Chapter 3
I ran before I understood I was moving.
One second the room was dark.
The next, Luca was shouting, men were colliding, and my son’s arms were locked around my neck.
“Hold tight,” I whispered.
Logan’s fingers twisted in my uniform.
Captain Bear pressed between us.
Emergency lights flickered red.
Someone grabbed my sleeve.
I kicked backward and heard Vanessa curse.
Luca’s voice cut through the chaos.
“Catherine! Left door!”
I did not ask why a mafia guard knew my name.
I ran.
The left door led into a service corridor behind the trauma wing.
My shoes slipped on polished floor.
Logan cried against my shoulder.
Behind us, a gunshot cracked.
Not loud like movies.
Sharper.
Closer.
I stumbled, caught myself on the wall, and kept going.
A hand closed around my arm.
I spun, ready to fight.
It was Luca.
“Move,” he said.
“I’m not leaving Alessandro.”
“You want answers? Keep the boy alive.”
That worked.
We turned into a stairwell.
Alarms wailed above us.
Luca shoved a security badge into my hand.
“Basement. Laundry access. There is a black SUV by the loading dock.”
“Why should I trust you?”
He looked at Logan.
“Because David did.”
That name hit me again.
I followed.
In the basement, the laundry machines roared like thunder.
A woman in scrubs tried to block the hallway.
Luca lifted his gun.
She vanished.
We reached the loading dock.
Rain poured beyond the overhang.
A black SUV waited with its engine running.
Another man stood beside it.
Older.
Silver hair.
Scar along his jaw.
“Where’s Alessandro?” he asked.
“Alive,” Luca said. “For now. Drive.”
We got in.
The SUV moved before my door fully closed.
Logan trembled in my lap.
I wrapped my body around his.
“What is happening?” I demanded.
Luca looked back from the front seat.
“Your supervisor works for the people who took your husband.”
“Took?”
He did not answer fast enough.
I leaned forward.
“Took him where?”
The older driver spoke.
“Safehouse, prison, grave. We are still finding out.”
I wanted to scream.
But Logan was watching me.
So I pressed my lips together until the sound died inside me.
We drove through Baltimore rain, past sleeping rowhouses and empty corners.
My phone rang.
Unknown number.
Luca snatched it from my pocket.
“No.”
I grabbed it back.
“It could be about David.”
“It could track us.”
The phone buzzed again.
Then a voicemail appeared.
I played it before he could stop me.
Static.
Then a voice.
Weak.
Male.
Familiar enough to split my soul.
“Cat.”
I stopped breathing.
David.
My David.
Logan lifted his head.
“Daddy?”
The voice continued.
“If this message reaches you, it means Romano found the ring. Trust no one at Hopkins. Protect Logan. The file is in Captain Bear.”
The voicemail ended.
I looked down at the stuffed bear in Logan’s arms.
Dirty tan fur.
One stitched eye.
A blue ribbon I had tied around its neck after David died.
I had washed that bear a hundred times.
Held it through fevers.
Packed it for preschool.
Never once had I noticed anything hidden inside.
Luca turned around.
“Give it to me.”
“No.”
“Catherine—”
“No one touches my son’s bear until I know what’s inside.”
The driver said, “We’re almost there.”
The safehouse was a brick building behind a closed bakery.
Inside, Luca locked three doors behind us.
The older man introduced himself as Father Matteo.
Not a priest anymore, he said.
Whatever that meant.
I placed Logan on a couch.
He refused to let go of Captain Bear.
I sat beside him.
“Baby, Daddy said something is inside.”
Logan looked at the bear.
“Captain keeps secrets?”
“I think so.”
He held the bear out slowly.
I found the seam along its back.
One stitch was different.
Black thread where the rest was tan.
I pulled it loose.
Inside was stuffing.
And a tiny waterproof pouch.
My fingers shook as I opened it.
A memory card.
A folded photograph.
And a hospital bracelet.
The bracelet read:
WINTERS, INFANT MALE.
But the date was not Logan’s birth.
It was six months later.
I looked at Luca.
“What is this?”
His face went grim.
Father Matteo crossed himself.
Then someone knocked on the safehouse door.
Three slow knocks.
Luca raised his gun.
May you like
A voice came from outside.
“Catherine. It’s David.”
