Chapter 7
The warning came from inside my house.
Salvatore confirmed it before dawn.
Only a handful of people knew Isabel had been found before Lucia left: me, Salvatore, Victoria, Mercer, the children, and two corridor guards.
The children were impossible.
Victoria and Mercer were watched.
That left the guards.
One had served me nine years.
The other eleven.
I hated the answer before Salvatore finished saying his name.
“Daniel Ross.”
An eleven-year man.
Someone I trusted near my children.
Ross was brought into the library without being told why. One look at Mercer and he understood.
“I didn’t know Isabel was inside.”
Wrong denial.
“What did you know?”
Ross looked toward Salvatore.
“That Victoria had a private corridor.”
“What else?”
“That nobody entered the gray room.”
“Why?”
“I was told it contained old weapons.”
“And you never questioned food being carried there?”
His face changed.
“You did know.”
He swallowed.
“I knew someone was there.”
Sofia appeared in the doorway before I could continue. Isabel stood behind her, weak but upright.
Ross looked at my daughter.
She recognized him immediately.
“You took my key.”
I turned.
“What?”
Sofia touched the brass key hanging from her neck. “I found it before. He took it and said it was dangerous.”
Ross closed his eyes.
Enough.
Isabel stared at him.
“You heard me knock.”
His face collapsed.
He nodded.
“How many times?”
No answer.
Her voice shook.
“How many times did you hear me?”
“Almost every night.”
I looked away.
Not because I felt mercy.
Because if I kept looking at him, anger would make decisions I wanted made cold.
Ross started speaking quickly. Rafael’s people did not pay him money. They used old family debts. Ross’s father had once been protected by Rafael. Lucia reminded him every month.
“They said Isabel was being held until she calmed down.”
Isabel laughed weakly.
“For nine months?”
Ross looked ashamed.
Then Sofia asked the question none of us expected.
“Did you hear Mommy crying when we walked past?”
Ross’s eyes filled.
“Yes.”
“And you still told me it was ghosts?”
“Yes.”
She looked at me.
Not him.
That hurt more.
“Daddy, how many people knew?”
I had no answer.
And for the first time, I understood the real size of Rafael’s power.
May you like
It was not how many people were willing to betray me.
It was how many people were willing to see something wrong, call it family business, and keep walking.
