Page 89 of Everything We Found

She considered calling Ian. Maybe he would answer, even if just to tell her off.

She tapped in the number, one of the few she had memorized. The phone rang three times before he answered. “This is Ian.”

“It’s Nadia.”

“You shouldn’t have called me.” His tone was clipped and cold.

“She won’t answer my calls.”

“I don’t blame her. I almost wasn’t going to answer myself because I didn’t recognize this number, but I have a few words I want to say?—”

“Whatever it is, I deserve it,” Nadia cut in. “But it needs to wait. Thomas is going to die if we can’t stop him.”

A pause, then, “Aren’t you with him?”

“He left last night without telling us, no note or anything.” The words tumbled out as she paced. “We think he’s turning himself over to the Hidalgos in exchange for Claire’s life. They’re going to kill him, Ian.” A sob broke free, taking her by surprise. “They already murdered Phil and they’re holding Claire hostage.”

“I haven’t heard any of this on the news,” he said, skeptical.

“I don’t think it’s hit mainstream media yet, not names anyways.” Nadia shook as she spoke, struggling to stay in control. “It’s bad, Ian, what they did to Phil. It’ll be worse for Thomas and I can’t let that happen. I need to reach James. He’s the only one who might know where he went. The only one who might be able to stop him, convince him to let the FBI handle it. He’s on a suicide mission. I can’t afford to lose him, not when I just found him.” She broke, her tears flowing freely now.

The silence on Ian’s end stretched long enough to make her think he hung up.

“I don’t have his number,” he finally said, his tone softer. “I’ll talk to Aimee. She’s at the café. I can’t make any promises, but I’ll tell her what’s going on.”

“Thank you.” Nadia wiped her face with the sleeve of her hoodie.

No sooner had she ended the call than her phone buzzed.

“Hello?” she answered with a shaky greeting.

“How could you lie like that?” Kristen’s accusation cut through. “What kind of friend are you?”

Nadia closed her eyes, pressing the phone to her ear as Kristen went on a tirade. Words like “selfish” and “unforgiveable” stabbed her like tiny daggers.

“Kristen, please—” she tried to interject, to explain about Thomas.

“Don’t ‘please’ me. Ten years, Nadia. Ten years of lying, and you wereinvolved. You let Aimee suffer those first two years and you knew. Youknew!”

“I’m sorry.” She delivered the apology with a hard, new urgency. “I really can’t do this right now.” She abruptly ended the call and stood there shaking. Had she truly expected anything different? She’d betrayed their trust. Why would they want to help her?

Her phone buzzed with a text notification from Ian.

She knows.

That was it. No promise of a call back, no reassurance. Just a heads up that Aimee had been informed of her situation.

She immediately called him back, relief pouring into her when he actually answered.

“I told her what you told me,” he said.

“Is she going to call me?”

“She wouldn’t tell me.”

“Did you get James’s number?”

A heavy sigh. “I asked, but no. Nadia… I’m sorry about everything. But I can’t give you anything more. You lied to my wife. You lied tome.I’m not sure I can trust anything you say anymore.” His voice softened slightly. “Good luck with everything. I mean that sincerely.”