Chapter 5 - The Woman Who Refused Mafia Protection
Damian wanted to move Tessa and her mother into his home.
Tessa refused.
He suggested a secure apartment.
She refused that too.
Finally, she agreed to remain in a hotel under an assumed name while Marco and Damian’s men searched for evidence against Trent.
On the second night, Damian arrived carrying takeout containers.
Tessa opened the hotel door.
“You cannot keep appearing without warning.”
“I brought dinner.”
“That is not a legal excuse.”
“It usually works.”
She stepped aside.
Damian placed the food on the small table.
“Leo?” she asked.
“With my sister.”
“How is he?”
“Angry.”
“At me?”
“At everyone.”
Tessa opened one of the containers.
“Pasta?”
“You barely ate yesterday.”
“You noticed?”
“I notice too much. You mentioned it.”
They ate in silence for several minutes.
Then Tessa asked, “What happened to Leo’s mother?”
Damian set down his fork.
“You don’t have to answer,” she added.
“Her name was Sofia.”
“I know. Leo told me.”
“She died in a car bombing four years ago.”
Tessa stopped eating.
“Was she the target?”
“No. I was.”
Damian looked toward the window.
“She took Leo to visit her sister. Someone believed I was in the vehicle.”
“How old was he?”
“Two.”
“Was he there?”
“In the back seat.”
Tessa’s voice softened. “He survived.”
“Sofia covered him with her body.”
Damian’s hands tightened.
“Afterward, he stopped speaking for almost eight months.”
“That’s why you keep everyone at a distance.”
“That is why I keep him alive.”
“And yourself?”
“My survival is useful.”
“That wasn’t what I asked.”
Damian looked at her.
“No one asks me that.”
“Maybe no one thinks you’ll answer.”
“I don’t know how.”
The room became quiet.
Tessa closed the container.
“I’m sorry about Sofia.”
“So am I.”
“Leo remembers her.”
“Fragments.”
“The robot.”
“It was the last gift she gave him.”
Tessa understood then why Damian had looked at the repaired toy as if it were something sacred.
Her phone rang.
The hotel reception desk.
She answered.
“Ms. Navarro? There’s a package for you.”
Damian stood immediately.
“Don’t touch it,” he said.
Tessa relayed the warning.
Minutes later, Marco arrived and inspected the box.
Inside was Tessa’s nursing school identification card, snapped in half.
Beneath it was a photograph of Elena leaving St. Anne’s.
Tessa stopped breathing.
Damian took the photograph from her.
“Your mother is safe,” he said. “I have people there.”
“You put people around her?”
“After the bottle.”
“You didn’t tell me.”
“Because you would have argued.”
“You don’t get to make decisions about my mother.”
“I made a decision about a threat.”
Tessa grabbed her coat.
“I’m going to Indianapolis.”
“No.”
“Move.”
“Trent wants you to panic.”
“He has a photograph of my mother.”
“He wants you on the road, outside security.”
Tessa shoved past him.
Damian blocked the door.
“Get out of my way.”
“No.”
She pushed his chest.
He did not move.
“Damian.”
“You want to protect her. I understand.”
“No, you don’t.”
His eyes flashed.
“I watched my wife die because I failed to anticipate an attack. Do not tell me I don’t understand.”
Tessa froze.
Damian lowered his voice.
“I will not let him use your mother the way my enemies used Sofia.”
Tessa’s anger cracked.
“What am I supposed to do? Sit here?”
“No. Help me end it.”
“How?”
Damian placed a recording device on the table.
“Trent has been calling the restaurant manager.”
“Greg?”
“He paid Greg to release your employment records and schedule. Greg also gave him your address.”
Tessa stared at the device.
“You want me to meet Greg.”
“He trusts that you’re desperate.”
“I am desperate.”
“That makes the lie easier.”
She looked at Damian.
“What do I say?”
“Tell Greg you have evidence from the restaurant’s security cameras. Say you’ll sell it to Judge Whitaker.”
“Does evidence exist?”
“Yes.”
“Why haven’t you used it?”
“Because the original recording disappeared.”
“Greg deleted it.”
“We recovered a backup.”
Tessa nodded slowly.
“You want Trent to admit he ordered the threats.”
“I want enough to place him beyond his father’s reach.”
“And then the police handle it.”
Damian said nothing.
“The police,” Tessa repeated.
“If the evidence is strong enough.”
“That is the agreement.”
“I don’t make agreements about men who threaten my son.”
“Then I’m not helping.”
Damian stared at her.
Tessa held his gaze.
Finally, he said, “The police.”
She extended her hand.
He took it.
The next evening, Tessa met Greg in the empty Onyx Room.
A microphone was hidden beneath her blouse. Damian and two detectives listened from a vehicle across the street.
Greg paced near the bar.
“You shouldn’t have contacted me.”
“You gave Trent my address.”
“I didn’t know he’d threaten your mother.”
“But you knew he’d threaten me.”
Greg rubbed his face.
“He said he only wanted to scare you away from Valdez.”
“I have the security footage.”
Greg stopped.
“No, you don’t.”
“Damian recovered it.”
Greg’s eyes widened.
Tessa continued.
“Trent hit me. He pulled a knife. The footage shows everything.”
“What do you want?”
“Money.”
Greg stared at her.
“You?”
“My mother needs treatment. My school may expel me. I’m finished either way.”
Greg pulled out his phone.
“I need to call him.”
“Call.”
He did.
Trent answered on speaker.
“What?”
Greg said, “The waitress has the recording.”
Silence.
Then Trent’s voice turned cold.
“Where is she?”
“Here.”
“Keep her there.”
Tessa’s pulse raced.
Greg looked toward the windows.
Trent continued.
“I’ll bring the money. Then we’ll finish what should’ve happened the first night.”
Tessa forced herself to ask, “What does that mean?”
Trent laughed.
“It means you should’ve let me hit the boy.”
The line went dead.
Greg stared at her.
“What have you done?”
Headlights swept across the restaurant windows.
A car stopped outside.
Tessa heard Damian’s voice through the hidden earpiece.
“Move to the kitchen. Now.”
The front doors opened.
May you like
Trent entered with two men.
And one of them was carrying a gun.
