Chapter 5
After I got Nathan settled in his room, I turned on my computer.
Linda's visit had shattered every last bit of my wishful thinking.
The threat wasn't a distant signal on a television screen anymore. It was knocking on my door.
The plan I had written was far too passive.
Cutting ties and avoiding old acquaintances would fall apart the moment somebody with resources decided to look into me.
Jonathan was a big deal now. If he and his mother wanted to look into someone's background, they could do it in their sleep.
I couldn't sit still and wait for it.
The only way out was to disappear from this city with Nathan before they found us.
We needed to go somewhere their influence couldn't reach.
I started searching for cities online.
Capital City and Metropolis were out, because Jonathan's academic circle ran through both and we would cross paths too easily.
His hometown was a smaller city a few hours north, and going back there was worse.
My eyes finally stopped on a coastal city in the south. Harbor City.
It was a fast, inventive place built out of transplants, full of opportunity and full of strangers.
We had no past there, and it was the best place to start over.
But starting over was easier said than done.
I had been at my company for eight years, in a position that was neither high nor low, with steady pay that kept Nathan and me comfortable.
Nathan went to school here and had his teachers and his friends, and he was about to start his last year of middle school, the year that mattered most.
Transferring schools abruptly would have a huge impact on him.
My job and his schooling. How were we supposed to build a life in a city where we knew no one?
One practical problem after another stacked up in front of me like a wall.
But against the risk of losing Nathan, none of it counted for much.
Ten years earlier, I had nothing and I still raised him, so I couldn't back off now.
I started frantically searching for job opportunities and school information in Harbor City.
I needed to find the best school for Nathan, and a job that could support us and make me stronger.
An ordinary employee was replaceable, and replaceability was not going to be enough.
I needed power, social status, and money.
All of it would go into one wall around my son.
I searched until four in the morning, and my eyes were dry and sore while my mind kept running.
A detailed plan was taking shape in my mind.
Step one, use my current position to build a resume that would turn heads.
Step two, get Nathan into more national competitions and win awards with real weight behind them, which would open doors when we transferred across state lines.
Step three, find the right moment and make the move all at once.
Just as I was planning my future, my phone buzzed.
It was an email from my supervisor, calling an emergency meeting at nine the next morning about a top-tier project that could change the company's future.
When I read the phrase "national research collaboration proposal" in the subject line, something turned over in my stomach.
The next morning, I arrived at the conference room on time.
Mike Clark was flushed with excitement as he put a document up on the projector.
"Everyone, I have incredible news!"
He tapped the table excitedly.
"The Quantum Research Institute. Yes, the team that just took the top award. They want us on the global launch campaign for their newest breakthrough!"
A collective gasp went around the room.
For a company our size, it was like winning the lottery.
My own stomach dropped.
"The lead figure on this project is Dr. Jonathan Reed, who just won the award."
Mike's eyes went around the room and landed on me.
"Emily, you're the strongest planner we have. The initial coordination and the proposal design are yours."
He looked at me, his eyes filled with trust and expectation.
"Give it everything you have. Land this and you're a hero here. We'll talk bonuses and titles after."
I sat there and felt the blood stop moving in my body.
Fate was playing an enormous joke on me.
The man I had been planning my whole escape around was now coming at me through my own job.