Chapter 23: Complications

Two weeks after the engagement, Grace was engrossed in wedding preparation research when her phone rang with an unfamiliar number. She almost let it go to voicemail……..telemarketer calls had been increasingly pushy recently……..but something compelled her to answer.

"Grace Chen?"

"Speaking."

"This is Patricia Hoffman from the Hoffman Literary Agency. "I represent your father."

Grace's blood became chilly. She hadn't spoken to her father in three years, not since their heated argument about her "irresponsible lifestyle choices" and his complete inability to understand why she'd chosen writing over the corporate law career he had planned for her.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Your father is Richard Patterson. He has published a memoir on his time as a federal prosecutor, and he particularly addresses you in numerous chapters. We need to consider usage rights."

"Usage rights for what?"

"For the stories he tells about your childhood, your relationship, and... well, your recent involvement with organized crime figures."

The world appeared to tilt sideways. "Excuse me?" "The Derek Voss case." Your father has

written three chapters discussing the prosecution's tactics and how your personal contact with a crucial witness hindered the federal probe. "It's very compelling material."

Grace dropped down hard on the couch, her wedding planning journals scattered on the floor. "My father wrote about Derek?"

"Extensively. He gives it as an example of how personal relationships can jeopardize judicial proceedings. He is very critical of the FBI's decision to utilize you and Mr. Chen as bait."

"We weren't used as bait."

"According to your father's study, Agent Santos purposefully delayed Derek's arrest to acquire more evidence, knowing that doing so put you both at risk. The book claims that prosecutorial ambition endangers civilian life.

"That's not……." Grace paused. Was this true? Had Santos sensed Derek was escalating but decided to wait anyway? "I need to see this book."

"That's why I am calling. Your father wants to reconnect. He says writing about your experience made him understand how much he has missed out on in your life.

"By exploiting the worst thing that ever happened to me?"

"By trying to understand the woman his daughter has become."

After Patricia hung up, Grace remained there staring at her phone for a long time. After three years of silence, her father decided to shatter it by writing a book about her experience without requesting permission. Worse, he may be divulging information that could put her and Max in danger again.

She was still sitting there when Max came home from work, gazed at her face, and immediately went into panic mode.

"What happened?" he inquired, dropping his bag and sitting next to her.

"My father wrote a book."

"That's... good?"

"About Derek. About us. Regarding how the FBI handled our case."

Max's demeanor changed from perplexed to alarmed. "What kind of book?"

"This is a memoir." With three pages discussing how our personal friendship jeopardized the FBI inquiry." Grace gazed at him, feeling her own terror reflected in his gaze. "What if Max is right?" What if Santos knew Derek was escalating but still allowed it to happen?

"Why would he do that?"

"To obtain further evidence. To strengthen the argument. To ensure Derek's departure was permanent rather than temporary."

Max was silent for a long time, absorbing this. "You think Santos used us as bait."

"I think it is conceivable. If my father has inside information from other prosecutors, he can provide proof..."Then Derek wasn't the only one who placed us at risk."

The consequences were astounding. If Agent Santos had purposefully allowed the situation to deteriorate, knowing they were in danger, their faith in law enforcement……... .their belief that justice had been served……….was founded on a falsehood.

"There's more," Grace explained. "My father wants to reconnect. His agency thinks that writing about me helped him understand how much he had missed."

"How do you feel about that?"

"I feel like he's trying to buy forgiveness by exploiting my trauma for his book deal."

Max stretched for her hand, revealing the engagement ring in the light. "What do you want to do?"

"I'd like to read the book." I want to know what truly happened to Santos. And I want to know why my father believes he has the right to tell my tale without asking."

"Okay. Then that is what we will do.

"We?"

"Grace, if your father is correct about Santos, then we were both duped by someone we trusted. If he's incorrect, he's spreading misinformation about a federal agent who saved our lives. Either way, this affects both of us.

That evening, they drove to the major bookstore downtown, where Patricia had stated that advance copies were available for media inspection. 

The book was titled "Justice Delayed: A Prosecutor's Memoir," and Richard Patterson's portrait on the back cover depicted a man Grace scarcely recognized……... .older, grayer, and wearing the kind of satisfied expression that came with a successful career in public service.

They found a peaceful area and started reading.

The first mention of Grace occurred in Chapter Seven: "My daughter Grace has always been drawn to chaos. As a child, she would gather stray animals. As an adult, she gathered stray individuals. Perhaps it was inevitable that she would get involved with both organized crime and federal law enforcement."

"Jesus," Max mumbled.

It became worse. Her father had evidently conducted substantial research, including interviews with FBI and prosecutor's office officials. 

He portrayed their relationship with clinical detachment, assessing their "co-dependent trauma bonding" and Max's "textbook survivor guilt combined with protector complex."

But Chapter Nine made Grace's hands tremble: "Agent Santos later revealed in private talks that he could have detained Voss three days earlier than he did. However, doing so would have precluded the Bureau from obtaining information on Voss's bigger network. While strategically sound, the choice to wait put civilian assets, including my daughter, at heightened and unneeded risk.

"Assets," Max replied calmly. "He calls us assets."

"Keep reading."

The following piece was worse: "When I challenged Agent Santos about this judgment, he said, 'Your daughter and her boyfriend were never in genuine danger. We kept an eye on them the entire time. This demonstrates either astonishing stupidity or intentional dishonesty on the side of federal law enforcement."

Grace closed the book, unwilling to read any farther. "We were never in real danger?"

"Grace, I was there." Derek had a gun. His associates broke into our flat. "How is that not a real threat?"

"Unless Santos knew something that we didn't. Unless it was all theater."

They sat quietly, surrounded by the calm bustle of evening shoppers and the smell of coffee from the bookstore café. 

Everything Grace thought she knew about their experience was changing, morphing into something that could have been manipulation instead of protection.

"There's only one way to know," Max said.

"What?"

"We ask Santos directly."

"And if he lies?"

"Then we figure out another way to get the truth."

As they drove home, Grace saw familiar streets through fresh eyes. Had federal officials actually been observing them over those dreadful days? Had Santos realized Derek would not actually harm them? Or was her father's book just another attempt to bring him into her life through controversy and drama?

Back at their flat, Max poured coffee while Grace stared at her engagement ring, trying to digest the day's events. Two weeks ago, their main concern was deciding between spring and fall for their wedding date. They were now asking whether their entire relationship was based on federal influence.

"Max?"

"Yeah?"

"What if we aren't who we believe we are? What if our entire connection is merely trauma bonding, as my father suggests?"

Max laid down his coffee mug and sat alongside her. "Grace, do you think the way you feel about me is just trauma bonding?"

"I do not know. "How would I know?"

"Because trauma bonding is about dependence that stems from shared fear." What we have is a choice taken without fear."

"Is it?"

"You might have fled once Derek was arrested. You had the money, the chance, and the emotional space to make a complete break. Instead, you decided to stay and create something with me."

"Maybe I was just scared to be alone."

"Maybe. Or perhaps you stayed because you sensed something genuine between us, something that existed before Derek and continues to exist now that he has left."

Grace looked at him…….really looked……..trying to see through the engagement glow and genuine adoration to the truth beneath. Did she adore Max Walker, or did she admire the safety he represented? Was their bond founded on actual compatibility, or simply shared survival?

"I need to talk to my father," she finally said.

"Okay."

"And I need to talk to Santos."

"Okay."

"And I need to figure out who I am when I'm not running from something or recovering from something."

Max smiled, the soft expression that had served as her anchor in every difficulty they had faced together. "That sounds like exactly the kind of challenge we should face together."

"Even if it turns out we're not who we think we are?"

"Especially then."

As they prepared for bed, Grace struggled to envision having a talk with her father after three years of silence. I tried to visualize confronting Agent Santos about possible deceit. I tried to imagine a future in which their love story was proven to be a complex psychological fabrication.

But as she watched Max go through his usual bedtime ritual, she knew that whatever external factors had brought them together, what they'd created in the quiet moments……..the coffee-making and dishwasher disputes, the shared laughter over horrible television…….belonged solely to them.

Tomorrow, they'd begin asking questions that would challenge all they thought they understood about their relationship. But tonight, they were still Max and Grace, engaged and ready to face whatever came next together.

Even if what happened afterward was the truth.