Chapter 4 - Someone Had Been Watching Noah
I stared at Liam’s wedding ring lying in pieces on Luca Romano’s desk.
“No.”
My voice barely worked.
“Liam never gave me anything.”
“Think carefully,” Luca said.
“I don’t have to think. I was there.”
“When did you receive his belongings?”
“Two days after the fire.”
“From whom?”
“The department.”
“Personally?”
I frowned.
“A captain came to the hospital.”
“Name?”
“Captain Warren Bell.”
Daniel immediately typed something into his phone.
Luca asked, “Did Bell hand you the ring?”
“Yes.”
“Anything unusual?”
“No.”
Then I remembered.
I stopped.
Luca noticed.
“What?”
“He apologized.”
“For your husband dying?”
“No.”
I shook my head slowly.
“He said, ‘Liam wanted you to have this where nobody could take it from you.’”
Daniel looked at Luca.
“That’s specific.”
I sat down.
“I thought he meant emotionally.”
Luca stared at the memory chip.
“Maybe Liam gave Bell instructions before he died.”
“Then we call him.”
Daniel was already trying.
“No answer.”
“Try again.”
“I am.”
I looked at Noah.
He had fallen asleep on the sofa.
My anger changed into something colder.
“How long have these people been watching us?”
Nobody answered.
“How did they know Noah would be here tonight?”
Eric spoke from across the room.
“They knew your babysitter would cancel.”
I turned.
“What?”
He looked miserable.
“The caller told me.”
My stomach twisted.
“My babysitter got sick this morning.”
Eric shook his head.
“He said, ‘Her childcare will fail. She’ll bring the boy.’”
I stared at him.
“No.”
Daniel immediately called downstairs.
“Get someone to Rachel Carter’s apartment. And locate her babysitter.”
I grabbed his arm.
“What are you saying?”
Luca answered.
“They engineered your day.”
“My babysitter is sick.”
“Maybe.”
“The daycare was full.”
“Maybe.”
“My sister didn’t answer.”
“Rachel.”
“Stop saying my name like that!”
Noah stirred.
I immediately lowered my voice.
Luca did too.
“This was planned.”
“Why not just rob me?”
“Because whoever wants that chip didn’t know exactly where it was.”
I looked at Liam’s ring.
“So they scared me into bringing Noah here?”
“No.”
Luca’s gaze hardened.
“They wanted me to search you.”
“What?”
“They put your son inside my penthouse. They expected security to detain you. Maybe search your belongings. Maybe discover the ring.”
Daniel nodded.
“And once we found it, they could come after us instead of her.”
I stared at them.
“So Noah was bait.”
“Yes.”
Something inside me broke.
I crossed the room and slapped Eric across the face.
Hard.
Nobody stopped me.
“You sold my child for ten thousand dollars.”
“I didn’t know!”
“You didn’t care enough to know.”
His eyes dropped.
Daniel’s phone rang.
He answered.
“Yes.”
His expression changed.
“When?”
Luca turned.
“What?”
Daniel lowered the phone.
“Rachel’s apartment was broken into forty minutes ago.”
I closed my eyes.
“Anything taken?”
“Place was torn apart.”
“Babysitter?”
“Police found her unconscious in her apartment. Alive.”
I sat down.
“Oh God.”
Luca spoke to Daniel.
“Move Rachel and Noah.”
“To where?”
“My residence.”
I stood again.
“No.”
Luca looked at me.
“This hotel is compromised.”
“And your house isn’t?”
“It has fewer than six hundred strangers inside.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“Then choose somewhere secure.”
“My apartment was just broken into!”
“Exactly.”
I hated that he was right.
Daniel approached.
“We can put you in a protected suite outside Boston.”
I looked at Noah sleeping.
I had spent eleven months protecting him from overdue bills, grief, loneliness, and nightmares about his father.
I had never imagined I would need armed guards.
“What happens to Eric?”
Luca’s gaze moved toward my manager.
“We find out who paid him.”
Eric went pale.
I looked back at Luca.
“You don’t hurt him.”
Silence.
Daniel almost smiled.
Luca didn’t.
“He endangered your son.”
“And I still don’t want somebody killed because of me.”
Luca studied me.
“You think very highly of my restraint.”
“I don’t know you.”
“No.”
His eyes moved toward Noah.
“But your son apparently does.”
As if summoned, Noah opened his eyes.
“Mommy?”
“I’m here.”
He rubbed his face.
“Are we going home?”
I hesitated.
Luca crouched beside him.
“Not yet, buddy.”
“Why?”
“Because some people are making bad choices.”
Noah thought about this.
“Are you a policeman?”
A guard near the door coughed.
Luca looked at Noah.
“No.”
“Firefighter?”
“No.”
“My daddy was.”
“I know.”
Noah smiled sleepily.
“He was brave.”
Luca’s face changed.
“Yes.”
Then Daniel called from the desk.
“Boss.”
Everyone turned.
He had connected the tiny memory chip to an isolated laptop.
A folder appeared.
One video file.
One document.
And a photograph.
Daniel opened the photograph first.
It showed Pier Nineteen warehouse.
Three men stood beside shipping containers.
One of them was Captain Warren Bell.
The man who had returned Liam’s wedding ring.
The second was a city official I recognized from television.
The third man made Luca go completely still.
Daniel whispered, “That’s impossible.”
I looked between them.
“Who is he?”
Luca didn’t answer.
“Who?”
May you like
His jaw tightened.
“My brother.”
