Chapter 4
I found their address three days later.
It wasn’t hard. I’d worked for my father long enough to know how to track people. How to look up license plates, how to ask the right questions in the right bodegas, how to stay quiet and listen.
They lived in a small blue house in a quiet neighborhood outside the city.
A white picket fence. A swing set in the front yard, still in the box, waiting to be built. Flower boxes under the windows, filled with pink impatiens.
Nothing like the penthouse.
Nothing like the dark, heavy houses the Rizzos usually lived in.
I stood on the sidewalk across the street for almost an hour.
Watching the front door. My hands shaking so bad I almost dropped the paper bag I was holding. Inside was a gift. A soft, fuzzy baby blanket, cream-colored, with little sheep stitched on the corners. I’d bought it at the drugstore with my tip money. It wasn’t much. It wasn’t enough. But it was all I could afford.
I didn’t know what I was going to say.
I’m sorry. I was wrong. I want to help.
None of it felt like enough.
Finally, I crossed the street.
Walked up the front steps. Knocked on the door.
My heart was in my throat.
The door opened.
It was Lila.
She was wearing sweatpants and an oversized Rizzo baseball jersey, her hair falling in soft waves around her face. She was holding a mug of tea in one hand. The other rested on her belly.
She froze when she saw me.
Her eyes went wide. The mug slipped a little in her hand.
For a second I thought she’d slam the door in my face.
I wouldn’t have blamed her.
“Elara?” she said. Her voice was soft. Wary.
“Hi,” I said. My voice came out cracked. “I know you don’t want to see me. I know I have no right to be here. I just… I need to say something. And then I’ll leave. I promise.”
She didn’t say anything.
Just stood there, staring at me.
Behind her, I heard footsteps.
Dominic appeared in the doorway.
He saw me.
His face went cold. Hard. The same look he’d had at the party. He stepped in front of Lila, shielding her with his body, his hands clenched into fists at his sides.
“What are you doing here?” he snapped. “I told you if I ever saw you again, you’d regret it.”
“I know,” I said. I held up my hands, empty, showing him I wasn’t a threat. “I’m not here to fight. I’m not here to beg for the engagement back. I don’t want any of that. I just want to talk. Five minutes. That’s all.”
“Get off my property,” he said.
He started to close the door.
“Wait,” I said. “My father sent men to hurt you. Didn’t he? Last week. At the grocery store. You hurt your hand fighting them off.”
He stopped.
The door didn’t close all the way.
“How do you know that?”
“Because I know him,” I said. “I know how he thinks. He’s desperate. He lost all his deals because of what happened at the party. He owes more money than he can ever pay back. He’s not going to stop. He’s going to keep coming after Lila. After the baby. Because he thinks if he hurts them enough, you’ll marry me to make it stop.”
Dominic stared at me.
His jaw was tight.
“Lila,” he said, not taking his eyes off me. “Go inside. Call Tony. Tell him to get over here.”
“No,” Lila said.
She put a hand on his arm.
He looked back at her.
“Lila, she’s dangerous—”
“Let her talk,” she said.
She stepped around him.
Looked right at me.
“Five minutes,” she said. “Then you leave. No arguments.”
I nodded.
She led me around the side of the house to a small patio. A wooden table, two chairs, a potted tomato plant in the corner. Dominic stood by the door the whole time, watching me like a hawk, his hand never far from the waistband of his jeans.
I set the paper bag on the table.
Pushed it toward her.
“I bought this for the baby,” I said. “It’s not much. I know it doesn’t make up for anything. But I wanted you to have it.”
She didn’t open it.
Just looked at it.
“Why are you here, Elara?” she asked.
“Because I’m sorry,” I said. The words came out fast, like they’d been trapped inside me for months. “I’m so sorry. For the party. For cutting your hair. For humiliating you. For everything. I was angry. At my dad. At Dominic. At the whole world. And I took it out on you. You didn’t do anything. You never did anything. You were just there. And I was cruel. And I’ve hated myself every single day since.”
My throat got tight.
I didn’t cry. I didn’t deserve to cry.
“I know saying sorry doesn’t fix it,” I said. “I know nothing I do will ever take that night back. But my father is going to keep coming after you. And I can help you stop him. I know all his secrets. All his deals. All the people he works with. I have a list. Names, dates, amounts. Everything. I can give it to you. You can use it to put him away. To make sure he never hurts anyone again.”
Dominic stepped forward.
“Why would you do that?” he asked. “He’s your father.”
“He sold me,” I said. “He used me my whole life. He doesn’t care about me. He never has. And now he’s going to hurt an innocent girl and a baby just to save himself. I’m not going to let that happen. Not again.”
Lila was quiet for a long time.
She looked at me. Really looked at me. Like she was trying to see if I was lying.
Finally, she reached out.
Opened the paper bag.
Pulled out the baby blanket.
Ran her fingers over the little sheep.
“Dominic grew up poor,” she said softly. “We both did. When we were kids, his mom worked three jobs just to keep the lights on. I never had a blanket this nice when I was little.”
She looked up at me.
Her eyes were wet.
“I never hated you,” she said.
I blinked.
“What?”
“I never hated you,” she repeated. “I felt sorry for you. I saw you at the house. All those parties. All those people smiling at you, but no one ever really saw you. You were always alone. Even in a room full of people.”
She set the blanket down.
“I don’t forgive you,” she said. “Not yet. What you did hurt. A lot. But… I believe you. That you want to help.”
She looked at Dominic.
“Let her stay,” she said. “We can use the help. You know we can.”
Dominic stared at her.
Then at me.
His face was still hard. Still distrustful.
But he nodded.
“One wrong move,” he said, pointing a finger at me. “One single thing that even looks like a threat to her or that baby, and you’re gone. Understood?”
May you like
I nodded.
“Understood.”
