Chapter 44 HOME
Thirty Seconds Later
Marcus was beside me, his hand on my shoulder. "Lila, are you okay? What the hell was that about?"
I looked up at him, and I saw the moment his expression changed. The moment he saw something in my face that scared him.
"Who's Sophia Chen?" he asked quietly.
Before I could answer, Sarah's voice crackled in my ear. "All units, we have a problem. Ethan's car just pulled up to a location two blocks from here. He's meeting with someone. Running plates now oh, shit."
"What?" Marcus demanded.
"The car is registered to a corporate vehicle," Sarah said. "Flagged in our database as connected to... oh, this is bad. It's connected to the Remington Group. Los Angeles-based private equity firm with ties to organized crime."
Marcus's grip on my shoulder tightened. "Lila. Talk to me. Right now."
I looked down at my hands hands that had once picked locks, forged signatures, stolen millions.
Hands that belonged to someone named Sophia Chen.
Someone I'd tried so hard to bury.
Someone who was apparently not as dead as I'd thought.
"We need to get her out of here," Sarah said urgently. "If the Remington Group is in play, this location is compromised. Move. Now."
Marcus pulled me to my feet. "Come on. We're leaving."
But I looked at the business card still sitting on the table. At that single word.
HOME.
And I realized with dawning horror that Ethan had been right about one thing.
I'd spent three years running from my past.
But my past had just caught up with me.
And it was sitting two blocks away, waiting.
Cole Secure Vehicle - Five Minutes Later
I sat in the back of the SUV, sandwiched between Marcus and another agent, while Sarah drove and barked orders into her phone.
"need full background workup on Sophia Chen, last known location Los Angeles, age approximately 27 yes, priority one check with LAPD organized crime division and the FBI's financial crimes unit—"
Marcus was staring at me like I was a stranger.
Maybe I was.
"Is it true?" he asked quietly. "What Ethan said? About who you really are?"
I wanted to lie. Wanted to deny everything.
But I was so tired of lying.
"Yes," I whispered. "My real name is Sophia Chen. I'm from Los Angeles. And three years ago, I was... I was not a good person."
"Define 'not a good person,'" Marcus said, his voice dangerously calm.
"I was a con artist," I said, the words feeling like glass in my throat. "I specialized in long-term infiltrations. Getting close to wealthy targets, learning their secrets, stealing their money. I worked for the Remington Group for two years before I before I betrayed them."
"You stole from organized crime," Marcus said flatly.
"I exposed their CEO's embezzlement. Turned evidence over to the authorities. And then I ran." I looked at him. "I came to New York with a new identity, a new life. I thought I could leave it all behind. I thought I could be someone different."
"And Cole Enterprises?" Marcus demanded. "Adrian? Was that part of a con?"
"No!" The word burst out of me. "No, I swear. I applied to Cole Enterprises because I needed a job, not because I was targeting them. I wasn't I didn't have any ulterior motives."
"But the text message?" Marcus's eyes were hard. "The one that started everything? Ethan said you sent it on purpose. That it wasn't a mistake."
I opened my mouth. Closed it.
Because the truth was i didn't know.
That night, drunk and upset, my thumb hovering over my contacts, had I really made a mistake? Or had some part of me, some buried instinct from Sophia's training, seen an opportunity and taken it?
"I don't know," I admitted. "I thought it was a mistake. I was drunk, I was upset, I wasn't thinking clearly. But now—" My voice broke. "Now I don't know what was real and what was just... programming."
Marcus was silent for a long moment.
Then: "Does Adrian know? About your past?"
"No," I whispered. "No one knew. The identity was perfect. I made sure of it."
"Not perfect enough," Sarah said from the front seat, her voice grim. "If Stirling-Hale found you, others can too."
My phone, the secure one buzzed.
A message from Eleanor: Emergency meeting. Medical facility. Now. Do not speak to anyone about what happened until we debrief.
"They're going to want answers," Marcus said.
"I know."
"They're going to want to know if they can trust you."
"I know."
"Can they?" Marcus looked at me directly. "Can I? Or is this all just another con?"
I met his gaze, let him see the tears streaming down my face, the fear and confusion and desperate sincerity.
"I don't know who I am anymore," I said honestly. "I don't know if I'm Lila or Sophia or someone in between. But I know one thing what I feel for Adrian is real. The baby I'm carrying is real. And I am not going back to the person I used to be."
Marcus studied me for a long moment.
Then he pulled out his phone and made a call.
"James? It's Marcus. We have a situation. A big one. And you're not going to like it."
Medical Facility - Conference Room - 11:47 AM
James and Eleanor Cole sat across from me like judges at a tribunal.
Sarah and Marcus stood by the door. Dr. Chen had been called in as well, for reasons I didn't understand yet.
"Tell us everything," James said, his voice colder than I'd ever heard it. "And Lila or Sophia, or whoever you are do not lie. We will know."
So I told them.
I told them about growing up in Los Angeles's underworld. About being recruited by the Remington Group at nineteen. About the jobs, the cons, the people I'd hurt.
I told them about the CEO's embezzlement scheme. About stealing the evidence and turning it over to the FBI. About the price on my head and the move to New York.
I told them about building Lila James from nothing the fake documents, the constructed history, the careful maintenance of a normal life.
And I told them about Cole Enterprises. About applying for a job because I needed legitimate employment. About the text message that might or might not have been a mistake.
About falling for Adrian in ways Sophia never would have allowed.
When I finished, the silence was crushing.
Eleanor spoke first. "The pregnancy. Is it real?"
"Yes," I said immediately. "I can prove it Dr. Chen did the ultrasound yesterday—"
"We know it's real," Dr. Chen interrupted gently. "I've verified it medically. The question Eleanor is really asking is was it planned?"
I stared at her, horrified. "You think I got pregnant on purpose? As part of some con?"
"Did you?" James asked bluntly.
"No!" I stood up, shaking. "I didn't even know I was pregnant until after the crash! How could I have—"
"Sophia Chen specialized in long-term infiltrations," Eleanor said, reading from a tablet someone had apparently already prepared. "According to FBI files, you were known for creating deep emotional attachments with targets. Marriage, pregnancy, family bonds—all tools you used to establish trust and access."
"That was before," I said desperately. "That was someone else—"
"Was it?" Eleanor looked up. "Or is Lila James just your best performance yet?"
I looked at Marcus, silently begging for support.
He looked away.
"I'm not lying," I said, my voice breaking. "Everything with Adrian the attraction, the feelings, the baby all of it is real. I'm not running a con. I'm not trying to steal from him. I'm not—"
"Then explain the Switzerland tickets," James said, sliding a printout across the table. The same image Ethan had shown me. "Explain why you and Adrian were scheduled to fly to Zurich two days after the crash. A city where, coincidentally, Adrian keeps several offshore accounts."
"I didn't know about any tickets!" I protested. "I never Adrian never mentioned Switzerland to me!"
"So either Adrian was planning something he didn't tell you about," Eleanor said, "or Ethan fabricated evidence to make you look guilty. Which do you think is more likely?"
I pressed my hands to my face, trying to think through the panic.
"I don't know," I admitted. "But you can check. You can verify if those tickets were really purchased, when they were booked, who paid for them. You have resources I don't have. Use them."
James and Eleanor exchanged a look.
"We're already checking," James said. "But until we have confirmation, you are officially a security risk. Which means—"
The door opened.
Dr. Ashford entered, looking grave.
"We need to transport Adrian within the hour," he said. "His brain activity is becoming unstable. If we don't move him soon, we risk serious complications."
"Go," Eleanor said immediately. "We'll continue this discussion later."
"Wait," I said, standing. "Can I can I see him before you take him?"
"Absolutely not," James said firmly. "Until we verify your identity and intentions, you're not going near our son."
The words hit like a slap.
"Please," I whispered. "Just to say goodbye. I don't know when I'll see him again, and he doesn't even know—he doesn't know about the baby, about any of this"
"That's your fault," Eleanor said coldly. "You should have been honest from the beginning. About who you were, what you'd done, why you were really here."
"I was trying to leave that life behind!" I shouted, surprising myself with my own volume. "I was trying to be someone better! Someone worthy of—" My voice cracked. "Someone worthy of him."
Silence.
Dr. Chen spoke up quietly. "If I may regardless of Ms. James's past, the pregnancy is a medical reality. And Adrian's child deserves a father who knows it exists. Perhaps"
"Perhaps nothing," James said. "Adrian will be informed when he wakes up. Until then, this woman—" He couldn't even say my name. "is to have no contact with him. Is that clear?"
I wanted to argue. Wanted to fight.
But I saw it in their faces. The decision was made.
I was the enemy now.
"Marcus, escort her back to the safe house," Eleanor ordered. "Post a guard. She is not to leave or communicate with anyone outside approved channels until we complete our investigation."
"So I'm a prisoner now," I said bitterly.
"You're protective custody," Eleanor corrected. "For your safety and ours. If the Remington Group is actively looking for you, this facility could be compromised. We need time to assess the threat and determine our next steps."
"What about Ethan?" I demanded. "What about Stirling-Hale? I wore your wire, I got you information—"
"Information we can't trust," James said, "from a source we can't verify. Everything you've told us could be true, or it could all be an elaborate manipulation. Until we know which, you are not an asset. You're a variable we need to control."
Marcus touched my arm gently. "Come on, Lila. Let's go."
"It's Sophia," I said bitterly. "Apparently, Lila never existed."
I let Marcus lead me out, past Sarah's carefully neutral expression, past Dr. Chen's sympathetic look, past the Coles' cold assessment.
In the hallway, I pulled away from Marcus. "You think I'm lying too."
"I think," Marcus said carefully, "that I don't know you as well as I thought I did. And until I figure out who you really are, I'm going to be very careful."
"Fair enough," I whispered.
We walked in silence to the elevator. As the doors closed, I caught a glimpse down the hallway medical personnel preparing Adrian for travel