Chapter Forty-Nine
Dario
Nebbia wasn't listening.
I laughed as she chased Mr. Dino across the bedroom floor, her tiny paws slipping on the polished wood before she rolled onto her back with a squeak. She blinked up at me as if the dinosaur had somehow cheated.
“You silly kitty.”
I scooped her into my lap, and she started purring straight away, rubbing her tiny head against my hand until I scratched behind her ears.
The house was noisy, but it was always noisy.
Carlo shouted, Luca shouted louder, and sometimes Daddy shouted too, although usually only because everybody else was shouting first. Then Mum would tell them all to be quiet, and nobody ever listened.
I liked it when the house was loud because it meant everybody was home.
Today didn't sound like that.
Nobody was laughing.
Nebbia's ears twitched before mine did. She looked towards the bedroom door, and I frowned.
“What is it?”
She didn't answer.
I picked her up carefully, making sure all four of her little paws were tucked safely against me before carrying her into the hallway. The voices grew louder as I approached Daddy's office until I realised the door hadn't been shut properly. There was a small gap.
I peeked through it.
Daddy stood behind his desk with Mum beside him. Dante, Enzo, Salvatore, Leonardo and Luca filled the room, but nobody was talking over one another like they normally did. Nobody smiled.
“...They took her.”
Daddy's voice didn't sound like Daddy's.
It sounded broken.
“They grabbed her outside the petrol station,” Dante said quietly. “By the time Matteo and Carlo got outside, the van was already gone.”
The room fell silent before Enzo spoke.
“The Russians.”
My tummy hurt.
I knew who the Russians were. They were the bad men.
One of them had put a gun against my head. I remembered shouting for Sabrina. I remembered hearing her shout my name back, telling them to let me go, and then everything became loud all at once.
“They have Sabrina,” Mum whispered.
The words didn't make sense.
They couldn't.
They have Bina.
Nebbia stretched up and licked my chin. I looked down at her, but everything had gone blurry. My eyes were crying, even though I hadn't told them to.
Sabrina always won. She always found me when I was scared, and she always came back. I knew she was strong. I knew she could beat the bad men. I knew all of that.
But it didn't make the tears stop.
Before anyone could see me, I turned and ran upstairs as fast as I could.
Sabrina's room smelled like her. Like the shampoo she used, like the jumper she'd left hanging over the chair. Like home.
I climbed onto her bed with Nebbia tucked against my chest and pulled the duvet over both of us. This was where Sabrina slept.
Back at the orphanage, whenever I had bad dreams, I'd wake up and she'd already be beside me. Sometimes she'd climbed through the window after everybody else was asleep. Sometimes I never even heard her come in. I'd open my eyes, and she'd smile before pulling the blanket over me.
“Go back to sleep, little man.”
I always did.
If Sabrina said the monsters couldn't get me, then they couldn't.
I curled into the place where she always slept and hugged Nebbia a little tighter. The kitten climbed onto my chest and started licking the tears from my face, her tiny purr rumbling softly against me, but it didn't make the crying stop.
“Bina always wins,” I whispered.
Nebbia rubbed her head beneath my chin.
“Bina always comes back.”
My voice wobbled.
“...Right?”
Nebbia answered with another quiet purr.
I buried my face in her soft grey fur.
“Please come home, Bina.”