Audrey POV
Audrey read the message again. "He knows you're pregnant." Four words, sent right after Sophie knocked on the door.
She looked at Sophie, who was already inside. Sophie still had her coat on and was looking around the room, like she always did when she was figuring things out, not just walking in.
"What happened?" Sophie asked. "You look like you've seen something."
Audrey held up her phone. Sophie read the screen. Her face didn't change right away, which told Audrey she was thinking hard.
Sophie's face only got still when things were serious.
"Sit down," Sophie said.
"I'm fine standing."
"Audrey."
She sat on the edge of the bed. Sophie pulled the desk chair closer, so their knees almost touched.
"I'm pregnant," Audrey said. "About eight weeks. I took two tests an hour ago."
Sophie was quiet for three seconds. Then she took Audrey's hands. "Okay," she said. It wasn't a question; it was a solid statement.
"Someone in Garrett's group sent me that message the second you knocked. Not before, not after.
The moment you get here." Audrey looked at the door. "Someone is watching this building right now."
Sophie let go of her hands and sat up straighter. "How would they know you're pregnant? You just found out."
"I bought the tests at the pharmacy on 48th. Paid cash. No card. But if someone is tracking where I go, not my money, they would have seen me go in and out with a pharmacy bag." She stood up. "That's not an accident. That's surveillance."
Sophie stood too. "Then we need to get you out of here tonight."
"Moving won't fix it. If they're watching me, moving just tells them I know." Audrey picked up her phone and found the name from the message.
The one she hadn't said yet. The one who had changed everything.
She showed Sophie the screen. Sophie read it. Her face changed in a way Audrey had never seen. Something tight and careful showed in her eyes.
"You know that name," Audrey said.
"I know who he is." Sophie put the phone down on the desk. "He was at your wedding.
I remember because he gave a speech, and Scott listened to him like he was the only important person in the room."
Audrey remembered. She'd noticed him then but didn't know why. Now she did.
He'd been in Scott's life for eleven years. Before Elena. Before the marriage. So much a part of Scott's daily life that it would have been stranger if he weren't there.
She started moving around the room, grabbing her bag from the desk, and checking the window lock.
"Stop," Sophie said. "Think. If you run, you're alone, pregnant, and dealing with a federal case with no help.
Your bank account is frozen. You only have cash for two days."
"I know what I have."
"Then act like it." Sophie's voice was strong. "What do you actually need right now?"
Audrey stopped. She thought it through. "Margaret needs this name tonight. If he's the one behind all this, he'll have money ties to Patel and Elena.
Margaret can find those links faster than the feds." She went back to the desk and quickly typed a message to Margaret with the name, sending it before she could change her mind.
"Second," she said, "whoever is watching sent that message to scare me. To make me feel caught and make me react.
That means they want me to move, or call Scott, or do something that changes where I stand." She put her phone face up on the desk. "So I won't do any of those things."
"What about the pregnancy?"
Audrey sat back down. "No one finds out. Not from me. Not yet."
Sophie took off her coat and put it on the chair. She was staying. She didn't even need to be asked.
"There's something else," Audrey said. "The message said 'he' knows. Not 'they'. Just one person got the news about the test tonight." She looked at the window. "That means someone in Garrett's group is giving information both ways.
They're telling me things and also telling someone else what I'm doing."
Sophie's face got harder. "Garrett's whole group is messed up."
"Or Garrett is doing this on purpose. Using me and whoever he works for as enemies.
Keeping everyone busy while he has all the real information."
She pressed her fingers on the desk. "That means I can't trust anything he sends as just plain information.
Every message has a hidden reason."
"Even the name."
Sophie sat on the bed next to her. They were both quiet for a moment. After two years of friendship, Audrey knew this meant they were both thinking hard, not just taking it in.
"You need to leave this hotel," Sophie said. "Not because they're watching you.
But because you need a doctor, good food, and a place to sleep that doesn't cost $60 a night, you can't afford it." She paused. "Come to my apartment.
It's in my name, my lease.
Nothing will link you to it."
"If I bring this trouble to your door."
"I'm already at your door." Sophie looked at her steadily. "You don't get to stop me from choosing to help you."
Audrey looked at her for a moment, then nodded.
She started picking up the few things on the desk: the USB stick, her passport, the folder, and her other phone.
Her main phone lit up. Scott Williams. Not a message, a call. His name was on the screen, ringing.
Sophie saw it. She didn't say anything. Audrey watched it ring twice.
He pulled the document. He filed against Patel. He sent the money guarantee. Everything he'd done in the last twelve hours went against his father and for her.
And someone close to him set up the night that ruined her marriage.
She picked up the phone on the fourth ring.
"Scott."
His voice was immediate, low, and controlled, like he'd been waiting to speak.
"Audrey." He took a breath. "Listen to me. I know you have no reason to trust me right now. I get that. But you need to hear this."
She waited.
"I found something tonight. In Daniel's files. I know what he did, and I know his part in it. I'm taking care of it. But that's not why I'm calling."
Her voice was flat. "Then why are you calling?"
A short pause. The kind that meant what he said next was important.
"Audrey," he said. "Don't trust Sophie."
The room went very still.
She didn't look at Sophie. She kept her eyes on the window and her voice even.
"Why," she asked.
"Because I have proof," Scott said, "that she's been telling Daniel where you are since the anniversary night."