Page 72 of Shifted

"Maya, is this your husband?" I was fueling a fire I might not have wanted, but curiosity lingered in him. "I've never met Zoe's Dad," I smiled at him. He glanced up at me, confused as to why I'd be talking to him. But as I offered him my hand, he seemed almost disgusted.

"Where's Joely's father?" He questioned.

"Somewhere in the Bermuda Triangle?" I shrug, and that makes him look up at me fully. He offers his hand to me, and I shake it. The man was way more formal out in public as if you were simply breathing his air. I already hated him.

"Isaac Madden" Immediately, a fake last name is used.

"Are you related to Steve?" He didn't find me funny, not even a lift of his lips. He stood silent, and I looked at Maya. "So you two have different last names?" Isaac looked up from his phone again and looked at Maya, almost angry, as if it was her fault.

"Madden was his mother's name; it's not easy to give away his last name." She glared back at him as I awkwardly stood in front of the two of them. Now I’ve stirred a pot I didn’t mean to. Isaac seemed scary in person like this, and you could tell he didn’t want to be there. But I knew he was only doing it to make it up to Maya. He probably promised to spend more time with and be a more caring father, but he still was basically absent even when he showed up.

"Isaac Wolfe," he corrects himself. What are you, a detective, Hope?" I shrug with an innocent smile. But he doesn’t seem to like that response. In fact, he finally turned his full attention to me.

"No, I'm just a curious woman. It was nice meeting you. Goodbye, Maya." I leave them behind as I exit the daycare, walking with other parents. As I approach my car, I see his frame in the shadow. I knew I rubbed Isaac the wrong way, which could only mean so many things.

"What do I owe the pleasure, Mr. Wolfe?" I turn to face him and look down. I see a gun aimed at my stomach. As I look down, I don’t flinch or show any kind of fear. For some reason, I find this funny, as if he wasn’t threatening me. But he doesn’t know I was the one to save his family when he couldn’t, that I’ve sacrificed so much for him.

"I don't know what type of game you're playing. I'll kill you and your child. Now tell me. What do you want from my family?" I don't feel fear; I feel stuck. He wouldn't kill me, and even if he did. Maya would kill him for it, for who he killed. But the mention of my child at harm now rubs me the wrong way.

"Isaac, I'm not one of the bad guys." He moved his gun closer to me, and then I felt the cold metal rim touch my skin.

"Listen, Hope, I can make your death look like an accident; in fact, I can clean you right up. Pay off every bystander and make it look like you ran away. Leaving behind your child, everyone who gives a damn about your small little life, I can ruin it, I can take it" A smile grows across his face, an ugly one at that. But as I mimic him, he looks more alarmed: maybe he would have to shoot me.

"I don't think you want to kill the woman who saved your wife and child not too long ago." I steal the gun from his grasp, pointing it toward him. Stunned, he looked away from the weapon and to me, "I know you, I know your wife and child, hell, I know where you live. I've been inside your house a few times, actually. I think that would be valuable information to someone, right? Those wire transfers you make to me, you know, the millions of dollars. How would the IRS feel about those?" He steps back from me, silent as he begins to realize.

"So Isaac, let's get one thing straight. My name is Hope Taylor, and you are Isaac Madden. We are just two parents who happened to come across each other in the parking lot." I reach for my phone and lift it in the air.

"I left my phone inside the daycare, and you were so generous to bring it back to me, just like I brought your phone back to you a little over a month ago." I tilt my head at him, and he nods.

"Angel?" His words have no physical effect on me, but mentally, I'm screaming. This probably wasn’t my wisest decision because now Isaac knew who I was when nobody else did.

"She is an Angel, isn't she? That Zoe, what a sweet girl. We'd do anything for our children, right? Because I'd do anything for mine, and that's a warning." He nods. I hand him his gun back, and he turns away.

"I hope never to see you again, Mr. Wolfe."

"Same goes for you, Miss Taylor." I enter my car and lock the doors. I soak up the silence it holds—nothing but the sound of the raindrops beginning to splat down against my windshield. My phone rings, and Bella pops up on the screen. I accepted the call and started my drive home.

"Bella?"

"Have you heard from my brother? It's been days and crickets on his end?"

"I'm sure he's fine, it's typical to pull crap like this. Remember when he left his family for those few years? Because I do!" She didn't find my commentary amusing.

"I'm worried."

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry. What did mom say?"

"She said he hasn't spoken to her, and the doorman says he hasn't been at his apartment." An apartment? Does Theo have an apartment? I knew he was overstaying his welcome in Boston for some reason, but not enough to get an apartment here.

"I thought he was staying with Maria,” I asked. He’d become a more permanent resident here without me knowing, and now I wondered how Chicago was suffering because of it.

"God no, my brother is insufferable, and that's something I stand by. He has his own place for travel-"

"Send me the address-"

"No," her immediate response left me surprised. She didn't even let me get my full thoughts out, but just no. It left a weird but funny feeling in my stomach.

"Fine, you can go check on him?"

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