"I need a discreet DNA test," I say. "There's a chance I'm a father and I need to prove paternity. Can you do that?"
He hesitates for only a second. "When?"
"Tonight. I'll have samples ready within the hour."
"I'll be there in thirty minutes, Mr. Santonelli."
I hang up and sit at my desk.
The ledgers still sit where I left them, staring up at me in such a mocking way.
This wasn't a mistake.
Whoever dropped this on my doorstep the same day as Kemal's warning isn't messing around.
They intend to fuck up my concentration and make it harder to prove myself.
And now I have a daughter I didn't know existed and a woman I never forgot locked in my guest room.
When they're done eating, Marta will bring their silverware to me, and as soon as the doctor is done running his tests, I'll have my proof.
It will force Angelica to fall in line, so that much will be squared away, but with the added trouble of someone digging into my past, I know this is only going to get worse.
And if I don't bring my A game, my little girl will put her father in the grave before she turns six years old.
3
ANGELICA
Sofia sleeps beside me on the guest bed, curled into a tight ball with her thumb in her mouth.
She stopped sucking her thumb two years ago, but tonight she's regressed.
Her face is puffy from crying.
Her breathing comes in small hitches that tell me she is not deeply asleep yet.
I stroke her hair and watch her chest rise and fall, trying to calm the panic that claws at my throat.
I can't rest.
I've tried, but this expensive cage he's keeping us in doesn't feel like home.
We're trapped here, locked in this room like prisoners.
Dante said we'd be safe, but safety means nothing when it comes with chains.
And safe from whom, exactly?
He's one of the men I've been hiding from the past six years.
I slide off the bed carefully so I don’t wake Sofia.
My legs feel shaky, but I force myself to stand.
I need to think.
I need to find a way out of here before this situation gets worse.
