My stomach roils, not knowing if Ashton is still alive. If Dante’s men won the fight or if, within seconds, Massimo’s men will be tearing down the mountainside in search of their don, and I’ll be the next one dead.
Twenty
Harper
There’s something sinister going on under this roof.
Nova is playing a game on her phone, her attention barely on Zeke, but he’s preoccupied in the playroom with the train set, which seems to fascinate him.
I’ve been leaning on the wall, with a vantage point of Dante’s office.
I need to get that stuffed dragon.
Zeke has the same one at home.
The same color.
The same size.
I wouldn’t have thought anything of it, except for the way it had been violently torn into, the face of the dragon ripped apart.
Had it belonged to the child in the basement?
I know Luca told me that everything is fine. The child is safe, but how can that little boy ever be safe if the mafia murdered his family?
Shouldn’t they pay for what they’ve done?
Had they destroyed his stuffed dragon, his favorite toy, as a threat?
Nova doesn’t pay me any attention, and I head out of the office when I watch Dante carry Nikki up the stairs.
There are less of Dante’s men here than usual. Hopefully, no one is paying attention to me because they’re too busy doing whatever it is they do all day.
I hurry to Dante’s office and give a pretend knock.
If anyone watches the feed and isn’t aware that Dante has snuck upstairs with his wife, then maybe they’ll think he’s in the office.
I step inside, closing the door behind myself.
At least there are no cameras inside his office.
I hurry across the room and grab the stuffed dragon. On further inspection, it looks like a knife was the culprit.
The dagger that was on the desk earlier isn’t left on display. I try the desk drawer, but it’s locked.
I tuck the stuffed toy under the crook of my arm and hurry out of Dante’s office and back toward the playroom. “Zeke, would you like to go to the park?”
I won’t leave my son behind with monsters.
While I trust Nova with Zeke, I don’t trust Dante and Nikki alone with him.
“Yes!” he squeals and runs right for me.
Nova glances up from her phone. “We should let them know where we’re heading.”
“I already told them.”
It’s an easy lie, and I force a smile. “You can hang back here if you want some quiet time.”