Chapter 4 - THE GIRL IN THE DARK HALLWAY
A hand covered my mouth.
I tried to scream.
Nothing came out.
Someone lifted me from the floor and carried me down the hallway.
The mansion was completely dark.
Emergency lights had not turned on.
That meant somebody knew how to shut them down too.
I kicked.
My shoe hit something hard.
The man holding me grunted.
“Stop.”
I bit his hand.
Hard.
He cursed and nearly dropped me.
Mama had once told me never to bite people.
I decided this was different.
I twisted until my backpack strap slipped from one shoulder.
The man grabbed it.
The strap tore.
My pink rabbit backpack fell onto the floor.
I heard Mama screaming my name from somewhere behind us.
“Emma!”
I tried to answer.
The man covered my mouth again.
He dragged me toward the servant stairs.
Then I remembered something.
Mr. Buttons.
The stuffed rabbit was still with Alejandro.
I did not have him.
But inside my backpack was another thing.
A plastic whistle Mama had clipped to the zipper after a safety lesson at preschool.
The backpack was behind us now.
But the whistle had broken off last week.
I had put it in my pocket.
My fingers moved slowly.
The man did not notice.
I found it.
Raised it.
Blew.
The sound was enormous.
Sharp.
Painful.
The man cursed.
Footsteps thundered nearby.
“Security!”
Mateo.
The hand released me.
I dropped.
My knees hit marble.
Someone ran.
Then a gunshot cracked through the hall.
I screamed.
Hands found me.
Different hands.
Gentle.
“Emma.”
Alejandro.
His voice.
I threw myself against him.
He lifted me.
“You’re okay.”
“Mama!”
“She’s coming.”
Lights flickered.
Emergency power returned.
Alejandro held me against his chest.
His face was white.
Not angry.
Terrified.
Mama appeared and nearly collapsed.
“Emma!”
Alejandro handed me to her.
She squeezed me so tightly I could barely breathe.
Then she pulled back.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Did he touch you?”
“He carried me.”
“Who?”
I pointed down the hall.
Two guards had a man against the wall.
I recognized him.
Chef Marco.
The assistant chef.
He cooked pancakes on Sundays.
Mama stared.
“No.”
Marco was bleeding from his hand where I bit him.
Mateo searched his pockets.
He found a security badge.
Not Marco’s.
Luca’s.
Alejandro approached.
“Why?”
Marco glared at him.
“You think your brother was the only one tired of you?”
Alejandro’s face hardened.
“You tried to abduct a child.”
“I was supposed to bring her to the garage.”
“Why?”
Marco smiled.
“Insurance.”
Mama moved in front of me.
Alejandro stepped closer to Marco.
“You will tell me where Luca is.”
“Go to hell.”
“No.”
Alejandro’s voice was quiet.
“You are going to jail.”
Marco laughed.
“Your family owns cops.”
“My family used to.”
Something about the way Alejandro said it made Mateo look at him.
Alejandro continued.
“Tomorrow morning every document recovered tonight goes to federal prosecutors.”
Marco’s smile disappeared.
“You wouldn’t.”
“I would.”
“You’d bury your own family?”
“I’ll bury the criminal part.”
It was the first time I understood that Alejandro had decided something bigger than revenge.
He was choosing to tear apart pieces of his own world.
Not because he wanted to.
Because Emma Bennett, age four, had nearly been carried out of his house.
The power returned completely twenty minutes later.
Marco was locked in the basement with Rafael.
Mama wanted to leave.
Immediately.
“I’m taking Emma somewhere else.”
Alejandro shook his head.
“No.”
Her eyes flashed.
“Do not tell me no.”
“The house has forty guards.”
“And at least three of them betrayed you.”
He had no answer.
“Exactly.”
Mama went upstairs to pack.
I followed.
I did not want to stay either.
The basement room looked different now.
Smaller.
The bed Mama and I shared suddenly did not feel safe.
She shoved clothes into a suitcase.
I sat beside my backpack.
One strap was broken.
I started crying.
Not loudly.
Mama noticed.
“Oh, baby.”
She sat beside me.
“My backpack.”
“I know.”
“It’s ruined.”
“We’ll fix it.”
“It was from Daddy.”
Mama froze.
Daddy bought it before he died.
I barely remembered him.
But I remembered the rabbit ears.
The day he brought it home, Mama said I was too young for preschool.
Daddy said, “She can practice.”
I hugged it.
Mama wiped my tears.
“We’ll fix it.”
A knock came.
Alejandro stood in the doorway holding Mr. Buttons.
“You forgot someone.”
I reached for the rabbit.
He handed it to me.
Then his eyes went to the backpack.
“What happened?”
“The strap broke.”
His jaw tightened.
“Because of Marco?”
I nodded.
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault.”
He looked at Mama.
“Where are you going?”
“My sister’s in Jersey City.”
“No.”
Mama stood.
“We discussed this.”
“She lives in a second-floor apartment with no security.”
“She lives in a normal neighborhood.”
“Luca knows your name.”
“He knows my name because I work for you.”
The words hit.
Alejandro did not defend himself.
Mama continued.
“Everything dangerous in Emma’s life right now comes from this house.”
“I know.”
“Then let us leave.”
He was silent.
Then he nodded.
“If you want to leave, I won’t stop you.”
Mama relaxed slightly.
“But you’re taking security.”
“No.”
“Clara.”
“No armed men around my sister’s children.”
“Then plainclothes.”
She stared at him.
He did not blink.
Finally she sighed.
“One.”
“Two.”
“One.”
“Two.”
“Mr. Moretti—”
“Clara.”
I raised my hand.
They both looked at me.
“One and a half?”
Alejandro stared.
Mama laughed for the first time that night.
Even Alejandro smiled.
They settled on two.
We left before sunrise.
Alejandro personally walked us to the car.
As Mama loaded the suitcase, he crouched in front of me.
He held out my backpack.
The broken strap had been temporarily repaired with black tape.
“I asked one of the guards to fix it.”
I touched the tape.
“It looks funny.”
“He is better with firearms than sewing.”
I giggled.
Alejandro looked serious.
“Emma.”
“Yes?”
“You did something very brave tonight.”
“I bit Marco.”
“I heard.”
“Mama says biting is bad.”
“In most situations.”
“Was this situation okay?”
He glanced at Mama.
She folded her arms.
Alejandro wisely answered, “Ask your mother.”
I liked him more after that.
He touched the rabbit ear on my backpack.
“I’ll get this repaired properly.”
“You can’t keep it.”
“I know.”
“You gave Mr. Buttons back.”
“I did.”
“So you’re learning.”
His mouth moved.
“Apparently.”
Mama entered the car.
I climbed in.
Before the door shut, I looked at him.
“Are you going to be okay?”
The question surprised him.
“I’ll try.”
“Don’t drink wine.”
For the first time since someone tried to kill him, Alejandro laughed.
A real laugh.
“I won’t.”
Our car pulled away.
I watched the mansion shrink behind us.
I thought leaving meant the danger would disappear.
I was wrong.
Three hours later, at my aunt’s apartment, Mama’s phone rang.
Unknown number.
She answered.
Her face changed.
“What do you want?”
A woman spoke.
Vivienne.
I could hear her through the quiet room.
“If you want Emma to stay alive, Clara, tell Alejandro to give Luca the ledger from his father’s safe.”
Mama looked at me.
Then at the two plainclothes guards by the window.
“There is no ledger.”
Vivienne laughed.
“There is.”
“What ledger?”
“The one that proves who really killed Emma’s father.”
Mama stopped breathing.
So did I.
I did not understand.
But Alejandro would.
Because when Mama called him sixty seconds later, the first thing he said was:
“Clara, whatever she told you, do not believe it.”
And Mama whispered:
May you like
“She said Gabriel’s death wasn’t an accident.”
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