VERY AWARE

VERY AWARE
Michelle's Pov

I had not thought about that. Of course she could not go home. Her apartment was not safe anymore.

"You'll stay with us," Hayden said. "At the safe house. Once you're released from the hospital."

"I can't ask you to do that," Clara said.

"You're not asking," I said. "We're telling you. You're coming to stay with us until this is over."

"What about Ted?" Clara asked.

"I'll talk to him," Hayden said. "Make sure he understands the situation."

A nurse came in to check Clara’s vitals. While she worked, I looked around the room. Flowers on the windowsill. Get well cards taped to the wall. A stuffed bear sitting in the chair.

The bright petals and cheerful messages felt strangely out of place against the steady beep of the monitor and the sterile smell of antiseptic. Someone had tried to fill the room with hope, with softness, as if color and kindness could push back what had happened. The bear’s stitched smile seemed almost brave, perched there like a quiet guardian. I swallowed hard, wishing comfort came that easily.

"Those are from Ted," Clara said following my gaze. "He's been here every day. Sometimes he sleeps in that chair because he doesn't want me to be alone."

"He's a good man," Hayden said.

"Yeah," Clara agreed. "I'm lucky."

The nurse finished and left. Clara looked at me and Hayden.

"I remembered something else," she said. "About that night. About the men who attacked me."

"What?" I asked leaning forward.

"One of them had an accent," Clara said. "Eastern European maybe. Russian or Ukrainian. I'm not sure. But definitely not American."

"What did he say?" Hayden asked.

“He said if I didn’t tell them where you were they would make me disappear,” Clara said. “Just like they made other people disappear. He said it like it was normal. Like making people disappear was just part of his job.”

Her words seemed to drain the air from the room. For a moment, even the steady rhythm of the heart monitor felt distant. I saw the memory flicker behind her eyes—cold, rehearsed, terrifyingly casual. That was what unsettled me most: not shouting or rage, but the calm certainty in his voice. I reached for her hand again, forcing steadiness into my own. “You’re here,” I said quietly. “They didn’t win.”

A chill ran down my spine. "Did he say anything else?"

"He asked if I knew about the red box," Clara said. "He wanted to know if you told me where it was. I said I didn't know what he was talking about. That made him angry."

"The red box," I repeated. "That's what Elliot mentioned in his letter. The one with the USB drive."

"So they know about it," Hayden said. "They know we found it."

"How?" I asked. "Nobody knew where that box was except Elliot. And he's dead."

"Joycelyn knew," Hayden said. "She told you about the storage unit. Maybe she told them about the red box too."

"No," I said. "Joycelyn was trying to help us. She wouldn't betray us like that."

"Maybe she didn't have a choice," Hayden said. "Maybe they got to her the same way they got to Marcus. Threats. Blackmail. Fear."

Clara tried to sit up but winced in pain. “There’s something else. The man with the snake tattoo. When he was leaving he got a phone call. I heard him say yes, sir. And then he said the name Victor.”

The name settled between us like a dropped stone. Victor. It wasn’t just a detail—it was a thread. A direction. I felt my pulse quicken, my mind already turning, fitting the pieces together. “Are you sure?” I asked softly, not because I doubted her, but because I needed it to be real. Clara nodded, her jaw tight despite the pain. And just like that, the faceless threat began to take shape.

"Victor Kane," I said.

"Probably," Clara agreed. "He talked to whoever was on the phone for maybe thirty seconds. Then he told the other guy they had to go. That the boss wanted them somewhere else."

"So the snake tattoo guy works directly for Victor Kane," Hayden said. "That's useful information."

"How is it useful?" I asked. "We still don't know who he is."

"But now we know he's close to Victor," Hayden said. "Part of his inner circle. That narrows it down."

We stayed with Clara for another hour. She told us more details about the attack. What the men looked like even with the masks. How they moved. What their voices sounded like.

"They were professionals," Clara said. "Not like random thugs. They knew what they were doing. They knew exactly how much to hurt me without killing me."

"They wanted information," Hayden said. "If they killed you they wouldn't get it."

"Lucky me," Clara said bitterly.

When visiting hours were over Hayden and I said goodbye to Clara and left. We walked out of the hospital together.

"She's traumatized," I said once we were in the parking lot. "Did you see how she jumped every time someone walked by her room?"

"Yeah," Hayden said. "She's going to need therapy. Time to heal."

"Time we might not have," I said. "Victor Kane is not going to wait for Clara to recover. He's going to keep coming after us."

"I know," Hayden said. "Which is why we need to move fast. Make copies of everything. Get the files to people who can use them. Expose Victor Kane before he can hurt anyone else."

"When?" I asked.

"Soon," Hayden said. "Maybe this week. I'm working on a plan."

We got to our cars and Hayden pulled me into a hug. "Be careful driving back. Watch for anyone following you."

"I will," I said. "You too."

The drive back to the safe house felt longer than usual. I kept checking my mirrors, looking for anyone who might be tailing me. But the roads were empty.

When I got back, Ted had both twins fed and changed and playing happily.

Their laughter spilled into the hallway the moment I stepped inside, bright and carefree, as if the world beyond our walls didn’t exist. One of them was stacking blocks with fierce concentration while the other kept knocking them over, squealing with delight. Ted glanced up at me, reading my expression instantly. For a second, I just stood there, absorbing the normalcy of it all—grateful, and terrified of how fragile it suddenly felt.

"How's Clara?" he asked.

"Better," I said. "But scared. She can't go back to her apartment. It's not safe."

"I figured," Ted said. "She can stay with me. I have a spare bedroom."

"Actually Hayden invited her to stay at the safe house with us," I said. "Once she's released. At least until this is over."

"Makes sense," Ted said. "You have better security there than I do at my place."

After Ted left with the twins I sat down and thought about everything Clara told us. The snake tattoo. The accent. The phone call to Victor.

All of it pointed to a professional criminal organization. Not just one man but a whole network of people doing Victor Kane's dirty work.

And we were supposed to fight against that with just two people and some files on a USB drive.

It seemed impossible.

But then I thought about Clara lying in that hospital bed. About all the victims in Elliot's files. About Hope and James growing up in a world where powerful people could hurt whoever they wanted and get away with it.

“I could not let that happen.”

“I would not let that happen.”

“No matter what it cost.”

“No matter how scared I was.”

Because some things are worth fighting for even when the fight seems impossible to win.

And this was one of them.