Chapter 3 - Three Days Later
Dominic did not open the rabbit.
He placed it inside a secure cabinet while Lucy protested loudly enough to terrify every criminal within twenty miles.
“Bunny doesn't like boxes!”
“I know,” Dominic said.
“He gets lonely.”
“I'll make sure he has company.”
“With who?”
Dominic looked around.
Marco placed a ceramic cat beside the cabinet.
Lucy considered this.
“Okay.”
That was how a three-year-old negotiated with the Moretti organization.
The anonymous call changed everything.
Dominic moved Lucy and me into a guest suite.
Security doubled.
Nobody entered without being checked.
For three days, Dominic's mansion became both sanctuary and cage.
During those three days, I learned things about him I had never expected.
He drank coffee black.
He slept very little.
He hated television news.
He knew how to braid hair badly.
That discovery occurred when Lucy marched into breakfast and announced that Mommy was showering and therefore Dominic had to fix her ponytail.
“I don't know how.”
“You're big.”
Apparently size qualified him.
Ten minutes later, Lucy had something resembling a wounded bird attached to the back of her head.
I entered the kitchen and stopped.
Dominic looked defensive.
“She moved.”
Lucy said, “He did bad.”
I laughed.
It escaped before I could stop it.
Dominic stared at me.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“You're laughing.”
“I haven't seen anything that crooked since my bathroom shelf.”
“You want to try?”
“I think civilization deserves that.”
I fixed Lucy's hair.
For a moment, we looked almost ordinary.
Then Marco entered carrying a folder.
Ordinary disappeared.
“We found Daniel.”
I froze.
“What does that mean?”
“His work history.”
Dominic opened the folder.
Daniel had been senior accounts supervisor at Creston Freight.
Creston had transported legitimate goods.
Furniture.
Machinery.
Imported food.
But some invoices had been manipulated.
Millions of dollars moved through fake contracts.
Daniel discovered them.
“He reported it?” I asked.
“Not officially,” Dominic said.
“Then how do you know?”
“Because he copied records.”
“Where?”
“We don't know.”
I looked toward the cabinet holding Bunny.
Dominic followed my gaze.
“No.”
“Daddy put secret there.”
“Elena—”
“Daniel gave Lucy that rabbit two days before he died.”
Silence.
I remembered him bringing it home.
He had held six-month-old Lucy and kissed her forehead.
Something felt wrong that night.
He'd been distracted.
He kept looking through the blinds.
I had asked what was bothering him.
“Work.”
That was all he'd said.
Then he told me something strange.
“If anything happens to me, don't throw away Lucy's rabbit.”
I had thought he was joking.
Now my hands began shaking.
“I forgot.”
Dominic came closer.
“What?”
“He told me not to throw it away.”
“Anything else?”
“He said some things belong to children because adults don't know how to leave them alone.”
Marco muttered, “Jesus.”
Daniel hadn't been joking.
He'd hidden something.
And someone had killed him for it.
I sat down.
“His accident.”
Dominic said nothing.
I looked up.
“It wasn't an accident.”
“We don't know.”
“You know.”
“I suspect.”
Tears burned my eyes.
For two and a half years, I had blamed weather.
Road conditions.
Bad luck.
I had told Lucy her father died because sometimes terrible things happened without reason.
Maybe there had been a reason.
Money.
Secrets.
Fear.
I stood abruptly.
“Open the rabbit.”
Dominic shook his head.
“No.”
“They're bluffing.”
“Maybe.”
“Daniel died for whatever is inside.”
“And I'm not letting you die for it too.”
“It belongs to me.”
“It belongs to Lucy.”
“I'm her mother.”
“And I'm responsible for your safety while you're here.”
Anger exploded through grief.
“I didn't ask you to be responsible for me!”
“No.”
His voice stayed quiet.
“You just keep surviving everything alone and acting like that's the same thing as being safe.”
I stared at him.
That hurt because it was true.
I walked away.
He didn't follow.
That evening, the hospital called.
Mom had worsened.
The doctor didn't say how long she had.
He didn't need to.
I packed immediately.
Dominic found me.
“Where are you going?”
“Pennsylvania.”
“No.”
I glared.
“Try again.”
His jaw tightened.
“You cannot drive alone.”
“My mother is dying.”
“I know.”
“Then move.”
“I'll take you.”
I stared.
“You?”
“Yes.”
“You have an entire security team.”
“And I'm still taking you.”
“Why?”
His answer came after a pause.
“Because you shouldn't make that drive alone.”
The simplicity nearly broke me.
Three days after Lucy had asked Dominic Moretti to become my boyfriend, I climbed into his armored SUV with my daughter sleeping in the back seat.
Marco followed in another vehicle.
Bunny remained locked in the mansion.
Or so we thought.
We were forty minutes outside the city when Lucy woke.
“Mommy?”
“Yes, baby?”
“I brought Bunny.”
My heart stopped.
She lifted the stuffed rabbit from beneath her blanket.
Dominic looked at it in the rearview mirror.
“How?”
Lucy smiled proudly.
“I traded.”
“Traded what?”
“The other bunny.”
I remembered she owned an almost identical rabbit at home.
Dominic muttered something in Italian.
I would later learn it was not appropriate for children.
“Pull over,” I said.
“No.”
“Why?”
His eyes shifted to the mirror.
“Because we've had company for twelve miles.”
I turned.
A black sedan was three cars behind us.
“Is it him?”
“Don't know.”
Dominic accelerated.
The sedan did too.
Marco's vehicle moved between us.
Lucy hummed to herself.
She didn't understand.
I wished I didn't either.
“Dominic.”
“I see it.”
The sedan changed lanes.
Marco blocked.
Then it disappeared behind a truck.
For five minutes, nothing happened.
My breathing slowed.
Then Dominic's phone rang.
Marco.
“Plate matches.”
The partial numbers from Lucy's drawing.
Raymond Voss.
The sedan reappeared.
Closer.
Dominic took the next exit.
So did it.
He made two rapid turns.
It followed.
No doubt remained.
Somebody was following us to my dying mother.
Dominic drove into a busy service plaza.
Marco and two security men surrounded the SUV.
The black sedan continued past.
“Why didn't they stop?”
I asked.
“Because they wanted us to know they're there.”
“That doesn't make sense.”
“It does if they're sending a message.”
Lucy suddenly spoke.
“The man doesn't want Grandma.”
Dominic turned.
“What?”
“He wants Bunny.”
I stared at her.
“How do you know?”
She pointed toward the rabbit.
“Daddy said.”
Again.
Those impossible words.
“Lucy, when did Daddy say that?”
She frowned.
Then she touched the rabbit's paw.
“Bunny says it.”
Dominic took the toy carefully.
He pressed the paw.
Nothing.
Again.
A faint click.
Then static.
And Daniel's voice filled the SUV.
“Elena, if you're hearing this, they found us.”
I stopped breathing.
The recording continued.
“I don't have much time. Trust the numbers, not the names. And whatever you do, don't trust—”
The audio cut out.
“Don't trust who?” I whispered.
Dominic pressed the paw again.
Nothing.
Marco opened the passenger door.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“We checked the sedan's registration.”
“And?”
“It changed yesterday.”
“To who?”
Marco looked directly at me.
“The new registered owner is Elena Bennett.”
My mouth fell open.
“That is impossible.”
Marco's phone buzzed.
He read the message.
Then slowly lifted his eyes.
“They just sent us a photograph.”
“Of what?”
He turned the screen around.
My mother was asleep in her hospital bed.
May you like
A man stood beside her.
And on his wrist was a silver watch with a black face.
