CHAPTER 2
Chapter 2
Julian didn’t ask why. He simply pulled out his phone and began making calls. Dante returned to his office, but the little girl’s words followed him. *He says I sleep really hard.* For the first time in years, Dante felt something dangerously close to fear.
An hour later, Julian returned with a tablet. “We checked the existing cameras.” He placed it on the desk and played several recordings from the previous month. Most showed employees entering and leaving, delivery drivers, and security personnel making routine rounds.
Then Julian stopped the footage. “There.” A man stood near the rear alley, partially hidden beneath a dark umbrella. He wasn’t entering the building or delivering anything. He was simply watching the service door.
Dante leaned closer. “Can you identify him?” Julian shook his head. “Not yet.” The man appeared on three different nights, always around the same time, always keeping his face away from the cameras. Dante’s jaw tightened.
“Find out who he is,” Dante said quietly. “And don’t let him know we’re looking.” Julian nodded. “What about Emma?” Dante looked toward the window overlooking Manhattan. “Keep her schedule unchanged.”
That evening, Emma finished cleaning the lower hallway and prepared to leave with Lily. Dante happened to be standing near the elevator when Lily suddenly grabbed her mother’s hand. She stared toward the glass doors at the far end of the lobby.
“Mommy,” she whispered, “that’s him.”
Emma froze.
Dante followed Lily’s gaze. Across the street, beneath the glow of a streetlamp, stood the same dark figure from the security footage. He wasn't looking at the building anymore. He was looking directly at Lily.
Dante stepped between them and the windows. “Julian,” he said into his phone, his voice dangerously calm, “lock down the building.” Then he looked at Emma. “You and Lily are coming upstairs with me.” Emma’s frightened expression told him one thing immediately—she knew exactly who the man was.
And she had been hiding the truth for a very long time.
PART 3: Emma stood completely still.
Dante watched her face as the elevator doors closed behind them. Lily clutched her stuffed rabbit against her chest, sensing the tension without understanding it. Julian and two security men followed them upstairs, but Dante raised one hand, telling them to stay back. “Emma,” he said quietly, “who is that man?” She swallowed hard and looked at Lily.
“I don’t know his name,” she finally whispered. “But I know what he wants.” Dante’s expression hardened. “Then start talking.” Emma lowered her eyes, fighting tears. “He was my husband’s friend.”
Dante said nothing.
Emma’s husband, Daniel, had died three years earlier in what police had called a construction accident. She had accepted the explanation because she had been left with a small child and no money to fight anyone. But six months after Daniel’s death, the man began appearing near her apartment. At first, he only watched. Then he started leaving messages.
“He told me Daniel had taken something that belonged to dangerous people,” Emma said. “He said if I ever told anyone, Lily would disappear.” Dante’s eyes became colder. “What did Daniel take?”
Emma shook her head. “I honestly don’t know.”
Dante walked toward the window and looked down at the street. “You’ve been working here for eleven weeks.” Emma nodded. “Why didn't you tell me?” She gave a bitter little laugh. “Because people like you don’t protect people like me.” Dante turned around slowly.
“You're wrong,” he said.
Emma looked surprised. Dante continued, “People who work under my roof are my responsibility.” For the first time, Emma looked directly into his eyes. “Then you need to know something else.” Her voice dropped to almost a whisper. “Daniel wasn't a construction worker.”
Dante’s expression changed.
“He worked with financial records,” Emma said. “He discovered a series of payments moving through shell companies. He copied the records before he died.” She reached inside her coat and pulled out a tiny brass key. “I have the files.”
Julian stepped forward immediately, but Dante stopped him. “Where?” he asked. Emma stared at the key. “In a storage locker Daniel rented under another name.” Dante took a slow breath. “And you’ve had this the entire time?”
“I was afraid,” she admitted. “I thought if I stayed quiet, they would eventually forget about us.” Lily suddenly tugged on Dante’s sleeve. “Mr. Dante?” He looked down.
“Are we safe here?”
Dante crouched until they were eye level. “Yes.” Lily studied him carefully. “Promise?” Dante looked at Emma, then back at the little girl holding the rabbit with the missing eye. “I promise.” Outside, a black sedan pulled away from the curb.
May you like
Julian watched it disappear into traffic. “They know we moved her upstairs,” he said. Dante stood. “Then we move first.” He looked at the brass key in Emma’s hand. “Tomorrow morning, we find that locker.” Emma shook her head. “No. It has to be tonight.” Dante frowned. “Why?”
—END OF Chapter 2,
