Chapter 13 - THE COLD NIGHT
Rain hammered São Paulo.
Henrique’s mansion became chaos.
Police.
Security.
Reporters outside the gates.
Flashbulbs bursting through the storm.
Henrique ran through the garden screaming Caio’s name.
Samara grabbed his arm.
“Stop shouting.”
He turned on her.
“My son is missing.”
“And if he hears twenty adults screaming his name, he may hide harder.”
Henrique forced himself to breathe.
She was right.
Again.
“Where would he go?”
Henrique looked helpless.
“I don’t know.”
Samara stared at him.
That answer hurt him more than anything else that night.
Then he remembered.
“The train.”
“What?”
“Marina used to take him to the old railway garden behind our property.”
They ran.
Behind the estate, an abandoned maintenance track cut through a wooded slope.
Cold rain soaked Henrique’s shirt.
Samara slipped in the mud.
He caught her.
“Careful.”
“Find your son.”
They reached the tracks.
Nothing.
Then Samara heard it.
Tap.
Tap.
Pause.
Tap.
Metal against metal.
She raised a hand.
“Henrique.”
He froze.
The sound came from beneath an old service bridge.
They climbed down.
Caio sat on a narrow concrete ledge above a drainage channel swollen with rainwater.
Henrique’s heart nearly stopped.
“Caio.”
The boy covered his ears.
Samara whispered, “Don’t move fast.”
Water rushed below him.
Caio was shivering.
Henrique crouched ten feet away.
“I’m here.”
Caio rocked.
“You lied.”
Henrique’s face broke.
“What?”
“Home safe.”
A sob nearly escaped Henrique.
He swallowed it.
“You’re right.”
Samara looked at him.
Henrique continued.
“I promised home would be safe.”
Rain ran down his face.
“I didn’t make it safe.”
Caio looked toward him.
Henrique didn’t move closer.
“I’m sorry.”
Another flash of lightning.
Caio startled.
His shoe slipped.
Henrique lunged forward.
The boy screamed.
Samara grabbed Henrique’s jacket.
“Stop!”
Caio regained his balance.
Henrique froze halfway.
Samara began humming.
Three notes.
Pause.
Three notes.
Caio’s breathing slowed.
Henrique joined her.
His voice was terrible.
Off-key.
Shaking.
Samara almost laughed through her fear.
Caio looked at his father.
Henrique kept humming.
The billionaire who once worried about strangers watching him now knelt in mud and rain making a fool of himself because it helped his son.
Caio slowly crawled toward them.
One foot.
Then another.
Henrique didn’t grab him.
He waited.
Finally Caio reached out.
Henrique extended his hand.
Caio took it.
Henrique pulled him against his chest only after Caio leaned forward first.
“I’ve got you,” Henrique whispered.
Caio buried his face against him.
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Then Caio whispered something.
Henrique almost missed it under the rain.
“Laura came home.”
Henrique stiffened.
Samara leaned closer.
“What?”
Caio trembled.
“Before reporters.”
Henrique looked at him.
“What did she do?”
Caio pointed toward the mansion.
“Mom’s room.”
Henrique went cold.
Marina’s room had been locked for four years.
May you like
And inside it was the one thing Henrique had never allowed anyone to touch.
Marina’s private safe.
