the door, when the old shoebox that Hyun had given her caught her eye. She grabbed it up and hurried out into the living room.

Rachel stood in the doorway for a long moment when she saw Samuel going through one of her photo albums. She wanted to cry as she put her hand over her heart, but she stifled the urge when he looked up at that moment. When he started to stand and apologize, she waved them both down. “It’s fine. Sit down.” She walked over to the sofa where he was sitting to see what album he had. “Those are pictures taken from a camping trip that I went on with some of my friends a few years back,” she explained.

“Is this you?” he asked, pointing to a wild woman in the photograph as he looked over his shoulder at her.

She cleared her throat as she made a mental note to kill her friend Patty later for that horrid shot of her waking up. “Yes,” she cleared her throat again. “I believe it is.”

He chuckled. “You haven’t changed much over the years.”

She looked down at him, nervousness completely gone. “Looks like Mom’s curse worked. I got a kid just like me,” she mumbled.

“What was that?” he asked, pretending not to have heard.

“I have some more recent pictures,” she told him instead of answering as she walked over to the bookshelf of albums. Her heart turned completely to butter when he smiled at her obvious evasion. “Or some older ones if you prefer,” she continued, her voice wavering. The butterflies were fast on the recovery and started beating at her stomach again. “Where do you want to start?” she asked. “The past or the present.”

He shifted from his perch on the edge of the couch to the back to get comfortable, his expression serious. “The past,” he answered succinctly.

Rachel nodded. She put the old shoebox on the coffee table, then turned around to grab the first photo album on the shelf before walking back over to the sofa. She hesitated before sitting, unsure of what the proper protocol was for that particular situation. Finally, she sat down on the edge of the sofa next to him, staring at the album in her lap. “I don’t know what your father told you or what Yong...your grandfather told you about me,” she corrected herself. She had to remember that Samuel loved Yong Cha. She couldn’t disassociate him from grandfather without disassociating him. She looked up into his eyes for the first time. They were a warm chocolate brown. “I want you to know that I looked for you. I never stopped looking for you.”

“I know,” he said softly. “Dad and I had a long talk and he told me that a couple of the moves we had to make were because you were getting too close.”

Rachel’s mouth dropped open. She had no idea that she had ever gotten that close. Hyun hadn’t told her that. She looked back at her hands again, at a complete loss. “Now I don’t know what to say because I had this whole speech prepared.”

He laughed nervously. She was exactly how he imagined her to be. Genuine. “Why don’t we start with the photo album and work from there,” he suggested.

“That’s a good idea.”

* * *

Nash sipped at his coffee as he stared at the hazy silhouette of the Golden Gate from the deck of the SIU. He hated it when he was at loose ends. It gave him far too much time to think and Victoria was the persistent image that haunted him. He wanted to help her, but there wasn’t much that he could do other than call in a few favors with the local police department. He couldn’t blame her for pushing him out of her life, but he wished that she wouldn’t be so blasé about living. She was taking a huge risk by continuing to associate with the darker half of society and she acted as if she didn’t even care. That’s what bothered him more than anything.

It had been quiet for so long that Nash was surprised when he heard footfalls on the grating behind him. He turned to see the newest member of their team approaching a little cautiously. “If you’re trying to impress me by staying late, it won’t work,” Nash told him. “That’s a way of life around here, bubba.” When the junior inspector took a long pause, Nash knew that he was uncertain of what to do next. “What have you got?” he asked, letting Antwon off the hook.

“The blackout burglaries,” he began to remind him of the case that he was assigned. “Along with the usual smash and grab, there were several burglaries that were fairly similar. In each case, the homes were in the million plus range, the owners were gone at the time of the break in. The person or persons involved were in and out, taking only what they could carry, mostly jewelry, money, that sort of thing and all of the homes had their safes punched. There are five cases in all. Of course, all of them happened during the rolling blackouts when their security systems went down temporarily.”

“Of course,” he responded. He knew those controlled blackouts were going to cause problems in more ways than one.

“There were a couple of others with some larger items stolen, but they appear to be more random and probably the work of kids. It’s the similar burglaries that have my attention,” Antwon told him. “They’re too smooth.”

“You’re thinking an inside job?” he questioned.

“Possibly.”

“Any suspects?”

“Not yet, but I’m running a check on the various services that each family uses like lawn care, delivery, catering and maintenance people to see if there are any matches.”

“Look into the people working for the owners at the office as well,” Nash suggested. “Disgruntled employees are always a good bet. Considering the price of the homes, they probably have some fairly extensive organizations. You’ll have your work cut out for you, but my bet is that you will eventually find a connection somewhere in the mess.”

“Do you want me to start on it tonight?” he asked. It was already after eleven and he was more than ready for some sleep.

“Hell no,” he answered succinctly. “Go home and get some rest. You can start on it first thing in the morning.”

“Okay, thanks. By the way, there were a couple of calls that came in a little while ago about someone hacking into hospital records,” he informed him. He wasn’t really sure what was going on, but everyone on the barge acted like they were a bit leery of approaching him, so no one wanted to disturb him with the information. “I didn’t get any of the specifics, but it sounded pretty important.”

Nash nodded. “Thanks. Send someone up with the report and then get out of here.” He was surprised to see Joe as Antwon turned away and nearly ran into him. They exchanged a few passing words before Joe took the spot by the rail that Antwon had just vacated. “What are you doing here this late, bubba?” Nash asked.

“I could ask you that same question,” Joe shot back. “At least I went home for a couple of hours. What’s your excuse?”

Nash waved him off as he leaned his elbows on the rail. “I’m just waiting for the coroner’s report on the dead body we got this afternoon. He’s supposed to be calling me with preliminaries.”

Joe nodded. Nash never was very good in the excuse department, which was part of the reason that he had two ex-wives. “Nick’s not home, I take it.” Joe knew that Nash wouldn’t let his father sit at the apartment by himself to do imaginary work at the office. He had to be there to avoid being alone. He couldn’t remember the last time that guilt ate at Nash that way.

“He’s over at Stacy’s helping her put together some sort of family recipe book,” he waved that off as well. “Why she’s suddenly interested in making a recipe book is beyond me.”

“Do you think, maybe, she’s ready to settle down?” he asked expectantly.

“Stacy?” He was surprised by the suggestion at first. His sister was definitely a confirmed bachelorette. But, then he hesitated before answering. He couldn’t recall the last time he had a personal conversation with his sister. He had no idea what was going on in her life lately. “Naw,” he brushed it aside with everything else. “I’m sure she would have said something if there was someone she was interested in.”

“Just like she said something about Samantha?” Joe returned. “That was a shocker to see your sister cuddling with one of your ex-girlfriends.”

“Tell me about it,” Nash agreed. “But that was different. Stacy hadn’t said anything about having an interest in other women.”

“My point exactly. If she didn’t say anything about that, what makes you think that she would tell you if she has become serious about someone?”

Nash sighed heavily as he stared at Joe. He really didn’t want to think about that at the moment, but it would be nice if someone in his family had a relationship that actually worked out.

When one of the uniformed officers approached, handed him a file, then immediately left, Nash watched him go with some confusion. Forest wasn’t exactly a talkative guy, but he usually said something when he came up to him. “You never did say what has gotten you out of the house this late.” He effectively changed the subject as he scanned over the file on the hospital hackers. “Are you and Inger fighting again?”

“No, she crashed hours ago. She’s getting so worn out chasing Lucia around that she’s asleep by the time I get home. I’m starting to wonder what she looks like.”

“I know that feeling,” Nash returned, flipping through the pages. “Have you thought about getting another nanny?”

“Of course, but Inger won’t hear of it. She saw some program on how detrimental it is to a child to have a babysitter raising them and now she doesn’t want anyone else to watch Lucia. She’s even starting to talk about home schooling.” He shook his head. “I’m all for saving the money, but I’d rather spend a few bucks and have my wife back.”

Nash looked at him with surprise. “If you’re talking about loosening the purse strings, it must be serious. Where’s Harv?” he asked as he closed the file.

“I sent him home hours ago,” Joe returned. “Between work and everything that has been going on with Rachel, he was zombified. He looked like the walking dead.”

“I’m sure he was grateful for the comparison.” He glanced down at the file again. He kept forgetting that it was so late and that nearly everyone had left. “I’ll have to get him on this in the morning.”

“So, do you want to know why I’m here?” he asked expectantly.

“I haven’t been able to think of anything else,” he said sarcastically.

“I got a phone call earlier from Toby, our guy in the CIA?”

Nash shook his head as he interrupted. “Not our guy, bubba. You’re guy.”

“Yeah, whatever. Do you want to hear what he said or not?”

The first thing that popped into his head was “not”, but he didn’t say it. Joe had been chomping at the bit to tell him what he had found out since he had gotten there. “Okay, shoot.”

“Thank you.” He paused for a moment to be sure that he had his attention. “Now I know you think I’m crazy, but I decided to check into the Russell Craig thing.”

“Joe….”

“Look. I know you care about Victoria, but I had to follow up on it, which is exactly what you would have done if you hadn’t been involved with her and you know it.”

His argument was effectively silenced. Joe was right. “So what did you find out?” he asked instead even though he was sure that he didn’t want to hear it.

Joe shifted a little uncomfortably. “I had Toby do a little digging and it turns out that Truitt and Ogden weren’t suspended after all. They were back to work bright and early Monday morning.”

Nash swore under his breath. That certainly lent some credibility to Joe’s fake death theory. If they hadn’t been suspended after that kind of farce, then things weren’t quite as they seemed. “Anything else?” he asked, then braced himself. He dreaded the possibility that Tory was involved, that she had been playing him from the beginning.

Joe sighed. He knew that none of this was easy for his partner. “What are the chances that she wasn’t in on it?” he asked instead of answering.

He knew then that Joe only had his suspicions, but it was too humiliating to think that another Tamara Van Zant could waltz into his life so easily. It was time to do a little digging himself. “Thanks for letting me know.”

* * *

Rachel and Samuel started at the beginning with the help of old pictures and walked through years of memories together. It became obvious during the course of the conversation that Samuel had been terribly hurt by everything that had happened. He knew better than anyone what it was like to be completely betrayed and the majority of his anger was focused on Hyun. “Your father did what he thought he had to do,” Rachel said softly when she realized that she was the only one that had been talking for the past few minutes. She could see the tension building inside of him.

“I know,” he bit out, then stood to pace the small room. “I keep telling myself that it could have been handled differently, but I know that Grandfather couldn’t be reasoned with as far as you were concerned. I was there when he first saw your picture.” He hesitated as the memory enveloped him. “I don’t think I was ever more afraid of him than in that moment. He had a look of absolute rage.”

“Yeah, there was no love lost between your grandfather and me,” Rachel admitted.

He continued to pace as the conversation with his father persisted, playing over and over in his mind. He hadn’t been able to forget a word of it. He had thought that his father was merely jealous of the position and power that Yong Cha wielded when he started telling him what had happened. Then Hyun told him about Rachel and he was stunned that his father and grandfather would rob him of his own mother.

From all of the stories that his father had told him growing up, he had a vivid image of what Rachel looked like. How she acted. What she sounded like. He knew that his father loved her deeply, which was one of the reasons why he had never married in all those years. “Now that I have Grandfather’s business, I don’t want it.” He shook his head as he let out a disgusted burst of air. “And I thought that becoming a part of Grandfather’s company would help to mend fences between Hyun and Yong Cha.” He shook his head at his own naivety. “The real ironic part in all of this is that the thing, which I thought would bring our family back together, was what had torn it apart in the first place.”

Rachel was stunned for a moment. It never entered her mind that Yong Cha would give Samuel everything. She knew that Samuel was Yong Cha’s only grandchild, but he was still her son. She would have thought that would be enough for Yong Cha to divide his empire. She slowly rose to her feet. “You were Yong Cha’s sole beneficiary?” she asked even though she already knew the answer.

Samuel nodded. “How’s that for a cruel twist of fate?” he said sarcastically. “One of San Francisco’s finest has a multi-billion dollar drug dealer for a son.”

“Don’t say that!” she ordered, then willed her mind to delete those words. “I did not hear you say that,” she reiterated so that he would understand where she was coming from. She was a cop and expected to do her duty, but she wasn’t about to hear her son’s confession or let him condemn himself for the legacy that his grandfather had burdened him with.

He had stopped his pacing, finally, and her heart leapt. He looked so much like Hyun in that moment that she felt like she had been catapulted back in time. A lock of his hair fell over his forehead and he looked so dejected. The weight of a kingdom had been placed on his young shoulders. “Just because you inherited your grandfather’s empire doesn’t mean that you have to sit on the throne.” She hesitated when she heard the words come out of her mouth. “That sounded a lot more profound in my head,” she admitted and they both smiled.

She couldn’t help the love that was showing on her face, nor did she want to. Samuel was her son and she actually liked him! That thrilled her. “Your dad did a good job raising you and you’re obviously a smart man,” she complemented him as she sized him up in a few words. She knew that he had it in him to change. The question was if he wanted to. “No one is forcing you to take over any illegal activities that Yong Cha may have been involved in,” she said matter-of-factly. “No one can hold you responsible for anything that he has done at this point.” She picked up their coffee cups and the carafe so that she could fill them in the kitchen for the third time, then hesitated as she stared at him. “This is your crossroad, Samuel,” she told him softly. “This is the point where you ask yourself what kind of legacy do you want to leave behind. It’s not about me or your grandfather or your dad. It’s your turn. What are you going to do with it?”

He thought about that for a long time after she walked out of the room. When he had found the evidence of his grandfather’s cruelty for himself in the meticulous logs that Yong Cha had kept, he was ashamed that he had wanted that position for himself. Now he understood what his father had been telling him all of these years. Hyun had tried to break away from his father’s tyranny, but now Samuel was left to clean up the mess. Starting with his own family.

Samuel stood in the doorway of the kitchen as he watched her rinsing out their cups. After everything that had happened, at least now he was in a position to help her. “If there is anything that you need...”

“Oh no! Stop right there,” she refused immediately. Nothing could make her accept Yong Cha’s money. “I’m perfectly fine.”

“How about a nice big house?” he teased when he saw how adamant she was. “A mansion maybe? With a pool? And a butler?”

“Is this your way of telling me that there’s something wrong with my apartment?” she asked in mock offense.

Samuel leaned against the counter with his arms folded in front of him. “No, it’s not that. This place is pretty nice,” he assured her. He gave a slightly disgusted grimace as he glanced around and saw her eyes narrow suspiciously. He couldn’t help but smile. It was so easy to joke with her. She actually got his sense of humor. “Look. It’s not every day that a guy gets to meet his mom for the first time and I want to get you something to commemorate it,” he teased her, then his eyes grew. “Something big.” She rolled her eyes at him and he chuckled.

He watched her while she rinsed out their coffee cups for the second time. He had to wonder what her life had been like. He knew that it hadn’t been easy. She had admitted to that much. She had to fight every step of the way and he wanted to take some of that pressure away from her. “Just tell me that you don’t want for anything,” he insisted.

She smiled as she turned to face him while drying her hands. “You don’t have anything to worry about, Samuel. I’m sure I don’t have your generous bank account, but I’ve got a little bit put back.”

“But on a cop’s salary?” he argued. “How much can that be? Not to mention the fact that you have been searching for me for the past eighteen years. That couldn’t have been cheap.”

She nodded solemnly. “Have you ever seen the Tracker Three program?” she asked.

“Of course,” he returned without hesitation. “It’s the best skip tracer program on the market.” The words were barely out of his mouth when he realized why she had asked. “That’s yours?”

Rachel nodded again.

“Wow! I’m impressed,” he told her. “You do top of the line work.”

She gave him a weak smile. “When you want something bad enough, you do what you have to do to get it. There wasn’t a program on the market that did what I needed it to do, so I made one.” Her eyes scanned his face. She still couldn’t believe that he was there, that they had spent the last two hours enjoying each other’s company. “A large chunk of that money went exactly where you suspect, trying to find you. But, the dividend checks from Tracker Three are still padding the account.”

“Wait a minute,” he interrupted. “You mean you choose to live like this?” he asked, gesturing around at her kitchen as if it was beyond reason to want to stay there.

“Brat!”

They laughed for a brief moment, then both grew quiet. Rachel knew what was coming next and she hated it. “You’re leaving, aren’t you?” she finally had to ask.

He nodded his head slowly. “All of this is a bit much,” he admitted.

She blinked her eyes several times when they started to prickle with tears. “Are you going to stay with your dad?” she asked, hoping that he would confide in her.

Samuel shook his head again. “Hyun’s part of the problem right now,” he told her. “I’m extremely angry with him for not saying or doing something sooner.” He stopped when she held up her hand. He had to remember that she was a police officer. It wouldn’t be fair for him to compromise her by speaking too bluntly. “I need some time to myself,” he told her instead. “To figure out what my next move should be.”

“Sometimes the next right thing is what’s right in front of you,” she said as the tears that she had been able to restrain throughout his visit finally surfaced. “Like giving your mom a hug?”

Samuel didn’t hesitate to close the distance between them. He held her tight against him. As far as he could tell, she was the only innocent in the sorted affair of his life and he hated having to leave just when he found her.

“Let me give you my cell number, email, office,” she waved an all-encompassing hand as she ordered herself to straighten up. “All that stuff. I want to make sure that you can get in touch with me if you need to.” Samuel watched over her shoulder as she hastily scribbled everything down for him. “I’d better give you my partner’s phone number too. He’ll know where I am if you can’t reach me any other way.”

Samuel smiled as he looked at the list. “Your partner, huh?” he asked in a roundabout way. He knew for a fact that Harvey Leek had spent more than one night in that apartment. “Is he special?” he decided to ask when she didn’t comment.

Rachel smiled softly. “Very.”

Samuel nodded his head. At least he knew that there was someone to watch out for her. From what he learned about her “partner” through his grandfather’s files, he seemed like a decent guy. But Samuel wasn’t about to depend solely on Yong Cha’s reports. He already had one of his own people looking into Inspector Harvey Leek. “I don’t have a phone number or anything that I can give you.”

She nodded. “I figured that. That’s why I gave you all of my information. If you’re ever in trouble, just leave me a clue and I’ll find you,” she promised. “If you don’t tell me exactly where you are, I’ll know it’s because you can’t.”

He smiled again. “Hyun and I use to have a password when I was a kid,” he told her. “I wasn’t supposed to go with anyone who didn’t have the password.”

“It’s a smart precaution with kids and with some adults,” she amended as they shared a stilted laugh. She knew that he had to leave, but she simply didn’t want to say good-bye so soon. “Oh!” she said with a start. “I just remembered. I have something that belongs to you.”

Samuel followed her, walking back into the living room just in time to see her pulling down a plastic bag from the closet shelf. Rachel unzipped the bag and pulled out a small, white, crocheted afghan. She ran her hand over the top of the folded bundle as she held it out to him. “I’m a little late giving this to you, but I still want you to have it. It’s your baby blanket. I made this when I was pregnant with you.”

His heart lodged in his throat as he stared down at the soft folds. He couldn’t believe that she had held onto it all that time. He looked back up at her face, deep into her eyes. After all the deception, all the anger, all of the anguish of the recent past, Rachel was like a breath of fresh air. She was his mother. And he couldn’t be more proud. “I’ll tell you what,” he whispered, his voice betraying how choked up he was becoming. “Why don’t you hang onto that to give to your first grandchild,” he suggested as he placed it back in her hands as he leaned closer. “I swear to you that you will be a big part of their lives.”

A smile stretched across her face even though tears poured from her eyes. Knowing that he wanted her in his life meant so much to her. “Thank you,” she whispered. “Now you’d better go because I’m only going to get worse from here on out,” she warned him.

Samuel pulled her close, the baby blanket crushed between them as he gave her a tight hug and a light kiss on the forehead. “I’ll see you soon, Mom.”

Rachel closed her eyes tight as her heart ripped open and a floodgate of tears washed over her face. She didn’t dare watch him leave because she knew that she would be begging him to stay. It was taking all of her strength to remain passive, to let him take the lead in their relationship. She knew that he had a lot of issues to work through including the fact that his mother had been alive and searching for him for nearly two decades. She knew that he needed time, but it was killing her to know that her baby was walking out the door.

When the door latch clicked closed, she wanted to scream, but she slapped her hand over her mouth. She wasn’t going to fall apart in front of her son. She was going to let him know that she was strong enough to take any decisions that he made. She wanted him to know that she could handle being there when he needed her. She had to let him know that she was capable so that he would come to her when he needed her.

Even with all that urging her on, she found herself sitting on the floor, her knees drawn up to her chest and her face buried in the baby blanket as she wept bitterly.

* * *