Chapter 10 - THE GIRL BEHIND THE BLUE DOOR
Margaret Ellis answered my call on the fourth ring.
“Lena?”
Her voice sounded exactly as I remembered.
Warm.
Gentle.
Frightened.
“Margaret, I need to ask you about a little girl named Sofia.”
Silence.
Then I heard something fall.
“Where are you?”
“At Salvatore Lombardi's house.”
Margaret gasped.
“Get out.”
“Margaret—”
“Lena, listen carefully. Your father died protecting that child. If Vincent knows you've found her, he won't stop.”
Salvatore leaned closer.
“Put her on speaker.”
I did.
“Margaret,” he said quietly, “this is Salvatore.”
A long silence followed.
Then she began sobbing.
“Oh, God. Anthony said you'd come someday.”
“Where is my daughter?”
“Safe.”
“Please.”
That single word changed the room.
The Black King wasn't issuing orders.
He was begging.
Margaret gave us an address in a small town near Albany.
“But no guns near the house,” she warned. “Sofia is afraid of loud noises.”
Salvatore closed his eyes.
“You have my word.”
We arrived that afternoon.
The house was small, painted white, with a bright blue front door.
A bicycle leaned against the porch.
A flowerpot sat beneath the window.
It looked like the kind of place where nothing terrible could ever happen.
Margaret opened the door.
She embraced me first.
Then she looked at Salvatore.
Her eyes filled.
“You look so much like her.”
“Isabella?”
Margaret nodded.
“She loved you.”
Salvatore swallowed.
“Where is Sofia?”
A small voice came from behind the hallway.
“Aunt Maggie?”
We turned.
A little girl stood barefoot in pink pajamas, holding a stuffed rabbit.
She had dark curls and enormous gray eyes.
Salvatore froze.
I felt his hand tremble beside mine.
Margaret knelt.
“Sweetheart, this is someone very important.”
Sofia studied Salvatore.
Then she looked at me.
“Are you the dentist?”
I blinked.
“How did you know?”
“Grandpa Anthony said someday a lady dentist would help find my daddy.”
My throat tightened.
“Grandpa Anthony?”
She nodded.
“He brought me stickers.”
I pressed my lips together.
Dad had known her.
He had protected her.
And he had never told me.
Salvatore knelt slowly.
“Hello, Sofia.”
She tilted her head.
“Are you sad?”
“A little.”
“Why?”
He smiled through tears.
“Because I've been looking for someone for a very long time.”
Sofia stepped closer.
“Did you find them?”
Salvatore nodded.
“Yes.”
She considered that.
Then she wrapped her small arms around his neck.
“Then you shouldn't be sad anymore.”
He held her as though she were made of glass.
I turned away, crying.
But the moment shattered when Margaret's phone rang.
She looked at the screen.
Her face went white.
“Lena,” she whispered.
“What?”
Margaret turned the phone toward me.
A live video feed showed the front porch.
May you like
Three black SUVs had just stopped outside.
And stepping from the middle vehicle was Dr. Vincent Hale.
