Chapter 5 - The Price of Protection
Vincent read the note once.
Then he tore it in half.
Mrs. Bell gasped. “That was evidence.”
“He knows where we are,” Vincent said. “Evidence can wait.”
I held Eli closer.
“What does it mean?” I asked. “How can a baby belong to someone?”
Vincent looked at me, and I could tell he was deciding how much truth an eleven-year-old could carry.
But I was tired of adults hiding things.
“Tell me,” I said.
He exhaled slowly.
“Mariah’s brother, Rafael, stole from Arturo Bellini.”
“What?”
“Money. Records. Something bigger than money, maybe. Bellini believes Eli’s father knew where it was.”
“But Eli’s father isn’t here.”
“No.”
“So why would they want Eli?”
Vincent’s face hardened.
“To force Mariah to come back.”
Grandma made a weak sound from the doorway.
She had heard everything.
“No,” she whispered. “That poor girl.”
Vincent looked at her. “You think she left him to protect him.”
“I think she loved him,” Grandma said. “I think she was terrified.”
The next several days became a strange new life.
Vincent placed guards near the bookstore, but he kept them outside. Mrs. Bell taught me how to make soup from scratch. Dr. Hargrove checked Eli every two days. Grandma started receiving her heart medicine again.
For the first time in months, we had food in the refrigerator.
For the first time ever, Eli had a crib.
And that should have felt like happiness.
But every time I looked out the window, I wondered if someone was watching.
One afternoon, Vincent took me to a small park behind the building.
Eli sat in his stroller wearing a yellow knit hat Mrs. Bell had found in a closet. Grandma sat on a bench, wrapped in a blanket, watching pigeons.
Vincent stood near the fence.
“You should smile,” he told me.
“I do smile.”
“Not much.”
“You don’t either.”
That surprised a laugh out of him.
It was a short laugh, but real.
Then his phone rang.
He answered, listened, and went still.
“Where?” he said.
A pause.
“When?”
Another pause.
“I’m coming.”
He hung up.
“What happened?” I asked.
“Mariah was found.”
My heart jumped.
“Where?”
“Queens. She’s alive.”
Grandma gripped the bench.
“Bring her here.”
Vincent did not move.
“There’s a problem.”
Of course there was.
“Bellini’s people found her too.”
The room seemed to disappear around me.
“What does that mean?”
“It means she is with the police now. But they can’t move her safely until they know who inside the department is leaking information.”
“Can we see her?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because whoever leaked her location may be watching the hospital.”
I looked at Eli.
“He needs his mom.”
“Yes,” Vincent said quietly. “He does.”
That night, I heard Vincent arguing with someone in the bookstore.
“I’m not turning the child over,” he said.
A man’s voice answered, “Bellini is offering peace.”
“There is no peace with him.”
“You know what happens if you refuse.”
“Yes.”
I crept downstairs and saw Vincent standing with a man in a gray suit.
The man noticed me.
“So this is the girl,” he said.
Vincent stepped between us immediately.
“You don’t look at her.”
The man smiled.
“You’re risking everything for strangers now?”
Vincent’s voice became cold.
“They are not strangers.”
The man shook his head.
“Bellini wants a meeting tomorrow. He says bring the baby, and the mother walks free.”
“No.”
“You don’t even know if she is alive.”
Vincent grabbed the man by the coat and shoved him against the wall.
“Tell Bellini this,” he said. “If he comes near that child, I will burn every bridge between us.”
The man’s smile vanished.
“You can’t protect them forever.”
Vincent released him.
“No,” he said. “But I can protect them today.”
After the man left, I stepped out from the shadows.
“You can’t fight everybody,” I said.
Vincent looked down at me.
“I know.”
“What if you get hurt?”
He didn’t answer.
“What if Grandma gets hurt? What if Eli gets hurt?”
His eyes closed.
That was when I saw it.
The most feared man in Manhattan was afraid.
Not of Bellini.
Of failing again.
The next morning, Detective Pierce arrived with terrible news.
Mariah had vanished from police protection.
Someone had taken her from the safe house.
On the kitchen table, officers found a message addressed to Vincent.
MIDNIGHT. PIER 19. BRING ELI.
Underneath, there was one more sentence.
May you like
OR HIS MOTHER DIES.
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