Chapter 20
Twenty
Harper
There’s something sinister going on under this roof.
Nova is playing a game on her phone, her attention barely on Zeke, but he’s preoccupied in the playroom with the train set, which seems to fascinate him.
I’ve been leaning on the wall, with a vantage point of Dante’s office.
I need to get that stuffed dragon.
Zeke has the same one at home.
The same color.
The same size.
I wouldn’t have thought anything of it, except for the way it had been violently torn into, the face of the dragon ripped apart.
Had it belonged to the child in the basement?
I know Luca told me that everything is fine. The child is safe, but how can that little boy ever be safe if the mafia murdered his family?
Shouldn’t they pay for what they’ve done?
Had they destroyed his stuffed dragon, his favorite toy, as a threat?
Nova doesn’t pay me any attention, and I head out of the office when I watch Dante carry Nikki up the stairs.
There are less of Dante’s men here than usual. Hopefully, no one is paying attention to me because they’re too busy doing whatever it is they do all day.
I hurry to Dante’s office and give a pretend knock.
If anyone watches the feed and isn’t aware that Dante has snuck upstairs with his wife, then maybe they’ll think he’s in the office.
I step inside, closing the door behind myself.
At least there are no cameras inside his office.
I hurry across the room and grab the stuffed dragon. On further inspection, it looks like a knife was the culprit.
The dagger that was on the desk earlier isn’t left on display. I try the desk drawer, but it’s locked.
I tuck the stuffed toy under the crook of my arm and hurry out of Dante’s office and back toward the playroom. “Zeke, would you like to go to the park?”
I won’t leave my son behind with monsters.
While I trust Nova with Zeke, I don’t trust Dante and Nikki alone with him.
“Yes!” he squeals and runs right for me.
Nova glances up from her phone. “We should let them know where we’re heading.”
“I already told them.”
It’s an easy lie, and I force a smile. “You can hang back here if you want some quiet time.”
“You don’t mind?” Nova meets my stare for a fraction of a second.
“Not at all. We’ll be back in an hour. Two, max. I’m going to take Luca’s car.”
“Okay. I’ll see you in a bit. Have fun.”
I slip on Zeke’s shoes and then mine. I keep the dragon tucked under my arm and head out to the car, buckling Zeke into the backseat.
“Mama, my dragon.” Zeke points at the stuffed animal, which I had tucked the head under my arm so he couldn’t quite see the damage done to the toy.
No sense in upsetting him.
“How about you count everything red that you see outside the window?” I ask, distracting him. He’s been working on learning to count.
He nods vigorously. I strap him into his car seat, shut the door and climb into the front seat, putting the stuffed dragon in the passenger seat up front with me.
I’m relieved Nova didn’t insist on tagging along. I pull the car to the gate and press the buzzer to exit.
The intercom buzzes, and immediately, a gruff voice I don’t quite recognize crackles through the system.
“Where are you going?”
It doesn’t sound like Dante, but it could be him. The voice is a bit muffled through the intercom.
“I’m taking Zeke to the park, and then we might get a snack since it’s hot outside.” I don’t want to say the word ice cream and then not deliver it. He’ll be devastated.
That seems to satisfy the man on the other end of the intercom, and he buzzes me off the property.
The gates open slowly, and once they’re parted, I turn left toward the park before backtracking on another road away from the house, to head in the direction of the police station.
“Mama, you drive funny,” Zeke says, and I glance at him in the rearview mirror.
“Are you counting red, buddy?”
“One. Two.”
Ten minutes later, I pull up outside the police station, unbuckle Zeke and carry him inside. On one hip, I have Zeke, in my other hand, the torn stuffed dragon. I try to keep it out of Zeke’s reach and his line of sight, because the moment he sees it, I fear what will happen.
There’s a male officer in his fifties seated behind the front desk. He glances me over, noticing I’m carrying Zeke, and offers a polite nod. “Can I help you?”
My breath catches in my throat.
Am I nervous?
I’m terrified.
But fear can’t control me.
Dante is a monster.
He kidnapped a little boy and murdered an entire family.
He must be stopped.
To protect my son and family, I have no choice but to take down Dante Ricci.
To Be Continued…
Continue the story in Between Steel and Secrets (Crimson Ice Book 5) available from Willow Fox.
Betrayal runs deep inside the mafia, and those who seek to escape or spill secrets may also spill blood.
Luca would do anything to protect his family…
Including keeping secrets from Harper,
Because the most dangerous secret could get him locked up behind bars…
Working for the mafia isn’t just deadly, it’s criminal.
Liam and Bristol have a tempestuous past…
They hate each other.
And their first date was no different.
But that undeniable spark is still there…
Even though they attend different universities, they happen to cross paths, and when they do…
Liam has the chance to become Bristol’s hero or the villain in her story.
As a child of the mafia, which path will he take?