“I hope they can stop him before he gets out of the country,” Dawn said.
“Don’t worry. Someone in that gang will roll on him for a lesser sentence.”
There’s only one problem with that…on the full moon, he’ll tear his cellmate apart.
“What are you planning? Whatever it is, I’m going with you.”
Luca shook his head. “No way. You are going to stay with my parents. I don’t want you in harm’s way.”
“You can’t order me around. If I say I’m going with you, then I’m going with you.”
Luca gritted his teeth. “I love you, Dawn, but you have it in your head that you have to save the world, and you could get yourself killed in the process. I can’t risk it.”
“I don’t have that mindset. You do!”
Mandy overheard the couple and poked her head around the kitchen doorway. “Don’t fight. That’s what the mean man and lady did all the time.”
They gazed at each other, chagrinned. “We’re not fighting, honey,” Luca said. “Not really. Sometimes grown-ups both want the same thing, but they just want it to happen different ways.”
Dawn took his hand and said, “It’s okay. I know you’re right about wanting to keep me safe. But you aren’t right about me wanting to save the world.” Then she winked. “Just my little corner of it.”
“Tomorrow, you can get your grandma out of the hospital and bring her here.”
“Why? Do you think they’d go after her?”
“Babe, if it’s known that you had something to do with it, the gang might try to retaliate.”
“Maybe we shouldn’t wait…and shouldn’t you ask your parents?”
Antonio breezed into the living room, wearing his bathrobe. “Ask your parents what?”
“Can Dawn’s grandmother stay here until this all blows over—or until we find her another place to live?”
Antonio nodded gravely. “She can stay here as long as she likes. You too, of course, Dawn.”
Dawn threw her arms around Antonio’s neck and spoke through a throat thick with tears. “Thank you.” Then she turned to Luca. “We have to catch them.”
“We will. I promise.”
* * *
The doorbell rang.
Luca answered it, and Dawn was happy to see Jack Richardson on their doorstep.
“Is she here?”
“Yes,” she and Luca said at the same time. They didn’t have a chance to say another word before Mandy came running, yelling, “Daddy! Daddy!”
The man dropped to his knees in front of his daughter and burst into tears. He pulled her into a tight embrace and held her as if he’d never let her go. She was holding onto him just as tightly.
Gabriella waited until they had pulled apart, sniffling, and handed them both some tissues. “Let me make you some coffee, Jack.”
“No, thank you. I just want to get my little girl home—where she belongs.”
“That’s completely understandable.”
Jack rose, lifting Mandy and resting her on his left hip as he stuck out his right hand to Luca. “I can’t thank you enough.” After shaking his hand, he turned to Dawn and shook hers. “And you… You’re amazing. I don’t know how you found her, but I’ll be forever grateful.”
