“Yes.”
“And the baby?”
That word in my son’s mouth does something to me I am not prepared for.
The meaning means more. He is concerned with the baby. Not the search or the leverage or the threat.
Just the baby and the woman carrying it.
I draw a breath. “The doctor says everything is fine, as far as he can tell.”
Matteo looks at me again, and there is something almost helpless in his expression.
“I have a brother or sister upstairs,” he says quietly, almost contemplatively.
The words hit me harder than any bullet ever could.
Maybe because the idea of another child in this family died ten years ago, and it’s a door we never thought would open again.
“Yes,” I say again.
Everyone sits in silence for another moment.
At least until my next words.
“And if you're right, then Bellandi threatened my child.”
Matteo’s face goes cold in a way I rarely see on him.
“They used it against her,” he says tightly.
“Yes. It's how they got her to leave the park with them.”
Ricardo’s eyes lift to mine.
“You want us to send a message?” he asks.
I think of Victoria apologizing into my shirt. Of the way they made her doubt me, made her afraid to come to me. Watched her in her own home and manipulated her.
“No,” I say coldly. “No messages. No warnings. No negotiations. Bellandi put a gun on what is mine.”
My voice drops.
“Now they pay.”
Chapter Thirty Three
Victoria
When I wake, the room is dim.
The fire in the hearth has burned low, orange light shifting over dark wood. Heavy curtains block out the window, so I have no idea what time of day it is or how long I've slept.
I have about one moment of peace before memories from yesterday bombard me quickly.
The park. The gun pressed to my side. The woman who was not Cindy Sullivan. The man’s voice in my ear.
The baby.
