Chapter 8 - BUNNY
I stared at the stuffed rabbit.
“You’re wrong.”
Gabriel laughed.
“Elena was many things. Careless wasn’t one of them.”
I turned Bunny over.
Nothing.
Soft fabric.
One button eye.
A stitched pink nose.
Dominic looked at me.
“You said Elena gave that to Lily?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“The day she was born.”
His eyes closed briefly.
Three months before Elena died.
Gabriel pushed Ethan toward the railing.
“Open it.”
I looked up.
“With what?”
“There’s a seam along the left leg.”
My fingers shook.
I found it.
Tiny hand stitching.
Different from the rest.
I tore it open.
Lily would kill me.
If I got her back.
When I got her back.
Inside the stuffing was a small brass key.
Dominic stared.
“What does that open?”
Gabriel smiled.
“The Moretti family keeps safety-deposit boxes under different names.”
Dominic’s face changed.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Elena wouldn’t.”
“She did.”
Gabriel raised the gun.
“Bring me the key.”
“Where’s Lily?” I demanded.
Gabriel’s smile disappeared.
“Bring me the key.”
“No.”
“Anna.”
Dominic’s voice was warning me.
I ignored him.
“My daughter first.”
Gabriel looked amused.
“You’re bargaining with the wrong man.”
“No.”
I tightened my fingers around the key.
“You are.”
Then I did the only thing I could think of.
I held the key over the old fireplace.
“If you shoot me, it drops.”
Gabriel’s expression changed.
Dominic looked at me like I had lost my mind.
Maybe I had.
“Show me Lily.”
Gabriel’s jaw clenched.
“Fine.”
He whistled.
A second man dragged Lily into the hallway.
She was crying.
“Mommy!”
Every instinct in me screamed to run.
I forced myself to stay still.
“Baby, I’m here.”
“I want to go home!”
“I know.”
Gabriel looked at the key.
“Now.”
“Let them walk downstairs.”
“No.”
“Then no key.”
The man holding Lily tightened his grip.
She cried louder.
Dominic stepped forward.
Gabriel pointed the gun at Ethan’s head.
“Another step and he dies.”
Dominic froze.
“Okay.”
His voice changed.
Calm.
Father voice.
“Okay.”
Gabriel looked pleased.
Then Lily suddenly kicked the man holding her.
Right between the legs.
He doubled over.
She ran.
“LILY!”
Chaos exploded.
Ethan threw himself sideways.
Gabriel fired.
The shot hit the railing.
Dominic charged upstairs.
I ran toward Lily.
The second man grabbed her ankle.
She fell.
I picked up an iron fireplace tool and swung as hard as I could.
It hit his shoulder.
He screamed.
“Mommy!”
I grabbed Lily.
Gunshots exploded upstairs.
Dominic tackled Gabriel into the wall.
Ethan crawled down the steps.
“Go!” Dominic shouted.
I took both children.
We ran toward the front door.
Then Marco burst inside with two security men.
“MOVE!”
He pulled us outside.
Behind us, another shot.
Then silence.
I turned.
“Dominic!”
Marco shoved me behind the SUV.
“Stay down!”
Seconds later, Dominic appeared in the doorway.
Blood on his shirt.
I stopped breathing.
“Dominic?”
He took one step.
May you like
Then another.
And collapsed.
