Chapter 2 - The Closet Door
The man backed away.
“Moretti?”
Nico entered behind me.
His eyes went immediately to the woman.
“Ambulance is coming.”
The man glanced toward the kitchen.
I stepped between him and the doorway.
“Don’t.”
“I didn’t do anything.”
“Good.”
“What?”
“That means we don’t have to argue.”
He swallowed.
The woman on the floor moved.
Barely.
“Mama?”
The voice came from inside the closet.
The man snapped toward it.
“Lily, stay—”
“Don’t say her name.”
His mouth closed.
I crouched beside the woman.
She was conscious.
“Can you hear me?”
Her eyelids fluttered.
“Yes.”
“What’s your name?”
“Sarah.”
“Sarah, ambulance is coming.”
Her hand grabbed my sleeve.
“My daughter.”
“She’s safe.”
“No.”
Her fingers tightened.
“You don’t understand.”
I looked toward the closet.
“What don’t I understand?”
Sarah’s eyes shifted toward the man.
“He knows who you are.”
I stood slowly.
The man had gone pale.
Nico noticed.
“Interesting.”
“I don’t know him,” the man said.
Sarah tried to sit up.
“He works for Frankie.”
Nico looked at me.
There it was.
The coincidence that wasn’t one.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
The man hesitated.
“Dean.”
“Last name.”
“Carver.”
Nico laughed once.
“You’ve got to be kidding.”
I looked at him.
“You know him?”
“Frankie uses Carver for collections.”
Dean’s face hardened.
“This has nothing to do with business.”
“Then why,” I asked, “did a child have my private number?”
Nobody answered.
Sirens approached.
Dean suddenly moved toward the back door.
Nico blocked him.
“Bad idea.”
“You can’t keep me here.”
“No,” I said. “But Chicago police can.”
Dean stared at me.
“You’re calling cops now?”
“Tonight?”
I looked at Sarah.
“Absolutely.”
The sirens stopped outside.
Dean whispered, “Frankie’s going to hear about this.”
“That’s the idea.”
Two officers entered, followed by paramedics.
While they dealt with Dean, I approached the closet.
I knocked softly.
“Lily?”
Nothing.
“It’s Vincent.”
Silence.
Then—
“From the phone?”
“Yes.”
The door opened one inch.
One brown eye appeared.
She looked about seven.
Pink pajamas.
Bare feet.
A cheap black phone clutched against her chest.
“You came.”
Three words.
That was all.
I had negotiated million-dollar deals with men who wanted me dead without losing my composure.
Those three words nearly did it.
“I said I would.”
“You didn’t.”
I frowned.
“What?”
“You never said.”
She opened the door slightly farther.
“I just hoped.”
I crouched.
“Your mother is going to the hospital.”
“Is she dead?”
“No.”
“You promise?”
I never promised things I couldn't control.
So I said, “The doctors are going to help her.”
She studied me.
Then she stepped out.
Sarah was being placed on a stretcher.
“Mama!”
Lily ran toward her.
Sarah reached out.
“Baby.”
A paramedic gently stopped Lily from climbing onto the stretcher.
“We need room, sweetheart.”
Lily panicked.
“No! I’m going!”
I looked at the paramedic.
“She goes.”
“Sir—”
“She goes with her mother.”
Sarah shook her head.
“No.”
I turned.
Her fear wasn't directed at the paramedics.
It was directed at Dean.
“Lily goes with me,” Sarah whispered.
“What?”
“Please.”
Lily stared at her mother.
“Mama?”
Sarah looked at me.
“Take her.”
I had heard desperate requests before.
None like that.
“Why me?”
Sarah glanced toward Dean.
“Because Frankie won’t touch her if she’s with you.”
I looked at Nico.
His expression had changed.
“Sarah,” I said quietly, “how did Lily get my number?”
Sarah closed her eyes.
“I gave it to her.”
The stretcher started toward the door.
I walked beside it.
“How did you get it?”
May you like
Her answer stopped me cold.
“Your sister gave it to me.”
