Chapter 7 - The Night Sophia DisappearedRosa never forgot that scream.
She ran toward it.
Dante caught her around the waist.
“No.”
“My daughter!”
“Rosa, listen.”
Emergency lights flickered red across the corridor.
Gunshots continued below.
Dante pressed a weapon into one guard’s hand and pointed toward Rosa.
“Stay with her.”
Then he disappeared into the darkness.
Rosa fought the guard.
“Sophia!”
No answer.
Her bedroom was empty.
The window stood open.
A purple crayon lay on the carpet.
Rosa picked it up.
Her knees buckled.
“No.”
Dante returned six minutes later.
Six minutes that aged Rosa six years.
His shirt was torn at the shoulder.
Blood marked his cheek.
“Where is she?”
He saw the empty room.
Everything inside him stopped.
Security footage revealed the truth.
The power failure had been deliberate.
Two attackers entered through the service wing while others distracted the guards.
One carried Sophia out.
Dante watched the recording once.
Then again.
The second time, he noticed Sophia’s hand.
She was dropping something.
Purple marks appeared along the hallway wall.
Tiny streaks every few feet.
Crayon.
Even terrified, Sophia had left them a trail.
Dante followed it outside.
Across the garden.
Toward the east gate.
There the marks stopped.
A black SUV had been waiting.
Rosa stood beside him shaking.
“He took my baby.”
Dante turned.
“I will bring her back.”
“You can’t promise that.”
“Yes.”
“No, you can’t!”
She struck his chest.
Once.
Twice.
He let her.
“This happened because of you!”
“I know.”
“She was safe before this house!”
“I know.”
“You brought this into her life!”
“I know.”
Rosa broke.
Dante caught her.
She pressed her face against his chest and sobbed.
He held her.
Not as an employer.
Not as a crime boss.
As a man who understood what it meant to have someone ripped away.
His phone rang.
Victor.
Dante answered.
A child’s voice came first.
“Mister Grumpy?”
Dante closed his eyes.
“Sophia.”
“Mommy there?”
“Yes.”
“Tell her I’m okay.”
Rosa grabbed the phone.
“Baby!”
“Mommy, the bad man says no crying.”
Rosa’s face changed.
Dante took the phone.
“Victor.”
His uncle laughed.
“Eighteen months ago, you lost a wife. Tonight you may lose something else.”
“If you touch her—”
“You still think threats matter.”
“What do you want?”
“Daniel’s evidence.”
“You’ll get it.”
“And Daniel.”
Dante looked at Rosa.
“No.”
Victor chuckled.
“Then perhaps Sophia stays with me.”
Dante’s voice became ice.
“Where?”
“The chapel. Midnight.”
The line disconnected.
Rosa stared at him.
“You’re giving him Daniel?”
“No.”
“He’ll kill Sophia.”
“No.”
“How can you know?”
“Because Victor needs leverage.”
Marina appeared.
“This is my fault.”
Dante looked at her.
“Yes.”
She flinched.
Then he added, “So help me end it.”
At 11:57 p.m., Dante entered the abandoned Falcone chapel alone.
He carried the flash drive.
Victor stood near the altar.
Sophia sat in a pew eating crackers.
When she saw Dante, she smiled.
“Mister!”
Dante’s heart nearly stopped.
Victor placed a hand on her shoulder.
Dante stopped moving.
“Let her go.”
“Evidence.”
Dante raised the drive.
“First her.”
Victor smiled.
“You always were sentimental beneath all that theater.”
“You murdered Carmela.”
“She became inconvenient.”
Dante’s jaw clenched.
“And Daniel?”
“Harder to kill than expected.”
Victor held out his hand.
“The drive.”
Dante tossed it.
Victor caught it.
Then Sophia suddenly announced, “You walk funny too.”
Victor frowned.
“What?”
She stood and put both hands behind her back.
“You walk like Mister, but worse.”
Despite everything, Dante almost laughed.
Victor grabbed her arm.
Sophia screamed.
That was his mistake.
Dante moved.
Gunfire exploded from the balcony.
Victor’s men turned upward.
Marina and Dante’s security team had entered through the old bell tower.
Dante reached Sophia.
Victor fired.
Pain tore through Dante’s side.
He fell to one knee.
Sophia screamed his name.
Dante wrapped his body around her.
Another shot.
Then silence.
Victor’s weapon clattered across the floor.
Daniel Bennett stood in the chapel doorway, pale from surgery, holding a gun with his uninjured arm.
Victor stared at him.
“You.”
Daniel’s voice shook.
“You took four years from me.”
Victor lunged toward his fallen weapon.
Dante’s men tackled him before he reached it.
Sophia crawled into Dante’s arms.
“You got an owie.”
Dante laughed weakly.
“Apparently.”
“You said old ones don’t hurt.”
“This one is new.”
Rosa ran into the chapel.
“Sophia!”
Mother and daughter collided.
Rosa sobbed against her hair.
Then she saw Dante on the floor.
Blood spread across his shirt.
Her face went white.
“No.”
Dante tried to stand.
He failed.
Rosa caught his face between her hands.
“Stay with me.”
Sophia knelt beside him.
“You have to cry now.”
Dante looked at her.
“Why?”
“So the sad water comes out.”
His eyes closed.
Rosa pressed both hands against the wound.
“Dante!”
He opened them again.
“Still here.”
“Good.”
Her voice broke.
“Because you are absolutely not allowed to die after making my daughter love you.”
Dante stared at her.
Even through the pain, he heard the word she had chosen.
My daughter.
Not Sophia.
Not us.
But something in Rosa’s expression told him there was another sentence she was too frightened to say.
May you like
Then the chapel ceiling blurred.
The last thing Dante felt before losing consciousness was Sophia’s tiny hand holding one finger.
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