Chapter 7
I almost dropped the knife.
Lauren swayed on her feet.
Her eyes rolled back.
She started to fall.
I lunged forward and caught her.
She was light.
Too light.
Her clothes were torn.
There was a bruise the size of a dinner plate on her left cheek.
Her wrists were raw, like she had been tied up.
“Help me,” she whispered.
Then she passed out.
I dragged her to the kitchen.
Laid her on the floor.
“Dad!” I shouted. “Mom! Wake up! Now!”
I grabbed a dishtowel and wet it.
Wiped the dirt from her face.
Checked her pulse.
Thready.
Fast.
But there.
My parents came running down the stairs.
My father in his pajamas.
My mother in her robe.
“Is that—” my mother started.
“Lauren,” I said. “She came through the laundry room window. She’s hurt. Bad.”
My father grabbed his phone.
“Calling 911.”
“Wait,” Lauren mumbled. Her eyes fluttered open. “No. No police. Not yet. They’ll find me. If they know I’m here—”
She tried to sit up.
Screamed and clutched her stomach.
“The baby,” she gasped. “Something’s wrong with the baby.”
I looked at my father.
“Call the ambulance,” I said. “Tell them to come with no lights. No sirens. And tell them to be careful. We don’t want anyone to know she’s here.”
Ten minutes later, the ambulance arrived.
Two paramedics.
Quiet.
Professional.
They checked Lauren over.
Put her on a stretcher.
Started an IV.
“Dehydrated,” one of them said. “Malnourished. Possible internal injuries. We need to get her to the hospital. Now.”
“I’m going with her,” I said.
“Sarah—” my mother started.
“Someone has to,” I said. “She has no one else.”
I rode in the back of the ambulance.
Lauren was in and out of consciousness.
She mumbled things.
Names.
Places.
“Warehouse by the river,” she said at one point. “Third floor. Chains on the wall. They were going to move me tonight.”
I wrote it down in the notes app on my phone.
Every word.
When we got to the hospital, they took her straight back.
I sat in the waiting room.
Alone.
At three in the morning.
An hour later, a doctor came out.
She looked tired.
“Are you family?” she asked.
“Sort of,” I said. “How is she?”
“She’s going to be okay,” the doctor said. “Severe dehydration. Multiple contusions. Sprained wrist. Fractured rib. And she’s in early labor. We were able to stop it with medication. The baby’s heartbeat is strong. But she needs to stay in the hospital for at least a week. Bed rest. No stress. If she goes into labor again this early, the baby may not survive.”
“Can I see her?”
“Five minutes,” the doctor said. “She needs to sleep.”
I walked into the room.
Lauren was in the bed.
Wires everywhere.
Monitors beeping.
She looked small.
Younger than I remembered.
She opened her eyes when I came in.
“Sarah,” she whispered. “You came.”
“I came.”
I pulled a chair up to the bed.
“Who did this to you, Lauren?”
“Gallo’s men,” she said. “Vincent. The one who had the gun at the police station. His cousin. They took me from the apartment Monday night. Daniel had just been arrested. They thought I knew where the money was. That you’d given it to him to hide. I told them I didn’t know anything. That you’d reversed the transfer. But they didn’t believe me.”
She started crying.
“They kept me in a warehouse,” she said. “Tied to a pipe. No food. Just water sometimes. They hit me when I wouldn’t answer their questions. I thought I was going to die. I thought the baby was going to die.”
I reached out.
Then stopped.
I didn’t want to touch her.
Not really.
But I squeezed her hand through the blanket.
“How did you escape?”
“Last night,” she said. “They got drunk. Celebrating something. Left the chain loose. I worked it free. Climbed out a window. Walked for miles. Hid in the woods during the day. I didn’t know where else to go. Daniel’s in jail. My family won’t talk to me. You’re the only person who might help. Even after everything I did.”
She looked at me.
Truly looked.
“I am sorry, you know,” she said. “About the cake. About the lies. All of it. Daniel told me you were cold. That you didn’t love him. That you were just using him for arm candy. I was stupid. I believed him. I see that now. He never loved either of us. He just loved what we could give him. Money from you. Status from me. A baby to make himself feel like a man.”
She was quiet for a moment.
“I don’t expect you to forgive me,” she said. “I wouldn’t. But please. Don’t let them find me. If they do, they’ll kill me. And my son. He hasn’t done anything wrong. He doesn’t deserve to die because of Daniel’s mistakes.”
I stood up.
“I’m going to make some calls,” I said. “You’ll have guards outside this room. Twenty-four hours a day. Nobody gets in but the doctors and nurses. Gallo’s people won’t touch you here. I promise.”
“Thank you,” she whispered.
I walked out of the room.
Called the DA.
He answered on the first ring.
I told him everything.
Lauren was safe.
The warehouse by the river.
Third floor.
Chains on the wall.
“Get a team out there now,” I said. “Before they realize she’s gone and clean the place out.”
“Already on it,” he said. “We’ve had units rolling since the ambulance called it in. Sarah—you did good tonight. Real good.”
“Just find them,” I said. “All of them.”
I hung up.
Called Maya.
She was at the hospital in ten minutes.
“Two of my best guys are on the way,” she said. “Ex-military. They’ll watch the door. Nobody gets past them. Not even the Easter Bunny.”
“Thank you.”
She looked at me.
“You okay?”
“Tired,” I said. “Confused. I’m sitting in a hospital at four in the morning, protecting the woman who ruined my marriage. How messed up is that?”
Maya smiled.
“It’s not messed up,” she said. “It’s who you are. Daniel saw weakness. But it’s not weakness. It’s strength. The kind he’ll never understand.”
I sat down in the waiting room chair.
“Can I ask you something?” I said.
“Anything.”
“Did you know?” I said. “When you were investigating Daniel. Did you know how deep all of this went? The gambling. the Gallo connection. All of it.”
Maya was quiet.
“I suspected,” she said. “The amounts he was losing were too big for a local bookie. I didn’t have proof. Not enough to tell you. I didn’t want to scare you unless I was sure.”
“I’m glad you didn’t,” I said. “If I’d known everything a year ago, I would have run. Hid. Tried to make it all go away. I wouldn’t have fought back.”
Maya nodded.
“People are like that sometimes,” she said. “They need a push. A moment where they have to choose between being a victim and being a survivor. Your birthday party was that moment. And you chose survivor.”
She stood up.
“Go home,” she said. “Get some sleep. My guys are here. Nothing is going to happen to Lauren tonight. Or any other night.”
I drove home as the sun was coming up.
The reporters were still outside the gate.
Asleep in their cars.
I snuck in through the service entrance.
My father was in the kitchen.
Making coffee.
“How is she?” he asked.
“Alive,” I said. “Banged up. But alive. And the baby is okay. For now.”
He poured me a cup.
“The DA called,” he said. “They hit the warehouse. Found the room she described. Chains. Blood. Some documents. And two of Gallo’s lieutenants, passed out drunk. They’re in custody now. Says this is the break they needed. With Lauren’s testimony and Daniel’s, they can take down the entire organization.”
“Good,” I said.
I drank my coffee.
Stared out the window.
“Dad?”
“Yeah, baby?”
“When this is all over,” I said. “I’m going to sell this house. Too many bad memories. I’m going to move somewhere else. Somewhere warm. Maybe the coast. Start over.”
He put his arm around me.
“Your mother and I will support whatever you decide,” he said. “Just know this. Whatever you do. Wherever you go. We’re right there with you. Always.”
I leaned my head on his shoulder.
For the first time in a long time, I felt safe.
But the feeling didn’t last.
My phone rang.
Maya.
Her voice was tight.
“Sarah. We have a problem.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Daniel,” she said. “He’s gone.”
May you like
“What do you mean, gone?”
“Someone got to him,” she said. “Bribed two guards. He was taken from his cell at two o’clock this morning. The DA just called. They think Gallo ordered it. They’re going to kill him. And then they’re coming for you. And Lauren.”
