Chapter 5

“Five million dollars,” the man said. “That’s what it costs for you two to go home alive.”

Leah’s lips had gone pale.

“He won’t come.”

The man laughed.

“Then let him tell me himself.”

The first call was rejected.

The second went unanswered.

Leah watched the screen until it went dark. For five years, she’d waited for that number to light up her phone. Now she was praying someone would answer it.

The man lost patience.

He grabbed Finn and dragged him away from her.

The boy struggled, scraped his hand, and cried for his mother.

Leah lunged after him.

Someone forced her back onto the floor.

“Don’t touch him! I’ll call again!”

She kept calling.

When Matteo finally answered, she could barely get the words out.

“Matteo, someone took me and Finn. They want a ransom. Please listen—”

“Haven’t you had enough?”

Nothing in his voice but irritation.

Leah went still.

“This isn’t a game. Finn’s hurt. They said—”

“First you leave the house. Then the amusement park. Now you’ve hired people to stage a kidnapping.”

He gave a cold laugh.

“You expect me to believe this?”

The kidnapper snatched the phone.

He named an old debt, something only people inside the family would know.

“Vitale. You know who we are. Pay what you owe if you want them back.”

For a moment, the line went quiet.

Leah lifted her head.

She thought he might at least ask where Finn was.

Instead, she heard Bianca.

“Matteo, Nico’s waiting.”

“I’ll be right there,” he said softly.

Then his voice hardened again.

“Don’t use her to test me. I’m not sending my men out for this little performance.”

The kidnapper held the phone to Finn’s mouth.

“Dad…”

Finn was crying too hard to breathe properly.

“I want to go home.”

Leah’s tears struck the floor.

“Did you hear him? That’s Finn. Please—”

“Leah, I don’t have time to play along.”

A pause.

“If you really want to hurt them, go ahead.”

The call ended.

Finn’s muffled sobs filled the warehouse.

The man stared at the dead screen, then kicked over a chair.

“He doesn’t even want his own son.”

Leah didn’t ask him to call again.

She crawled toward Finn until her shoulder touched his.

“Look at me.”

Her voice shook.

“Don’t be afraid. Look at Mom.”

His little hand was bleeding. She couldn’t reach it with her wrists bound.

He tried to lean closer anyway.

The men dragged them outside.

At the edge of a cliff above the sea, wind forced Finn’s eyes shut.

Leah pressed against him.

Someone cursed behind them.

Then the ground vanished.

As they fell, she used everything she had to pull Finn into her arms.

She didn’t wonder whether Matteo would regret it.

Before the sea filled her mouth and nose, she thought only of her son.

He was still so small.

He hadn’t even opened his new toy.

***

A monitor beeped.

Leah woke and tried to sit up.

“Finn!”

A nurse caught her shoulders.

“He’s next door. He’s out of danger. A coastal patrol found you both and brought you in.”

Leah barely heard the rest.

She got out of bed and made her way along the wall to the next room.

Finn sat on the bed, his hand bandaged, staring at the doorway.

When he saw her, he reached out.

“Mom.”

She crossed the room and held him carefully.

He didn’t burst into tears this time.

He kept gripping her clothes, checking that she was really there.

She let him.

For a long time, neither of them spoke. She could feel his fingers tightening whenever she shifted, so she stayed still.

Finally, he looked up.

“Can we stop calling Dad?”

She rested her cheek against his hair.

“We’ll never call him again.”

During their stay, the police took her statement. Her attorney came to help with what followed.

Leah didn’t contact Matteo.

When the divorce judgment arrived, she sat beside Finn’s bed and read the electronic copy from beginning to end.

Five years of marriage.

Finally over.

She checked the names, the dates, the arrangements for Finn.

Nothing on the page required her to wait for Matteo to come home.

Nothing asked her to try harder.

She saved the file.

Then she looked at her son.

He was asleep, his bandaged hand resting on the blanket. The bruises were still there. So was the stitched cut on his forehead.

A court document couldn’t undo those things.

But she could make sure he never went back.

Once the doctors cleared them both for discharge, Leah took the paperwork and returned to the basement apartment.

Finn sat on the bed while she opened their suitcase.

There wasn’t much to pack.

A few changes of clothes. His sketchbook. Their documents.

And the toy car, still sealed in its packaging.