Chapter 6
"Ryan, what are you going to do?" Emily asked, her hands shaking as she moved around the island to gather Lily.
"I am going to do what I do best," Ryan replied, his eyes dark with a terrifying, predatory focus. He pulled his smartphone from his suit pocket. "I am going to find the man who did this, and I am going to tear him apart."
Emily didn't argue. She knew the look in her husband's eyes. It was the look of the legendary Mafia boss, the ruthless operator who controlled the city's underworld. She scooped Lily into her arms and gently took Sarah’s hand.
"Come with me, Sarah," Emily said kindly. "Let's go get you a warm bath and some clean clothes."
Sarah hesitated, looking back at Ryan. "Are you going to leave me again?"
The question felt like a knife to Ryan's chest. He stepped forward and knelt, placing his large, warm hand on the girl's tiny shoulder.
"I am never leaving you," Ryan promised, his voice thick with emotion. "You are safe now. Go with Emily."
As the women disappeared up the grand staircase, Ryan dialed a secure number. The line rang only once before it was picked up.
"Boss," the gruff voice of Marcus, Ryan's most trusted enforcer, came through the speaker.
"Marcus. I need the estate locked down. Right now," Ryan ordered, pacing the length of the kitchen. "Nobody gets in, nobody gets out. I want every inch of the perimeter swept. Check the thermal cameras, check the motion sensors, check everything."
"Are we under attack, Boss?" Marcus asked, his tone instantly shifting to high alert.
"Someone breached the south wing," Ryan said, glaring toward the hallway where the torn wall panel lay. "They bypassed the internal sensors and hid a child inside the maintenance cavity. They've been slipping in and out for months."
There was a stunned silence on the other end of the line. "That's impossible, Ryan. The south wing is on an independent closed-circuit grid. Unless..."
"Unless it was an inside job," Ryan finished the thought, his grip on the phone tightening until his knuckles turned white. "Pull the logs for every contractor, housekeeper, and security guard who has stepped foot in this house for the past year. I want names, addresses, and family ties."
"I'm on it," Marcus replied grimly. "Ryan... what do you want me to do when I find a discrepancy?"
May you like
"You don't touch them," Ryan said, his voice a low, lethal whisper. "You bring them to me."
Ryan hung up the phone. He stood alone in the bright kitchen, the silence of the house pressing in on him. He needed answers. He walked out of the kitchen and headed straight back to the south corridor. He needed to see exactly what the little girl had left behind in the dark.
