When both lawyers walked off, Blaine stayed behind. Cathy thought it was for a final parting of the ways, until he grabbed her arm and whispered in her ear.

“You do understand I now view you as a threat. You know things about me and my life that aren’t healthy for you anymore.”

Cathy tried to pull away. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

“This isn’t a joke, Cathy. I’m just giving you fair warning. I don’t trust you anymore, and I have no intention of spending the rest of my life looking over my shoulder for the Feds to come knocking. Your days are numbered.”

Cathy’s heart skipped. Oh my God. He’s serious!

“I don’t have the faintest idea what you’re talking about. Our world consisted of your country club, our personal friends, and hosting dinner parties for your business associates now and then.”

His eyes narrowed. “Exactly.”

“I still don’t get it,” Cathy said, pretending total oblivion, when she was beginning to remember that some of those associates had dubious reputations, even though she knew nothing incriminating about any of them. “Go away, Blaine. Just leave me alone.”

She twisted out of his grasp and walked away, resisting the urge to run. This was a shock. She’d never seen this coming, but she needed to disappear, and she was going to have to be smart about doing it.

By the time she got home, she had a plan. The first thing she did was fill out papers online to change back to her maiden name. After two tense months of waiting, it was done, and that was when she amped up the plan. She was setting up a new life with a renewed driver’s license, a new phone plan, and a new credit card.

She knew Blaine was having her followed. She didn’t know if it was just intimidation, but leaving town with him knowing where she was going wouldn’t assure her safety. He’d just have her tailed to other places, and if he was still in the mindset to get rid of her, it would be all too easy to make a death look like an accident.

But she already knew how to disappear. She’d spent the first twelve years of her life living off the grid in Alaska. The last thing Blaine Wagner would ever expect of her was to take to the back roads of America on foot.

Cathy ordered everything she needed online so he wouldn’t know what she was buying. Thanks to him, every friend she’d ever had in Vegas had shut her out. No more lunch dates with girlfriends. No more girlfriends. So she holed up in her apartment and quit going anywhere, and when she got hungry, she ordered in.

The last thing she did was disperse the money from her divorce settlement into three different banks across the country.

And early one morning she walked out the back door of her apartment, caught the Uber she’d called to take her to the bus station, and caught a bus to Colorado.