Chapter 6: Into the Dark
I hurried down the narrow hallway, my vision blurring with panicked tears.
Emma was sitting up in bed, her tiny hands clutching her stuffed rabbit, Mr. Flopsy. Her forehead was damp with sweat, but her eyes were clear.
“Hey, sweetheart,” I murmured, forcing the brightest smile I could muster. I sat on the edge of her mattress, stroking her hair. “How is that throat feeling?”
“It hurts,” she rasped. “Who is the loud man out there?”
“Just a friend of Mommy’s from work,” I lied smoothly. “We need to go on a little trip tonight, baby. Just for a sleepover.”
Her large brown eyes widened. “Like a vacation?”
“Exactly like a vacation,” I choked out, already pulling open her dresser drawers. My hands shook as I stuffed jeans, sweaters, and socks into a duffel bag.
“Is Daddy coming?”
The fragile hope in her tiny voice absolutely shattered my heart. Despite Mike’s endless betrayals, she still looked for him in every crowd.
“Maybe,” I whispered. “We’ll see.”
When we emerged into the living room, Emma clinging to my leg and clutching Mr. Flopsy, Alessio was speaking rapidly into a burner phone in fluid Italian.
He ended the call the exact second he saw us. His harsh, terrifying demeanor melted away instantly. He dropped into a crouch, bringing himself down to Emma’s eye level.
“Hello, Emma,” Alessio said, his voice a warm, soothing baritone. “My name is Alessio. I’m going to take you and your mom somewhere very safe tonight.”
Emma studied him with the unfiltered, piercing scrutiny that only a child possesses. “Are you a doctor? Mommy said I’m sick.”
A genuine, startlingly handsome smile ghosted across his lips. “No, piccola. I am not a doctor. But I have some very good ones waiting for you at my house.”
She thought about this for a moment. “Can Mr. Flopsy come too?”
“I insist on it,” Alessio replied gravely. He stood up, towering over us once more, and looked at me. “Are we ready?”
I hoisted the duffel bag over my shoulder. “Yes.”
The walk down the stairs felt like a funeral march. Anton, the silent giant, took up the rear, while Alessio led the way. When we pushed through the front doors of my run-down building, the cold rain hit my face, waking me up to the sheer insanity of my reality.
A driver in a dark suit held the back door of the lead Escalade open.
I lifted Emma into the sprawling, luxurious back seat, smelling the rich scent of new leather. I climbed in after her, pulling her onto my lap. Alessio slid in beside me, the heavy armored door closing with a vault-like thud that severed us from my old life.
“Take us home, Vincent,” Alessio commanded the driver.
The convoy of SUVs moved as a single, coordinated beast. We drove in intense, suffocating silence through the flooded streets of the city. Emma, exhausted by the fever, fell asleep against my chest within minutes.
“I still don’t understand,” I whispered into the dark cabin. “Mike is selfish. He’s a liar. But he isn’t brave. He must have known you would come after him.”
“Desperate men make catastrophic decisions,” Alessio replied, his face illuminated briefly by passing streetlights. “He thought he found a golden ticket.”
“And you truly think he will just walk into a trap if I call him?”
Alessio turned his head, his blue eyes locking onto mine in the darkness.
“I think a man will do anything when he realizes I hold the mother of his child captive. He will have no choice but to return what is mine.”
A cold shiver violently racked my spine. “You are using us as hostages.”
“I am leveraging available assets,” Alessio corrected coldly. “But you have my absolute word, Sophia. No harm will come to you or the child while you are under my roof.”
“The word of a mob boss,” I scoffed bitterly.
“The word of a man who understands the sacred value of family,” he countered smoothly. “Which is far more than your ex-boyfriend ever did.”
