Page 175 of Merciless Daddy

We worked through the routes for nearly half an hour. When I returned upstairs, Yelena’s bedroom door stood open.

The bed was empty.

The scratchy blanket had been folded back with care, and her slippers were gone from beside the chair.

And downstairs, at the far end of the silent house, a narrow strip of light shone beneath the office door.

I opened the office door without knocking.

Yelena sat at the desk in soft grey pajamas and bare feet. Her hair had been tied up badly, loose pieces falling around her face. The laptop screen lit her pale eyes from below.

A dinner plate sat beside the keyboard.

Bread untouched.

Soup gone cold.

She looked at me, then at the screen, then back at me.

The document was open between us.

TRANSFER AND PERSONAL APPEARANCE TERMS.

I did not need to read every clause. I read enough.

Her shares moved to a trust under conditions Gianni could accept. A meeting location. A condition that no Caruso or Scordato personnel would be present. A promise of access to her signature if he released the payroll account and ceased action against Tonio’s employees.

She had written herself into a bargain.

She had made her body and freedom a currency again.

My first feeling was not anger. It was terror. But I kept it out of my voice.

“Did you send it?”

Her lips parted.

“No.”

“Did you contact Gianni?”

“No.”

“Lev?”

“No.”

“Anyone working for either of them?”

“No, Daddy.”

I moved behind the desk, closed the laptop, and turned the screen black.

“You promise me?”

“I swear it.”

I crouched in front of her chair.