Chapter 3 - Sixty Seconds
Marcus stopped the SUV so hard Harper was thrown against the seatbelt.
She was out of the car before anyone could stop her.
“NOAH!”
Derek looked down.
For a second, his face showed shock.
Then he saw Gabriel step out behind Harper.
Everything changed.
Derek tightened his grip on Noah.
“Get back inside.”
Noah struggled.
“You’re hurting me.”
Harper reached the sidewalk beneath them.
“Let him go.”
Derek stared at her.
His familiar smile appeared.
That smile had fooled neighbors.
Doctors.
Coworkers.
Judges.
“You disappeared.”
Harper’s stomach twisted.
“I left.”
“You kidnapped my kid.”
“He is my brother.”
“I’m his legal guardian too.”
“That ended when Mom died.”
Derek’s smile disappeared.
Gabriel moved beside Harper.
“Release the boy.”
Derek finally looked directly at him.
Recognition flashed across his face.
“Ashford.”
Gabriel said nothing.
Derek laughed.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
He looked at Harper again.
“Four days away from me and you’re already sleeping with a gangster?”
Harper flinched.
Gabriel did not.
“Noah is eight years old.”
Gabriel’s tone remained almost conversational.
“You are holding him over a fire escape because a woman left you.”
“Stay out of a domestic matter.”
“That phrase has protected you for too long.”
Derek’s face hardened.
Sirens sounded somewhere in the distance.
Harper panicked.
If Derek’s friends arrived first, everything could be twisted.
It had happened before.
Marcus came around the side of the building.
Two of Gabriel’s men moved toward the rear entrance.
Derek noticed.
He pulled Noah closer to the window.
“Call your dogs off.”
Gabriel lifted one hand.
Everyone stopped.
Derek smiled.
There it was.
Control.
He needed it.
Harper knew that better than anyone.
She suddenly understood what Gabriel was doing.
He was letting Derek believe he had it.
Harper stepped forward.
“Derek.”
His eyes snapped to her.
“You want me?”
Gabriel turned slightly.
Harper ignored him.
“Let Noah go.”
“Come upstairs.”
“No.”
Derek tightened his jaw.
“Come upstairs and we talk.”
“We talked for three years.”
“You ran away while I was working.”
“Because it was the only time I knew you couldn’t stop me.”
The smile disappeared.
Derek’s hand moved from Noah’s wrist to the back of his shirt.
Gabriel’s voice dropped.
“Careful.”
Derek laughed.
“What are you going to do?”
Gabriel looked up at him.
“Nothing that helps you escape accountability.”
The answer clearly surprised Derek.
He had expected a threat.
A gun.
Violence.
Something he could use.
Gabriel gave him none of it.
Harper understood.
Derek wanted Gabriel to act like the criminal everyone believed he was.
Then Derek could become the heroic officer protecting a child.
Gabriel refused to play that role.
Police cars turned onto the street.
Harper’s fear returned.
Three cruisers.
Derek smiled.
“My guys.”
Gabriel glanced at Marcus.
Marcus quietly raised his phone.
He had been recording everything.
The officers exited their vehicles.
One shouted up.
“Lawson!”
Derek looked down.
“Woman abducted a kid.”
Harper could not believe it.
Even now.
Even with Noah crying.
Even with half the street watching.
Derek lied as easily as breathing.
One officer approached Harper.
“Ma’am, step away from the building.”
Gabriel moved between them.
The officer looked at him.
His hand drifted toward his belt.
Gabriel kept both hands visible.
“My attorney is already on the phone with your watch commander.”
Another officer frowned.
Gabriel continued.
“The entire encounter is being recorded from three angles.”
Marcus lifted his phone slightly.
“So before anyone makes a very expensive mistake, I suggest you look at the child.”
The officers finally did.
Noah was shaking.
Derek was gripping his shirt.
One officer whispered something.
Derek’s confidence faltered.
“Lawson.”
The senior officer raised his voice.
“Let the kid go.”
“He’s safer with me.”
“Let him go.”
For three seconds, nothing happened.
Then Noah twisted.
Derek grabbed at him.
The boy slipped through the window.
For one horrifying instant, Harper thought he was falling.
Instead, Marcus appeared on the fire escape from below.
He caught Noah around the waist.
Harper almost collapsed.
Marcus carried him down.
Noah hit the sidewalk running.
Harper dropped to her knees.
He slammed into her arms.
She held him so tightly he squeaked.
“I’m sorry.”
She kissed his hair.
“I’m so sorry.”
Behind them, Derek came through the front door in handcuffs.
Harper stared.
For the first time in three years, she saw metal around Derek Lawson’s wrists.
But he was still smiling.
As an officer pushed him toward a cruiser, Derek looked directly at her.
“This isn’t over.”
Gabriel heard him.
“So you’ve said that before?”
Harper looked up.
“What?”
Gabriel’s attention remained on Derek.
“That sentence.”
Harper slowly nodded.
“Every time I tried to leave.”
Gabriel’s jaw tightened.
One of the officers approached.
“Ms. Queen?”
Harper pulled Noah closer.
“We’ll need a statement.”
Gabriel looked at her.
“The decision is yours.”
Harper stared at Derek.
Three years of fear rose inside her.
Then Noah’s tiny hand closed around hers.
Harper stood.
May you like
“I’ll give one.”
Derek stopped smiling.
