We'll Never Meet Again

My wife, Valerie Foster, stepped forward on instinct, placing herself right beside her former mentor, Dylan Reed, and shielding the child behind her back.

It was a posture of complete, unwavering solidarity.

Back when we worked cases side by side, she used to stand with me like that, completely second nature.

Now, every bit of her fierce loyalty belonged to another man.

"Owen, are you out of your mind? Do you want to throw your entire career away?"

Taking advantage of my distraction, my chief, Noah Morgan, swatted the service weapon right out of my hand, his eyes filled with hurt.

Hearing the commotion, the people inside the house burst through the front door.

The second I recognized their faces, every drop of blood drained from my body.

They were Valerie's sister, Stella Foster, and my best friend of twenty years, Mark Kingsley.

Right now, they were flanking Dylan like bodyguards, glaring at me with raw hostility.

In a matter of seconds, inside this warm, picture-perfect front yard, I had become the only villain.

A jet of muddy water blasted straight onto my jacket.

I looked down at the boy who couldn't have been older than three, his eyes and brow a perfect mirror of Valerie's.

"Get out of here, bad man! Leave my mommy and daddy alone!"

Valerie immediately crouched down beside him, soothing him with gentle, quiet words.

"It's okay, Archer, don't be scared. Come to Mommy."

Watching the tender scene between mother and son sent a sharp, agonizing needle through my chest.

Years ago, Valerie and I lost a baby.

If that child had survived, he would have been right about this age.

The thought made a hollow, self-deprecating laugh escape my lips.

"So, aren't you going to introduce me?"

Valerie pressed her thin lips together, a shadow of guilt crossing her face.

When she stayed silent, I turned my head, exposing the thick burn scar running down the back of my neck.

"Valerie, I got this during my second year after your 'death,' fighting Landis in a burning building."

I yanked my collar open to reveal the ugly bullet wound on my chest.

Underneath the gauze, the fresh wound was still seeping red.

"And this is from last week when I arrested him. The bullet grazed my heart. I almost didn't make it out alive."

As the words left my mouth, a bitter, unstoppable wave of resentment clawed up my chest.

She looked as gorgeous as she did three years ago, surrounded by her loved ones.

I was the only one who had dragged himself through hell, looking neither dead nor alive.

"In three years, I haven't slept a single full night. I escaped death over and over, while you were here..."

"Stop it! Just stop!"

Valerie cut me off, her voice cracking with desperation.

"Owen, I know I owe you my life. I'll never forget what you did for me as long as I live.

"Can't you just give me a few more years? Let me raise Archer until he starts elementary school, and I'll give my life back to you. Is that okay?"

"The law doesn't wait."

I breathed out slowly, watching her pathetic display of maternal devotion with an ice-cold stare.

"You're guilty of bigamy, plain and simple. Valerie, you're coming with me."

"You can't arrest her!" Dylan snapped, taking a step toward me with a furious glare.

"Valerie didn't commit bigamy, because she..."

"Dylan, shut up!"

Valerie silenced him with a harsh whisper, then turned back to me, her eyes rimmed red as she practically begged.

"Please, Owen, I'm asking you. Don't dig into this. If you keep digging, it's only going to hurt you more."

Right then, Stella stormed out from the crowd and pointed her finger directly at my nose.

"Why can't he know? Owen Hudson, stop acting like you own the place! My sister and Dylan are the ones with a real, legally binding marriage certificate!

"Back then, if you hadn't used our family's adoption debt to guilt-trip her into marrying you, why would she have ever faked a marriage just to appease you? The two of you were never legally married in the first place!"