Chương 2 - A Name Nobody Used
Alina turned slowly.
“How do you know that name?”
Dante remained beside the booth.
He didn’t approach her.
The baby fussed against his chest.
“Marisol Valdez?”
Alina felt the room tilt.
“She died six months ago.”
Something moved across Dante’s face.
It wasn’t surprise alone.
It looked like a blow he had no right to complain about.
“How?”
“Why?”
He accepted the question.
“Because I knew her.”
“My mother never mentioned you.”
“She had good reason.”
The restaurant manager appeared beside Alina.
“Lena, is there a problem?”
“She’s speaking with me,” Dante said.
Alina snapped her head toward him.
“I can speak for myself.”
For one sharp second, nobody moved.
Then Dante nodded.
“You’re right.”
She set the tray on a service station.
“I’m taking ten minutes, Paul.”
Her manager looked between them and decided not to argue.
Alina led Dante to an empty table near the kitchen.
Two of his guards followed.
“No,” she said.
Dante looked at them.
“Stay where you are.”
He sat across from her with Leo on his knee.
“My mother cleaned houses,” Alina said.
“She worked weekends.
She bought shoes with cardboard in the soles before she let me go without lunch money.
Whatever you think you know about her, keep that in mind.”
“I remember.”
“Then where were you?”
His answer took too long.
“Looking in the wrong places.”
Alina laughed once, without humor.
“How convenient.”
Dante reached into his jacket slowly and placed a photograph on the table.
A young woman stood beside a narrow waterfront house.
Dark curls.
Rolled sleeves.
One hand resting on a little girl’s shoulder.
Her mother.
Alina at four.
She picked up the photograph.
“I’ve never seen this.”
“It was sent to me last week.”
“By who?”
“No return address.”
“Then why come here?”
“The envelope included the name of this restaurant.”
Alina looked down at Leo.
“So this wasn’t an accident.”
“Finding you wasn’t.”
She pushed the photograph back.
“Am I your daughter?”
Dante’s jaw tightened.
“No.”
The answer came clean and immediate.
“You were already born when I met your mother.”
“Then what did you do to her?”
Before he answered, Alina’s phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
A photograph filled the screen.
Her apartment door.
Under it was a message.
May you like
DON’T GO HOME WITH HIM.
ASK WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR SISTER.
