Chapter 3 #3
“Let me figure it out.” There had to be some way to get everyone out of town safely. Even if we had to rent out a motel out of town for them. I’d have to discuss it with the guys first before I made any promises.
“Have you spoken with your parents recently?” Francine’s lips curled into a sympathetic smile like she already knew the answer.
“I haven’t.” My body went rigid at the reminder of them. I’d been blocking out the thought of them for so long. Since I’d beaten a man with a baseball bat the last time I saw Pam, I doubted they’d be calling me anytime soon.
“Do you want me to tell them about the danger?”
My mouth tightened, but I gave her a terse nod. Everyone should be prepared, even them. I was grateful I didn’t have to speak with them.
“Now are you going to tell me what the bear is for?” I lifted a brow, giving her a wry smile. Now that I was focused on the bear, there was quite a bit of wear and tear, like it had been a child’s prized possession at one point.
“I mentioned Lorenzo when we last met.”
“You did.” My lips quirked to the side. Francine said Lorenzo was trying to escape the family business. That couldn’t be true. The only way out of the family is death. “I still don’t understand how you heard that. If it got around, Angelo would take him out before he ever became a threat.”
“I might’ve lied about that part.” She gave me a sheepish smile, playing with the bear’s arms. “He used to come into my shop, just like you three, to get away from his family. He was never anything like his brother; he didn’t agree with the way his family kept the town under their thumb.”
She sighed and shook her head. “Lorenzo helped me, even hid in the back on the days his father’s men came in so Angelo wouldn’t use me against him.
Until one day he came in and left this bear with me, asking if I could keep it safe for him.
I thought nothing of it, assuming his father had threatened to take it away. Then he never returned.”
“It took me a while to figure it out, but—” Francine turned the bear around to show me its back. “—there’s a hidden compartment at the back.” She gripped the seam with both hands and pried the worn Velcro apart, revealing a stack of paper hidden inside. “He’d written me a note.”
She passed me the torn and weathered page at the top of the stack.
Franny,
I didn’t want to bring my father’s wrath down on you. So I leave Bernard with you to take care of. I’ll be back from boarding school on the last weekend of every month. If you want to leave me a note back, I’ll come and find it.
Take care and protect Bernard, please.
Enzo
“We continued to leave the bear on the front counter in my shop and trade correspondence until about six years ago, right around the time Tommaso took you to New York. Then it all stopped.”
I gingerly handed the page back to her, not wanting to rip something that obviously meant so much to her. “If anyone can help you, it will be him. This bear is the best way to signal that we need him.”
Francine tucked the pages into her jacket pocket and passed the bear to me. She released it reluctantly, her eyes glassy as I placed it gently onto the desk beside me.
Lorenzo was the same age as the guys and me; he would’ve been in our classes if he hadn’t been sent off to boarding school. He would’ve been heading to university that year too. “Do you have any idea why the notes stopped six years ago?”
“I always assumed he went with you to New York.” Her lips turned down. “Which was why I was surprised you’d only met him a few times.”
My brows furrowed. I tried to recall the few times we’d been in the same room. “Not that I know of, but Tommaso obviously didn’t tell me everything. He was always in the background. I guess trying to stay away from his brother and father as much as possible.”
“I wrote a note for him.” Francine pulled a folded paper from her other pocket. “You can write him whatever you want, but can you please give him this too?”
“Of course.” My heart panged as I grasped the page from her trembling fingers. Francine had such a big heart, taking in all the strays who came her way and giving them a true refuge from the pain they ran from.
I tucked it into the hidden pocket, not wanting to misplace it.
“He’ll appreciate hearing from you. I know I would if I were still stuck in that horror show of a family.
” I shuddered at the thought, reminding myself again that Tommaso was dead.
My connection to the Barones would be buried right alongside him.
“Thank you.” She took my hands into hers. “I need to help him get out, just like you. If there’s a chance he can end up on the right side of things, I have to take it for the little boy he used to be and the kind heart I know is still buried beneath everything his family has done to him.”
“I hope so.” I flexed my hands, holding her back with the same love and desperate hope. Lorenzo deserved the chance to escape, just like I did.
Hopefully neither of us would look back once this battle came to its end.