Chapter 6 - The Girl Cross Wanted
The flight back to New York was nothing like the first.
Leo did not cry.
Maya slept beside him.
Leah did not sleep at all.
Dominic had offered the girls a bedroom aboard the aircraft.
Leah chose the seat nearest the cockpit.
He understood.
From there she could see every person approaching.
Cross demanded Elena's files in exchange for Emily.
Dominic intended to give him something.
Just not what he wanted.
Gabriel remained undercover.
The brothers communicated through a channel Elena had created.
Dominic hated that his dead wife had built an entire secret system inside his company.
He admired her for exactly the same reason.
Halfway across the Atlantic, Leah approached.
“Can I ask something?”
“Yes.”
“Why doesn't Maya remember being scared of the button until she sees one?”
Dominic considered.
“She may remember the feeling more than the event.”
“Mom says little kids remember sideways.”
“That sounds like something your mother would know better than me.”
Leah sat.
“Leo likes Maya.”
“Yes.”
“Maya likes everybody.”
“That's a useful skill.”
“No.”
Leah looked serious.
“It can be dangerous.”
Dominic studied her.
“How long have you been taking care of your sister?”
“Since she was born.”
“I mean like a parent.”
Leah looked toward Maya.
“A while.”
“Your mother worked often?”
“Yes.”
“Was she gone a lot?”
“After Dad died.”
Dominic paused.
“You told me you didn't have a father.”
“We don't.”
“What happened?”
“Car accident. Maya was a baby.”
Now Dominic understood something else.
Emily and Dominic had both become single parents within a year of each other.
Two grieving families connected by Elena's secret.
“Your mother should not have left all of this on you.”
Leah immediately defended her.
“She didn't.”
“You traveled internationally with a three-year-old because she disappeared.”
“She had no choice.”
“Maybe.”
Leah's eyes flashed.
“She loves us.”
“I know.”
“You don't know anything.”
“I know what people do when they love someone and are afraid.”
That stopped her.
Dominic looked toward Leo.
“They make imperfect decisions.”
Leah sat quietly.
Then:
“Are you mad at your wife?”
The question hurt.
“Yes.”
“Even though she's dead?”
“Especially because she's dead. I can't argue with her.”
Leah smiled faintly.
“Mom says that's why Dad wins all their fights now.”
Dominic laughed unexpectedly.
It startled both of them.
When they landed in New York, federal agents waited.
Dominic had finally done what Elena had apparently wanted all along.
He involved people outside his control.
The FBI had spent twelve hours reviewing the evidence.
Cross's network was bigger than Rainer Global.
Corporate espionage.
Blackmail.
Illegal surveillance.
Kidnapping.
Emily had discovered client records proving it.
That was what Cross wanted.
Not merely Elena's evidence.
Emily had copied his customer list.
The problem was nobody knew where she put it.
Leah did.
She just didn't realize it yet.
They reached Dominic's secure townhouse shortly before midnight.
Leah walked into the kitchen.
She stopped.
The layout was different from her home.
But one detail caught her attention.
A wooden table.
“Maya.”
Her sister looked up.
“What did Mom say the night she fixed Bun?”
Maya hugged the rabbit.
“Bun sick.”
“What else?”
The toddler thought.
“Mommy say... Leah numbers.”
Leah frowned.
“What numbers?”
Maya held up random fingers.
“Three. Seven. Two.”
Leah froze.
“Say it again.”
“Three seven two.”
Dominic watched.
Leah ran toward her backpack.
She pulled out the 274 euros.
“No.”
She emptied the sock.
At the bottom was a receipt.
Rome train station.
Locker reservation.
Number 372.
Dominic immediately called Celia.
She answered from London.
“Rome,” he said. “Locker 372.”
Silence.
Then:
“Elena.”
“What?”
“She used 372.”
“Why?”
“March seventy-second.”
“There is no March seventy-second.”
“Exactly. Elena used impossible dates for emergency references.”
Dominic almost smiled.
“Can you get there?”
“Three hours.”
“Go.”
Cross contacted them before Celia reached the station.
This time he called Leah's hidden phone.
Dominic answered.
“Put Leah on.”
“No.”
“I wasn't asking.”
“Neither am I.”
Cross laughed.
“You sound exactly like everyone says.”
“Let Emily go.”
“Give me the files.”
“We can exchange.”
“I want the girl.”
Dominic's blood chilled.
“No.”
“Leah knows where Emily hid the client list.”
“She doesn't.”
“She will.”
Leah stood behind Dominic.
She had heard.
Cross continued.
“Emily trained her to remember patterns. Numbers. Routes. Details adults overlook.”
Dominic looked at Leah.
“She used her daughter as a backup memory.”
Leah's face went white.
“No.”
Cross laughed.
“You didn't know?”
Dominic ended the call.
Leah stared at him.
“My mom used me?”
“No.”
“He said—”
“He wants you frightened.”
“But what if he's right?”
Dominic crouched.
“Your mother taught you things.”
“Yes.”
“That doesn't mean she intended to make you part of this.”
Leah's eyes filled.
“Then why do I know everything?”
Dominic had no answer.
She ran upstairs.
Maya started after her.
Dominic stopped her gently.
“Give her a minute.”
Maya looked suspicious.
Then pointed at him.
“You fix Leah.”
Dominic almost smiled.
“I'll try.”
He found Leah sitting inside Leo's nursery.
She was crying silently.
“I thought Mom trusted me.”
“She does.”
“Then why didn't she tell me?”
“Because you're ten.”
“Everybody keeps saying that!”
“Because you are.”
She glared.
Dominic sat on the floor.
“You should be worrying about school and friends and whether your sister steals your things.”
“She does.”
“Leo also steals things.”
“Babies do that.”
“So I'm learning.”
Her breathing slowed.
Dominic continued.
“Being capable doesn't mean adults are allowed to make you responsible for everything.”
Leah wiped her face.
“Who takes care of Maya if Mom doesn't come back?”
The question broke him.
He answered carefully.
“Your mother is coming back.”
“You don't know.”
“No.”
He took a breath.
“But until she does, you aren't alone.”
Leah looked at him.
“You barely know us.”
“That stopped mattering somewhere over the Atlantic.”
A phone rang downstairs.
Victor shouted.
“Dominic!”
They ran down.
Celia had reached Locker 372.
Inside was a hard drive.
And another letter.
Not from Emily.
From Elena.
Dominic opened the scanned copy.
If Emily has activated this plan, Cross knows too much. The client list isn't here.
Dominic's stomach dropped.
I gave it to the one person Cross would never suspect.
Then:
Dominic, forgive me.
I gave it to your son.
Everyone looked toward Leo.
Leah frowned.
“He's a baby.”
Dominic stared at the stuffed rabbit in his son's hands.
Then Maya screamed.
“Bun!”
Leah turned.
The rabbit.
Emily had repaired it.
Elena's files.
The brass key.
But the rabbit itself had originally belonged to someone else.
Dominic picked it up.
“Where did Maya get this?”
Leah looked confused.
“Mom gave it to her after Dad died.”
Dominic checked the faded tag.
His heart stopped.
Embroidered beneath years of wear was a single word.
LEO.
Not the baby's name.
The manufacturer's collection.
But Dominic knew the rabbit.
Elena had bought one exactly like it years earlier.
Before Leo was born.
She had given it to Emily.
May you like
And inside the rabbit, beneath a second seam Leah had never noticed, was a tiny encrypted drive.
Cross's complete client list.
