Page 96 of Sexting My Ex’s Dad

I make it halfway down the block before my phone vibrates.

Nate. I stop under a streetlamp and open the message.

Nate: Meet me.

No hello. No denial. No attempt at charm.

I type back with steady thumbs.

Athena: Location?

The reply comes instantly, like he’s been standing there waiting for me to confirm I’m still willing to enter the ring.

Nate: The Armoire Warehouse, tomorrow evening, 7 p.m. Come alone.

I look at the screen for a long second, then I slip the phone into my pocket and keep walking.

Good. Let him think he still gets to summon me.

21

ATHENA

Back at the Airbnb, Maya opens the door before I knock. One look at my face and she steps aside without a word. Ivy is asleep in the bedroom with her bunny under one arm and one sock half off, and the sight of her nearly undoes me more than the meeting did.

“Well,” Maya says quietly, once the door shuts behind me. “You look like you either won or started a war.”

“Both,” I reply, slipping the flash drive out of my pocket and setting it on the counter like it could bite.

Maya glances at it then back at me. “Tell me.”

I do.

I tell her about Meredith’s face when I said degree. I tell her about the shell company, the fake credentials, the sealed complaints, the off-system emails, the way she started shaking once she realized I wasn’t bluffing. I tell her about the folder, the notes, the flash drive, and the way Cindy’s name sat behind every rotten little choice like a hand at the small of the back.

Maya leans against the counter and listens with her arms folded. She doesn’t interrupt until I get to Nate’s message, then her eyes sharpen. “The warehouse,” she repeats. “Come alone. That man really thinks he’s in a crime movie.”

“He thinks he’s smarter than he is,” I say. “That’s been his whole brand for years.”

Maya taps one nail against the countertop. “You are not going there without backup.”

“I know.”

She quirks a brow at me. “You say that very calmly for someone who has historically shown questionable romantic judgment.”

I stare at her.

She lifts both hands. “I’m being supportive. Rudely, yes, but still.”

A laugh escapes me before I can stop it. It vanishes quickly, though, and I reach for my phone. “David’s lieutenant friend. I need him now, not eventually.”

Maya nods once. “Good. Start there. Then call Daniel and tell him not to let Nathan climb out of bed and play hero with an IV hanging out of his arm.”

That part doesn’t need repeating. Nathan would absolutely drag himself into checking out of the hospital early and try to handle this personally if he knew the details too soon. I don’t like keeping anything from him, not anymore, yet I’m not turning his hospital room into a command center either.

I call David first. He answers on the second ring like he’s been expecting it. “I met Meredith.”

“And?”