Page 50 of Jay Bird

Tink leaned forward slightly. “I can’t tell you it was Chen. I also can’t tell you it wasn’t. The timing is enough that I don’t want to ignore it.”

Willow forced herself to breathe. “So what does that mean?”

“It means we need to be smart about how we rebuild your identity.”

She frowned. “You just said you could get everything back.”

“I can.”

“But?”

Tink paused for a moment before continuing. “I don’t think you should actively use Willow Beckett right now.”

The words hit harder than they should have.

“What do you mean?”

“Your legal identity stays intact. I’m not talking about taking that away from you. But every time Willow Beckett opens an account, applies for a job, signs a lease, gets utilities, enrolls a child in daycare—”

“It leaves a trail.”

“Exactly.”

Willow pushed her chair back slightly. “So what are you suggesting?”

“A temporary protected identity. We coordinate it with the appropriate people so everything is legitimate. Nothing fake that’s going to create problems for you later.”

Another identity, another name, another version of herself, all created because someone else had decided Willow Beckett wasn’t allowed to exist.

“No.”

Everyone looked at her.

Willow shook her head. “I don’t want another identity. I spent three years living a life that wasn’t mine.” Her voice trembled, and she hated it. “I wore what Chen told me to wear. I went where he told me to go. I answered to whatever he wanted. Half the time I didn’t even recognize myself anymore.” She looked at the paperwork spread across the table. “And now I finally get out, and you’re telling me I still can’t be me?”

“No one’s saying that,” Tink said gently.

“It feels like it.” Her eyes stung with tears. “I want my name back.”

Willow looked toward Lily again. She had done all of this so her daughter could have a real life—so they both could. And now Chen was reaching across an ocean and taking pieces of that life away again.

Willow pressed her palms against her thighs, trying to stop her hands from shaking.

“I don’t want him taking anything else from me.”

She hadn’t realized she had said the words aloud until the room went completely quiet.

Jay Bird had been doing a pretty damn good job keeping his mouth shut. Right up until Willow said she didn’t want Chen taking anything else from her.

Something about those words got under his skin.

Maybe because he had spent the last half hour watching her face change with every piece of information Tink gave her. He had seen the relief when she learned she could reclaim the money from her old bank account. He had watched her fight tears when Tink showed her the life insurance policy her father had left behind.

For a few minutes, she actually looked hopeful, like she was finally starting to believe there might still be a life waiting for her beyond everything Chen had done to her.

Then Tink told her someone had been digging into her identity, and all that hope disappeared.

Now she sat beside Jay Bird with her hands pressed tightly against her thighs, staring at the paperwork that was supposed to give her life back as though it had suddenly become another cage.