THE GIRL WHO MADE THE MAFIA BOSS LOCK THE DOORS / Chapter 2 / 36

Chapter 2 - The Mother Who Vanished Before Midnight

Lily reached for the phone so quickly that the chair beside her tipped over.

"Mom? Mom!"

The black screen reflected her frightened face.

Mr. Vale picked up the phone and studied the call record. The number was blocked. Mara was already speaking into a smaller device, telling someone to trace the connection.

David tried to move toward the door.

The guard tightened his grip.

"I don't know what that was," David said. "Someone is setting me up."

Lily spun toward him. "You know where she is."

"I told you to keep your mother away from my business. She probably stole something and ran."

Lily rushed at him before anyone could stop her. Her fists struck his jacket. David raised one hand, anger flashing across his face, but Mr. Vale's voice cut through the room.

"Touch her and you will leave without the hand."

David froze.

Lily stepped back, breathing hard.

Mr. Vale lowered himself until he was at her eye level. Up close, he did not look as old as David had called him. His hair was silver at the temples, but his eyes were dark and alert. A thin scar crossed his right eyebrow.

"When did you last see your mother?" he asked.

"This morning. She told me to go to school and not come to the restaurant."

"Why did you come?"

Lily swallowed. "Because she didn't come home. And because I found the log under my mattress. She hid it there."

"Did she leave anything else?"

Lily thought about the coat she wore. Elena had buttoned it herself before sunrise, even though the apartment had been warm. She had pressed both hands against Lily's shoulders and said, Keep this on until you are somewhere safe.

At the time, Lily thought her mother meant school.

Now she reached into the inner pocket.

Her fingers found a small object sewn beneath the lining.

Mr. Vale saw the movement. "What is it?"

"I don't know."

Mara produced a tiny folding knife and carefully opened the stitch. A brass token fell into Lily's palm. One side showed a bell surrounded by thorned vines. The other bore the number 317.

The effect on Mr. Vale was immediate.

He stood too fast, knocking his chair backward.

Every bodyguard in the room became still.

Mara whispered, "Gabriel."

It was the first time anyone had used his name.

Mr. Vale took the token, but his hand did not close around it. He stared at the bell and thorns.

"Where did your mother get this?"

"I don't know."

"Think carefully. Did you ever see it before?"

Lily remembered a wooden music box on the top shelf of her mother's closet. Elena never opened it. She said it belonged to someone who had made a terrible promise.

"Maybe in a box at home."

David pulled against the guard. "This has nothing to do with me."

Mr. Vale turned toward him.

The quiet control in his face was gone.

"Seven years ago," he said, "a courier carrying twelve tokens like this disappeared. The courier was my younger brother."

David's lips parted.

"I don't know your brother."

"His car was a black Porsche."

Mr. Vale lifted the key.

Lily looked between them. The restaurant no longer felt like a place where she had come to demand wages. It felt like the center of a trap that had been waiting seven years to close.

Mara received a message and turned her phone around. A map displayed a blinking point near the industrial riverfront.

"The call bounced through three towers," she said. "Last signal near Mercer Storage, Pier Nine."

David shook his head. "That property has been empty for years."

"You still pay the taxes," Mara replied.

Mr. Vale issued orders. Four guards would take David. Two would secure the restaurant and interview workers. Mara would come with him.

"And me," Lily said.

"No."

"My mom is there."

"That is why you cannot be."

Lily clenched her fists. "She told me to find the man with the black ring if anything happened."

Mr. Vale looked down at his right hand.

A black onyx ring rested on his little finger.

"She told you that?"

"She said he would know what the bell means."

For the first time, Mr. Vale looked afraid.

He walked toward the kitchen, where a private corridor led to the underground garage. Lily followed. When a guard tried to stop her, Mr. Vale raised one hand.

"She rides with Mara."

Rain struck the city as their convoy left Belladonna. Three black vehicles moved toward the river, with David restrained in the middle car. Lily sat beside Mara, holding the repaired work log in a plastic sleeve.

"Is Mr. Vale really a mafia boss?" she asked.

Mara glanced toward the front seat. "People use simple words for complicated men."

"Has he killed people?"

"Yes."

Lily looked out the window.

Mara added, "He has also saved people no court or police department could reach in time. Both facts are true."

At Pier Nine, the gates stood open.

The warehouse beyond them was dark.

Mr. Vale stepped from the first vehicle. His men spread out. One found fresh tire marks. Another discovered a broken chain near a side door.

Inside, the air smelled of oil, river water, and bleach.

They found the basement entrance beneath a steel shelving unit.

They found a chair with blood on one armrest.