“There’s something else we found out while you’ve been gone tonight that I was waiting to tell you when you got back. We know who killed Leo…”
“Who—”
“Dominico…de la Rosa.”
Everything hits me at once. “Fuck! Mila, I have to go.”
“Don’t do anything stupid. We can send—”
“No! I’m going to the condo right now. If you want to help, call the Santoris and tell them what’s going on. If they have her…Fuck. I have to go.”
I end the call and dial Ellie’s number, but it goes to voicemail. I trust my sister to take care of things with her family, so I spend the entire drive trying to contact Ellie. I call and text her over and over as I speed to my condo, but she never answers.
When I see her car in the parking lot, I lose it. Everything’s a blur as I pull up to the building and rush to where I left her. I’ve been trained to move discreetly when a door is already cracked open likethis one, but I don’t care. I run through it, calling for Ellie as I check every room. But she’s nowhere to be found.
I still and try to think. Nothing looks particularly out of place. No blood or damage indicates there might have been a struggle, but without the security footage, there’s no way to know for sure. Ellie is incredibly smart and has been trained her whole life to handle situations like this. I’m sure she’s left me something. I sweep the place from floor to ceiling, looking for any clue, but the only thing out of place is the photo album I made of my time with Ellie. It’s lying on the coffee table beside where I left her on the couch. It was one of the things I was going to grab tonight, but IknowI left it in my nightstand.
Emotion floods from me as I open the book to see her beautiful smile. She’s holding a rose I picked for her when we went to the botanical gardens shortly before the playoffs.That’s odd. This picture should be toward the middle of the album.The next picture is one of us at the zoo. She insisted that we take a picture in front of every animal. She was posing in front of the lions when one jumped toward her and scared the shit out of both of us.Again, this should be later in the album.The last picture on the page is one I took with her head out the window of my car when I accidentally took a wrong turn and ended up driving us through the more unsavory part of town. I told her to roll her windows up, but she did the opposite, insisting she was fine.
The lightbulb in my head finally goes off.
Her clues.
The rose.
The lion.
The location.
I send Mila a picture of the clues, thendial the one person who knows Ellie well enough to help solve her riddle.
“Teddy?”
“Nonna! It’s—”
“Elia, yes, your sister has already reached out.”
“She left me some clues…Can you help me? I have to find her.”
I send her the picture to Nonna to wait as she works everything out. The rose for de la Rosa and the lion for Leo were obvious enough, but I needed help with the location. I didn’t think to look at the street signs, but Nonna does.
“Don’t worry, we have the full force of the Santori familyandthe Taranovs…we’ll get them back.”
“Them? What do you mean by them? Who else did the de la Rosas take?”
“Did you not know? She’s pregnant.”
Chapter 35
“You’re going tobe the most amazing mama.But you have to wake up, Ellie. You can’t stay here.”
I can hear Leo, but I can’t see him. I don’t agree with him, though. I can stay here. I’m warm, and for some reason, I feel safe and happy. I know a baby is coming soon, and I was stressed earlier…but whatever was stressing me out feels far away.
“You can’t let yourself stay asleep, Sis. If you sleep too long, you won’t wake up.”
Nah, I’m cozy. There’s no reason to wake up.
“It’s gonna be shitty when you wake up, I’m not gonna lie to you. But you have to be strong, Ellie. I know you’ve been trying to keep everyone together since I’ve been gone. And you’ve been doing a great job. But you have to be strong for just a little longer. Wake up, Ellie.”
