Hannah keeps on thinking of Owen’s note: “Protect her”. She knows he’s referring to Bailey but wracks her brain to find out from whom or what he’s running. And what it all means.
Meanwhile, the plot gains more intrigue when an inspector from the FBI arrests Owen’s boss. They think that he and his boss were involved in a business scam. Hannah refuses to believe that Owen is a crook. She tries to hide these accusations from Bailey, who further learns that her father was actually from Seattle, Washington, and went by a different name.
As Hannah and Bailey start putting together the pieces of Owen’s past, they soon realize they are also building a new future. One neither Hannah nor Bailey could have anticipated.
Plot Summary
The novel is divided into four parts, each corresponding to a different location where Hannah and Bailey search for clues about Owen’s past. The first part is set in Sausalito, California, where Hannah and Bailey live. The second part is set in Austin, Texas, where Owen claimed to have studied. The third part is set in Seattle, Washington, where Owen was born and raised. The fourth part is set in New York City, where Owen worked and met Hannah.
The novel alternates between Hannah’s and Bailey’s perspectives, as they narrate their experiences and emotions. The novel also includes flashbacks to Owen’s and Hannah’s relationship, as well as Owen’s childhood and family history.
The novel reveals that Owen was involved in a whistleblower scheme, exposing his boss’s illegal activities. His boss, Max, was the head of a tech company that developed a software called Sentinel, which was supposed to protect people’s data and privacy. However, Max was secretly selling people’s data to the highest bidder, including foreign governments and criminals. Owen discovered this and decided to leak the information to the FBI, with the help of his friend and colleague, Jake.
However, Max found out about Owen’s betrayal and hired a hitman to kill him. Owen managed to escape, but not before sending a message to Hannah, telling her to protect Bailey. He also left behind a USB drive with the evidence of Max’s crimes, which he hid in a wooden box that he made for Hannah. He also changed his name and identity, as he had done before, when he was a teenager.
