Chapter 5 - The Photograph
The photograph showed Mia entering Harbor Ridge.
Pink backpack.
Stuffed horse beneath one arm.
Claire’s hand holding hers.
Time stamp: 9:14 a.m.
Someone had been watching them.
On the back, written in black ink, were four words.
EVERY KING HAS A WEAKNESS.
Dante saw the message and became someone Claire barely recognized.
The injured man disappeared.
The father remained.
“Lock the floor.”
Nico nodded.
“Already happening.”
“No elevators without identification.”
“Yes.”
“Police?”
“On their way.”
Dante looked toward Mia.
The little girl sat beside Kate, unaware of the meaning behind the adults’ fear.
“Get her away from the windows.”
Claire stepped between Dante and the room.
“She is not one of your soldiers.”
His expression softened instantly.
“I know.”
“You’re frightening her.”
Dante looked at Mia.
She was watching him now.
He lowered his voice.
“Sorry.”
Mia held her stuffed horse tighter.
“Is somebody mad at me?”
Dante answered before Claire could.
“No.”
“Then why is everyone acting weird?”
Dante crouched slowly.
Pain crossed his face but he ignored it.
“Somebody is angry with me.”
“Why?”
A difficult question.
Dante glanced at Claire.
Claire didn’t help.
“Because I’ve made bad choices.”
Mia considered that.
“Mommy says choices have consequences.”
Dante almost smiled.
“Your mommy is very smart.”
“I know.”
Claire looked away before anyone saw her reaction.
Mia pointed at Dante’s shoulder.
“Did the consequences shoot you?”
Kate made a sound somewhere between a cough and a laugh.
Even Nico looked at the floor.
Dante nodded solemnly.
“Possibly.”
Mia thought about that.
“Those are big consequences.”
“Yes.”
“Maybe make better choices.”
Dante looked at Claire.
“I’m trying.”
For one dangerous second, Claire felt something old move inside her.
She crushed it.
This was not romance.
This was survival.
Police arrived.
Detective Lena Ward took control of the investigation.
She was forty-two, blunt, exhausted and unimpressed by Moretti security.
“I don’t care how many men you employ,” she told Dante. “Inside this hospital, my officers control the scene.”
Dante nodded.
“Fine.”
Lena looked surprised.
Claire almost smiled.
She liked Lena immediately.
The detective examined the photograph.
“Professional quality.”
Nico said, “Long-range lens.”
Lena glared.
“I wasn’t asking.”
Nico shut up.
Claire sat beside Mia while officers checked every camera between the parking garage and sixth floor.
At 3:20 p.m., Lena returned.
“We found him.”
Dante’s gaze sharpened.
“The photographer?”
“Maybe.”
She placed a still image on the table.
A man wearing a baseball cap stood near the lobby doors.
Claire leaned closer.
Her blood froze.
“I know him.”
Dante looked at her.
“Who?”
Claire searched her memory.
Six years.
A dinner.
A warehouse Christmas party Dante had insisted was boring.
Men in suits.
A woman singing badly after too much wine.
Then the face came back.
“Luca.”
Dante became still.
Lena asked, “You’re certain?”
Claire nodded.
“He was younger. No beard.”
Dante stared at the image of his cousin.
“He wanted her to recognize him.”
Nico frowned.
“Why?”
“Because this is a message.”
Claire looked at Dante.
“What message?”
Dante didn’t answer.
Lena did.
“That he can get close.”
Silence.
Dante stood.
“I’m leaving.”
Claire stared.
“You can barely walk.”
“I’m not staying in a public building.”
“You need monitoring.”
“Bring equipment.”
“This isn’t a hotel.”
Dante looked at her.
“Claire, Luca just walked within fifty feet of our daughter.”
The word our landed differently this time.
Claire didn’t correct him.
“I’m not taking Mia to one of your properties.”
“Then choose somewhere.”
“Police safe house,” Lena said.
Everyone looked at her.
She shrugged.
“You’re all making this more complicated than necessary.”
Dante considered it.
Then nodded.
Claire blinked.
“You agree?”
“My daughter is safer with police than at my house right now.”
That answer changed something.
Small.
But real.
By evening, arrangements were made.
Mia and Claire would go to a protected location outside Tacoma.
Kate would stay with relatives.
Dante was supposed to remain hospitalized.
He refused.
Doctors argued.
Claire argued louder.
Eventually a compromise was reached.
Dante would be transferred to a private medical facility under police protection.
Mia stood near his bed before leaving.
Dante didn’t know what to do with his hands.
He seemed more nervous around one six-year-old girl than around ten armed men.
“Bye,” Mia said.
“Bye.”
“You should listen to the doctors.”
“I will.”
Claire lifted an eyebrow.
Dante corrected himself.
“I’ll try.”
Mia nodded.
Then she reached into her backpack.
She pulled out a piece of paper.
Claire recognized the drawing.
Moonlight.
A white horse with enormous purple wings.
Mia held it out.
“This is for your room.”
Dante stared at it.
“For me?”
“You don’t have any pictures.”
He accepted it with extraordinary care.
“Thank you.”
“Moonlight is the fastest horse in Washington.”
“I believe it.”
“She wins everything.”
“Sounds impressive.”
“She also bites bad people.”
Dante smiled.
“Even better.”
Mia moved toward Claire.
Then turned back.
“Dante?”
Not Dad.
Dante didn’t seem disappointed.
“Yes?”
“Don’t disappear before I decide if I like you.”
The smile left his face.
Claire’s heart stopped.
Dante looked directly at his daughter.
“I won’t.”
Mia narrowed her eyes.
“Promise?”
Dante hesitated.
Claire knew why.
Promises meant something to him.
At least they once had.
“I promise.”
Mia nodded.
Then she left.
Dante stared at Moonlight for a long time.
Claire remained in the doorway.
“You shouldn’t promise children things you can’t guarantee.”
“I can guarantee that.”
“You almost died yesterday.”
“Then I’ll try harder not to.”
“That isn’t funny.”
“I wasn’t joking.”
Claire sighed.
Dante looked at her.
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For not telling her I abandoned her because I didn’t care.”
Claire crossed her arms.
“You abandoned me.”
“Yes.”
“You don’t get absolution because Gabriel lied.”
“I know.”
That answer again.
Claire hated it less now.
Dante looked down at the drawing.
“I thought about you every day.”
Claire’s defenses rose.
“Don’t.”
“I’m not trying to change anything.”
“Good.”
“I need you to know.”
“I don’t.”
“I left Seattle because I found your photograph taped to the body of one of my men.”
Claire froze.
Dante’s eyes remained on Moonlight.
“He had been tortured. Your name was written across the photograph.”
Claire’s skin prickled.
“That was the threat?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because three hours later someone shot at your car.”
Claire stopped breathing.
“What?”
“You were driving home.”
“I remember a windshield breaking.”
“You thought it was a rock.”
Claire remembered.
Rain.
A sudden crack.
A star-shaped fracture near the passenger side.
“You’re saying that was a bullet?”
“Yes.”
“I had people move you without you knowing.”
“What does that mean?”
“The apartment fire alarm two nights later.”
Claire remembered evacuating at midnight.
“You caused that?”
“I had your apartment searched for explosives.”
Her anger returned.
“You manipulated my entire life.”
“To keep you alive.”
“Without trusting me with the truth.”
“Yes.”
“At least you admit it.”
Dante looked at her.
“I was twenty-nine and drowning in a war my father left behind. I thought loving you meant keeping you outside it.”
“You were thirty-two.”
He blinked.
Claire almost smiled despite herself.
“You’re bad at math when injured.”
“Apparently.”
The moment vanished.
Claire looked at him.
“You could have told me something.”
“I know.”
“You could have called once.”
“I know.”
“You could have come back when the danger passed.”
Dante’s eyes darkened.
“It never passed.”
Claire believed him.
That was the problem.
Her phone rang.
Detective Ward.
Claire answered.
“Hello?”
“Dr. Callahan, don’t leave the floor.”
Claire’s stomach dropped.
“Why?”
“We intercepted a call connected to Luca.”
“What call?”
Lena’s voice hardened.
“He knows where we planned to move you.”
Claire looked at Dante.
“How?”
“That’s what I’m trying to determine.”
The line disconnected.
Claire slowly lowered the phone.
Dante already understood.
“We have a leak.”
Nico stepped closer.
“In the police?”
“Maybe.”
Claire looked toward the hallway where Mia had just disappeared with an officer.
Then they heard the fire alarm.
A loud mechanical voice filled the hospital.
Attention. Emergency evacuation.
Claire went cold.
Six years earlier, Dante had used a fire alarm to protect her.
Now someone else was using one to reach their daughter.
May you like
“Mia.”
Claire ran.
