Updated Feb 18, 2026 • ~4 min read
WILLA
One week after Malcolm’s arrest.
We’re packing up my apartment.
Moving to Colorado.
Starting fresh.
Except we’re not.
Because Tobias shows up.
Looking grim.
“We have a problem.”
My stomach drops.
“What kind of problem?”
“Malcolm escaped custody during transfer.”
No.
No no no.
“How?” Archer demands.
“Inside help. One of the transport guards was on his payroll.”
“Where is he now?”
“Unknown. But he made threats before he disappeared. Specifically about Willa.”
Of course he did.
“So what do we do?”
“Back to safe house. Both of you. Until we recapture him.”
Archer and I exchange looks.
We just got our freedom.
And now we’re losing it again.
But what choice do we have?
We pack quickly.
Tobias drives us himself.
Different safe house this time.
More secure.
Middle of nowhere.
“How long?” I ask.
“Days. Maybe weeks. We have every agent looking for Malcolm. He won’t stay hidden long.”
Famous last words.
The safe house is nice, at least.
Two bedrooms. Full kitchen. TV.
Feels less like prison.
More like forced vacation.
“I’m sorry,” Archer says after Tobias leaves.
“It’s not your fault.”
“Feels like it.”
“It’s Malcolm’s fault. Not yours.”
But I can see the guilt in his eyes.
We settle in.
Try to make the best of it.
Day one: We watch movies. Cook together. Pretend everything is fine.
Day three: We’re getting restless. Cabin fever setting in.
Day five: We’re fighting about nothing. The dishes. The TV remote. Everything.
“I can’t do this,” I snap. “I can’t just sit here waiting for someone to catch him. I have a life. A job. Friends.”
“You think I want this? I just quit the FBI so we could be normal. And now we’re right back in protective custody.”
“So let’s leave. Just go. Fuck the safe house.”
“And get you killed? No.”
“I’m tired of being protected, Archer. I’m tired of hiding.”
“Too bad. Because I’m not losing you.”
Selfish.
Controlling.
But also loving.
Desperate.
I soften.
“I’m sorry. I know you’re just trying to keep me safe.”
“I am. But I’m also going crazy. I hate this. I hate that he’s still out there. I hate that we can’t just be happy.”
I take his hand.
“We will be. After they catch him. We’ll go to Colorado. Meet your family. Start over. I promise.”
He pulls me close.
“What if they don’t catch him? What if he stays out there forever?”
“Then we deal with it. Together.”
Day seven: Tobias shows up.
Looking even grimmer than before.
“I need to tell you something.”
Here it comes.
“Malcolm’s testimony revealed something. Before he escaped. About the original operation three years ago.”
“What about it?”
Tobias looks at me.
Then at Archer.
“Willa was never a random target. The Domenicos specifically requested her.”
My blood runs cold.
“What?”
“They had a list. Names. Profiles. Women who fit certain criteria. Willa was on that list.”
“Why?”
“Because of her father.”
My father died when I was six.
Heart attack.
Normal. Sad. But normal.
Or so I thought.
“What about my father?”
Tobias hands me a file.
Old. Classified.
I open it.
Read.
My father wasn’t just an accountant.
He was a forensic accountant.
For the FBI.
Working a case against… Lorenzo Domenico.
No.
“My father was FBI?”
“Undercover. Deep cover. He was building a case against Lorenzo’s money laundering operations. But Lorenzo found out. Had him killed. Made it look like a heart attack.”
The room spins.
“You’re saying… my father was murdered? By the Domenicos?”
“Yes.”
“And they came for me twenty years later because—”
“Because Malcolm found out. Wanted revenge against your father through you. And he wanted to hurt Archer by taking someone he cared about.”
I look at Archer.
His face is white.
“You knew.”
“Willa—”
“You KNEW. That’s why you were in that parking lot three years ago. Not coincidence. Not following a lead. You were watching me. Because the FBI knew I was a target.”
Silence.
Damning silence.
“Answer me.”
Archer looks at Tobias.
Then back to me.
“Yes. I knew.”
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