Luca did not run.
That frightened Vanessa more than if he had.
He walked beside her through the private corridor beneath the mall as though nothing had happened. Bruno followed several steps behind, one hand tucked inside his coat.
Lily carried the porcelain dollhouse against her chest.
Vanessa kept looking back.
“Stop.”
She turned.
Luca did not look at her.
“You'll walk into something.”
“What?”
“A wall.”
She frowned.
“You're remarkably calm.”
“I've been in worse places.”
“That doesn't make me feel better.”
“It wasn't supposed to.”
They reached a steel door marked STAFF ONLY.
Bruno opened it.
Cold air rushed over them.
The private garage was nearly empty.
Vanessa tightened her grip on Lily.
“Where is my car?”
“Not here.”
“What?”
Luca pointed toward a black sedan.
“You're not driving tonight.”
“I can't just leave my car.”
“You can.”
“I need it tomorrow.”
“I'll have someone bring it to you.”
Vanessa stopped.
“No.”
Luca turned.
“No?”
“I don't know you. I don't know where you're taking us. I don't know why you're helping us.”
He looked at her for a long moment.
“Because your daughter asked Santa for a father.”
“That isn't an answer.”
“No.”
He looked toward the garage entrance.
“But it's the reason I stopped.”
A metallic scrape sounded from the other side of the level.
Bruno's hand disappeared inside his coat.
Luca motioned for Vanessa to stay behind him.
Daniel stepped into view.
He held a tire iron.
Vanessa's heart slammed against her ribs.
“Luca.”
Daniel laughed.
“So that's who you found.”
Luca's expression did not change.
Daniel looked at Vanessa.
“You think hiding behind him will help?”
Luca took one step forward.
“Go home.”
Daniel lifted the tire iron.
“You don't know anything about us.”
“I know you owe money.”
Daniel's smile vanished.
“I know you missed three payments.”
“That's none of your business.”
“Everything is my business.”
Daniel stared at him.
Then understanding dawned.
“You're Santoro.”
“Yes.”
The color drained from Daniel's face.
Vanessa had heard the name before. Everyone had.
Luca Santoro did not shout.
He did not threaten.
He simply collected debts.
Daniel lowered the tire iron.
“Vanessa, get in the car.”
Luca's voice was quiet.
“Now.”
Vanessa pulled Lily toward the sedan.
Daniel suddenly moved.
Luca was faster.
He caught Daniel's wrist, twisted it, and drove him against the hood of a parked car.
Daniel screamed.
Lily buried her face in Vanessa's coat.
“Don't look,” Vanessa whispered.
The tire iron fell.
Luca leaned close to Daniel.
“You broke into her apartment twice.”
Daniel grunted.
“You threatened her mother.”
Another twist.
“I didn't—”
“You sent messages.”
Daniel stopped fighting.
Luca released him.
Daniel dropped to his knees.
“I can pay.”
“You already did.”
Daniel looked up.
“What?”
“I bought your debt yesterday.”
Silence.
“You don't owe the lender anymore.”
Daniel stared.
“You owe me.”
Vanessa watched him understand.
For the first time since she had known him, Daniel looked genuinely afraid.
Luca stepped away.
“You will not contact Vanessa. You will not approach Lily. You will not go near her mother. If you violate that order, nobody will find your body quickly enough to identify it.”
Vanessa stared at him.
“Are you serious?”
Luca looked at her.
“Completely.”
The ride to his penthouse was silent.
Lily eventually fell asleep.
Vanessa watched her through the rearview mirror.
The child's cheek rested against the porcelain dollhouse.
Luca sat beside Vanessa in the back seat.
“You could have killed him.”
“Yes.”
“You didn't.”
“No.”
“Why?”
He looked through the window at the passing lights.
“Because you were watching.”
That answer unsettled her.
“You care what I think?”
“I care what Lily sees.”
Vanessa looked at him.
He continued quietly.
“She has seen enough men use fear as proof of power.”
That was the first thing he said that made Vanessa reconsider him.
The penthouse occupied the upper floors of a tower overlooking the city.
Vanessa stepped inside and stopped.
Everything was polished stone, dark wood, glass, and quiet.
Lily woke when the elevator opened.
“Are we at Santa's house?”
“No,” Vanessa said.
Luca removed his coat.
“Something better.”
Lily smiled.
Vanessa did not.
She followed Luca into a sitting room where a woman named Maria had prepared food.
Soup.
Bread.
Fruit.
Pasta.
Lily stared.
“Is this all ours?”
Maria smiled.
“For tonight.”
Vanessa nearly laughed.
“That's too much.”
Luca looked at her.
“Eat.”
“I don't take orders.”
“You do when you're hungry.”
She wanted to argue.
Instead she sat.
Lily ate.
Slowly at first.
Then faster.
Vanessa watched her daughter until the fear inside her loosened.
For the first time in months, Lily asked for seconds.
Luca noticed.
He said nothing.
Later, after Lily fell asleep in a guest room, Vanessa found Luca standing beside the window.
“You can't keep us here.”
“I can.”
“That doesn't mean you should.”
“No.”
She crossed her arms.
“Then why?”
“Because Daniel isn't the real problem.”
Her expression changed.
“What does that mean?”
Luca looked toward the city.
“Someone is searching for something Daniel stole.”
“What did he steal?”
“A ledger.”
“Money?”
“Names.”
She said nothing.
“Payments. Routes. Judges. Police officers. Businesses. People who have been paying the Calabrese organization for years.”
Vanessa felt cold.
“What does that have to do with me?”
“I don't know yet.”
“Then why am I here?”
“Because whoever wants that ledger may believe you know where it is.”
“I don't.”
“I believe you.”
She studied him.
“You're still keeping me here.”
“Yes.”
“That's not trust.”
“No.”
He turned toward her.
“It's caution.”
The next morning, Bruno arrived before breakfast.
His face was grim.
“Daniel's apartment was searched.”
Vanessa's spoon stopped halfway to her mouth.
“By police?”
“No.”
Luca looked up.
“Who?”
Bruno placed photographs on the table.
“Calabrese.”
Luca examined them.
“Anything taken?”
“Only paperwork.”
“Did they find the ledger?”
“No.”
“Then they think it's still close.”
Vanessa stared at the photographs.
“Where did Daniel keep his things?”
“Storage unit,” Luca said.
“Which one?”
Luca looked at her.
“You know?”
“No. But Daniel used to talk about a place near Queens.”
Bruno glanced at Luca.
Luca's eyes narrowed.
“What place?”
Vanessa described the warehouse.
Luca stood.
“Bruno, send two men.”
“To retrieve the ledger?”
“To see if it's there.”
Vanessa pushed back her chair.
“You're going?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because if the ledger is there, I want to know before the Calabrese do.”
She grabbed his sleeve.
“Luca.”
He looked down at her hand.
Vanessa released him.
“I don't want Lily dragged into this.”
“Neither do I.”
“Then get us out.”
He was silent.
“You think I don't want a normal life?”
“I don't know.”
“I haven't had normal since Daniel.”
Luca's voice softened.
“Neither have I.”
She looked at him.
For the first time, the man who frightened everyone else looked tired.
Not weak.
Tired.
He left.
That afternoon, Vanessa received a phone call from St. Mary's Hospital.
She had been working there as a nurse before everything collapsed.
The supervisor wanted her back.
Vanessa agreed.
Luca objected.
“You'll have security.”
“I don't need a bodyguard.”
“You do.”
“I am not one of your possessions.”
His expression hardened.
“I never said you were.”
“You act like it.”
He stepped closer.
“You are not a possession.”
His voice dropped.
“You are a liability I refuse to lose.”
She stared at him.
“That isn't much better.”
“No.”
A faint smile appeared.
“But it's honest.”
The next morning, Vanessa returned to work.
Elias was waiting.
Luca called him the Shadow.
He looked like an ordinary hospital security officer until you noticed that his eyes never stopped moving.
“You're following me.”
“Yes.”
“I hate this.”
“I've been told.”
By noon, Vanessa had almost convinced herself that the nightmare was becoming manageable.
Then she noticed the two new hospital attendants.
Their uniforms were correct.
Their badges looked real.
Their voices were polite.
But their shoes were wrong.
Hospital attendants wore soft-soled shoes.
These men wore military boots.
Vanessa's pulse jumped.
One of them smiled.
“Mrs. Grant?”
She stepped backward.
“Who are you?”
The man's hand moved.
Vanessa threw her coffee directly into his face.
He shouted.
She ran.
Behind her, someone yelled.
The hospital erupted.
Patients screamed.
A tray crashed.
Vanessa raced toward the service corridor.
Then she heard a gunshot.
Elias was down.
And the men chasing her were no longer pretending to be hospital workers.
They wanted her alive.
Because they believed she knew where Daniel had hidden the ledger.
Vanessa reached the stairwell.
The door slammed open behind her.
She ran upward.
Toward the roof.
Toward nowhere.
And when she burst into the freezing daylight, she saw Luca standing beside a helicopter.
He had come for her.
But the men behind her had come too.
Click Here to continue read next: PART3: The Hospital Roof Became a Battlefield, and Vanessa Finally Learned Why Luca Had Never Let Her See the Whole War
A Child Asked Santa for the One Thing Her Mother Had Spent Years Trying to Pretend She Did Not Need
Part 2 of 8
