Chapter 11 - ISABELLA
Bruno reached Lorenzo first.
The dog pushed through the office doorway, stopped, and let out a long whine. Lorenzo dropped to his knees. Bruno hit his chest hard enough to knock him back against the wall.
Isabella stood behind him, wrapped in a gray blanket.
Her hair had been cut above her shoulders. A scar crossed her temple. She looked exhausted.
Lorenzo got to his feet but stopped a step away.
“I’m here,” he said.
“I know.”
He reached for her, then paused. “Can I?”
She nodded.
The moment he held her, two months of funerals, empty rooms, and impossible phone calls caught up with him. Isabella clung to his coat.
“I tried to call,” she whispered.
“I heard you.”
“I thought they were near me.”
“You’re safe now.”
She drew back just enough to look at him. “Sophia and Emma?”
“They’re safe.”
Isabella covered her eyes. When she had seen them by the warehouse, Bruno had wanted to run to Emma. Isabella had called him back because a gray SUV had been watching the block.
“I was afraid they’d follow her,” she said.
“They did. We got to them in time.”
Rachel arranged medical care and police protection. Isabella had a healing rib fracture, an infected cut, and injuries from the first days of her captivity. She told investigators what she remembered, stopping when she was too tired to go on.
Vincent had come to the house with the green door once. He had demanded the ledger and every copy of Claire’s files. Isabella told him the records had already been shared.
“Had they?” Rachel asked.
“Yes.” Isabella looked at Lorenzo. “I sent them to a lawyer.”
“Who?”
Isabella gave them a name. Rachel called immediately.
May you like
The lawyer answered from his office. He still had the files.
Then he said, “I was going to bring them to you in the morning. Someone broke in here tonight.”
