“We can’t ask for help.”
“I’m not asking you to ask.” He’s firm now. “I’m telling you. If you need a driver. If you need an alibi. If you need someone who doesn’t ask questions.” He pauses. “You know my rate.”
Despite everything, I almost smile. “Babysitting?”
“Babysitting.” He’s dead serious. “I’m here, Dylan. For both of you. Always. Whatever you need. I don’t need to know what. But I’m here.”
My throat closes. I can’t speak.
Nikko pulls me into a hug. Quick. Tight. The kind of hug that saysbe safeandcome back aliveandI’ll kill you if you get my sister hurt.
“Go back to the table,” he says. “Before they notice something’s wrong.”
Too late for that. Everyone’s already noticed. But we’ll perform anyway.
I nod. Wipe my eyes. Walk back to the dining room with Nikko behind me.
Alex looks up the moment we return. Her eyes ask the question.
I shake my head slightly.Later.
She nods. Understands.
Eleni saves us.
The baby starts fussing—overtired, overstimulated, done with the dinner she’s been sitting through. Maya picks her up, starts the bouncing dance all parents know.
“Come here, baby girl.” The words come out before I can stop them.
Maya looks surprised. Alex looks... something. Hopeful? Scared?
But I need this. Need something innocent to hold. Something that doesn’t know about rings in pockets and bodies in alleys and the way men hunt women like prey.
Eleni comes willingly. Grabs my hair immediately with those tiny, perfect hands.
“Ow,” I laugh. But I don’t pull away.
Because pain from a baby is clean. Simple. She’s not trying to hurt me. She just doesn’t know her own strength yet. She’s learning. Growing. Becoming.
She has time to become someone.
Dahlia didn’t.
The thought hits like ice water.
Eleni laughs. Pure, joyful baby laughter that knows nothing about death or danger or the way the world devours women.
I hold her tighter.
“Careful,” Maya says gently. “You’ll squish her.”
I loosen my grip. Force a smile. “Sorry. She’s just—she’s perfect.”
“She is,” Maya agrees. But she’s watching me carefully now. Wondering.
Alex is watching too. That soft expression she gets. The one that sayssomeday.
But there won’t be a someday. Not if this investigation goes wrong. Not if Dom finds out. Not if Marcus?—
