Chapter 9
I followed Bruno through smoke, water, and gunfire.
Tony shouted behind me.
Harris yelled for me to stop.
I heard none of it.
I heard Elena.
One small scream cutting through the warehouse like a blade.
Bruno slammed into a door at the far end.
It held.
He backed up.
Hit it again.
Wood splintered.
I kicked beside the lock.
The door burst open.
Inside was a tiled room.
Elena sat tied to a chair.
The little brown dog crouched beside her, growling at Rafael Mora.
Rafael had a gun in one hand and Elena’s stuffed bunny in the other.
“Stop,” he said. “Or I shoot.”
I raised my hands.
“Elena,” I said softly. “Look at me.”
Her face was swollen from crying.
“Mr. Dante?”
“Yes.”
“Where’s Daddy?”
“Coming.”
Rafael backed toward a side door.
“Victor said you’d come charging in.”
“Victor says many things.”
“Drop your gun.”
I did.
Bruno stood beside me, teeth bared.
Rafael pointed at him.
“Call him off.”
“No.”
His finger tightened.
The brown dog lunged.
Tiny, stupid, brave.
Rafael kicked it away.
Elena screamed.
Bruno exploded.
He hit Rafael before the gun fired twice.
One bullet hit the wall.
The other hit my shoulder.
Pain burned white.
I stumbled but stayed upright.
Bruno pinned Rafael to the floor, jaws locked on his arm.
Tony rushed in.
He cuffed Rafael while Harris untied Elena.
She fell into my arms.
“I want Daddy.”
“I know.”
Luis burst through the doorway a second later.
Elena reached for him with a sob that tore the whole room open.
“Daddy!”
He gathered her like she was made of glass.
“I’m here. I’m here. I’m never letting go.”
Rosa’s voice came from Tony’s phone on speaker, crying, praying, laughing all at once.
Then Harris found another door.
Behind it was an office.
Empty.
Victor had been there.
Fresh cigar smoke.
Warm coffee.
And a wall covered in photographs.
Elena.
Rosa.
Luis.
Me.
My mother’s house.
My father’s grave.
Tony pulled a paper from the desk.
His face changed.
“What?”
He handed it to me.
It was a birth certificate.
Elena Maria Bellandi.
Father unknown.
Mother Maria Vasquez.
My blood went cold.
Bellandi.
My family name.
May you like
Victor had lied.
Again.
