Where in the hell had that come from? The last time he even thought about children was the day he brought up the subject with Joelle. She’d railed against the thought of having kids. As an only child, he’d considered it, but he’d never had a burning desire either way. He just figured if it happened, great. If not, that was good too.

When had his feelings changed? And why was he suddenly daydreaming about what life could be in the distant future, with him and Samiah celebrating their impending newborn at a joint baby shower, complete with gender-neutral cupcakes and party favors that cost a thousand dollars? He didn’t even know if Samiah was open to having a pet goldfish, and here he was thinking about kids.

What was the point when he would be gone in a matter of days? Weeks, if he was lucky. He sucked in a painful breath and tried to quell the overwhelming dread primed to overtake him.

It was time for the knot that formed in the pit of his stomach to start paying rent. It seemed as though it had taken up permanent residence ever since his call with Dwyer earlier this week. His supervisor hadn’t given him a definitive end date, but Daniel sensed that time was closing in. He figured he had about a week at the most before Dwyer would insist he wrap up this case.

The idea that he would lose Samiah wrought the kind of agony that would bring most men to their knees, but that wasn’t the only thing keeping him up at night. Nor was it his future at FinCEN, or getting the better of Bryce Stewart’s showboating ass. The thought of leaving Austin before apprehending the bastards involved in this particular scheme galled him.

And that was before receiving that link from Preston last night.

It had taken Daniel to an underground message board on the dark web that indicated the money-laundering ring coming out of the area in Latin America where the Trendsetters case was centered was possibly expanding to new territory. Territory that those who peddled in much darker things than a little washed money operated in. Just thinking about what they could face if the drug cartels and human trafficking outfits learned how easy it was to launder their ill-gotten gains through something like Trendsetters’ software caused fear to clog Daniel’s throat.

Dwyer wouldn’t put as much stock into what they’d read on the message board, seeing as a lot of what came across those were full of conjecture and baseless rumors, but Daniel wasn’t willing to take a chance on this being unfounded speculation. It was imperative he solve this case before he was pulled out of Austin.