Chapter 10 - THE MAN WHO SOLD OUR SAFETYI stopped the car in a public parking lot.
Hannah looked at me sharply.
"What are you doing?"
"Getting answers."
"Vincent—"
"Not with a gun."
She studied my face.
Then nodded once.
We stepped out beneath the afternoon sunlight.
Gabriel pulled into the space across from us.
He remained behind the wheel.
For several seconds, none of us moved.
Then he opened the door.
"Vincent."
I stared at him.
"How did you find us?"
His eyes shifted toward Hannah.
"I was checking the perimeter."
"Of a house whose location I didn't give you?"
He said nothing.
"Try again."
Gabriel looked exhausted.
There were dark circles beneath his eyes.
His shirt was wrinkled.
The man who normally appeared immaculate suddenly looked ten years older.
"I needed to make sure you were safe."
"Who told you where we were?"
He swallowed.
I took one step forward.
"Gabriel."
His shoulders dropped.
"Dominic."
Hannah's expression hardened.
I felt something cold spread through my chest.
"You've been talking to Dominic?"
Gabriel nodded.
"Since before the attack."
I wanted to hit him.
Instead, I asked, "What did you give him?"
He closed his eyes.
"Security schedules."
My voice became very quiet.
"What else?"
"Camera access. Visitor records. Some information about staff assignments."
I stared at him.
"The nursery?"
He hesitated.
"Vincent—"
"The nursery?"
"Yes."
For a moment, I couldn't see clearly.
I thought about Emma sleeping beside her rabbit.
Noah whispering that he was afraid of the dark.
Hannah struggling against two armed men.
The bullet striking the window.
All of it made possible because someone I'd trusted had opened the door from the inside.
I stepped toward Gabriel.
Hannah moved between us.
"Vincent."
I looked at her.
"Move."
"No."
"He nearly got my children killed."
"I know."
"Then move."
"Ask him why."
Gabriel's face crumpled.
That frightened me more than anger would have.
Because Gabriel was not a man who cried.
Not in public.
Not in front of me.
"Lucia," he whispered.
I stopped.
His daughter.
Seventeen years old.
A bright, stubborn girl who wanted to become a nurse.
Claire used to send her books and college brochures.
"What about Lucia?"
Gabriel covered his face.
"They have her."
The world seemed to slow.
"Who?"
"Dominic's people."
I stared at him.
Gabriel took a shaking breath.
"Three months ago, somebody followed Lucia home from school. A man called me that night. He knew where she studied, where my wife worked, everything."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"They said they'd hurt her if I did."
"Gabriel—"
"They sent pictures. They knew when she went to the movies. They knew when she visited her grandmother. They knew everything."
His voice broke.
"Dominic told me it was just business. He said he needed camera access to protect you from a rival crew. He promised no one would touch your family."
I felt sick.
"You believed him?"
"I wanted to."
Gabriel looked at Hannah.
"I didn't know they were going after the children."
She didn't soften her expression.
"But you knew you were betraying the people you were supposed to protect."
He nodded.
"Yes."
A long silence followed.
Part of me wanted to destroy him.
A larger part understood exactly how someone could be manipulated through love for a child.
That understanding didn't excuse what he'd done.
But it changed what I needed to do next.
"Does Dominic still have Lucia?"
Gabriel swallowed.
"She disappeared yesterday."
My stomach tightened.
"Yesterday?"
"She left for a study session. Never arrived."
"Did you call the police?"
"My wife filed a missing-person report. Dominic called afterward and warned me not to talk."
Hannah stepped closer.
"Gabriel, this isn't something you can handle alone."
He looked down.
"I know that now."
"Then you have to tell investigators everything."
He turned toward me.
"Vincent, they'll arrest me."
"Probably."
"My family—"
"Your family needs Lucia alive."
The words came out harshly.
But they were true.
Gabriel looked at me in disbelief.
"You're going to turn me in?"
"I'm going to give you the chance to cooperate. What happens after that isn't mine to decide."
He lowered his head.
"I deserve whatever comes."
I shook my head.
"You deserve a fair process. And Lucia deserves to come home."
Hannah watched me.
Something passed between us.
Not approval.
Something deeper.
A recognition that I was trying to become a different man.
We drove Gabriel directly to Samuel's office.
Within the hour, Shaw arranged a protected interview.
Gabriel admitted providing access to household security systems.
He identified two contractors Dominic had used.
He described a private transportation schedule that didn't appear in the company's ordinary records.
And he gave investigators the name of a freight coordinator who had recently begun arranging shipments at unusual hours.
The more he talked, the clearer the pattern became.
People were being moved through facilities connected to companies that appeared legitimate on paper.
Some victims had been promised jobs.
Others had been pressured or deceived.
The same network controlled transportation, temporary housing, and falsified documents.
No one knew yet how many people had been harmed.
I sat through the interview feeling increasingly sick.
I had built an organization large enough that I could tell myself I wasn't responsible for every decision.
Now I understood how convenient that excuse had been.
At the end of the interview, Shaw closed her notebook.
"Mr. Ortiz, you understand you may face criminal charges?"
"Yes."
"And you're willing to continue cooperating?"
Gabriel nodded.
"If it gets my daughter back."
Shaw's expression softened slightly.
"We're going to do everything legally available to find her."
Outside the interview room, Gabriel stopped me.
"Vincent."
I turned.
His eyes were red.
"I know you may never forgive me."
I said nothing.
He continued.
"But Claire was kind to Lucia. She treated her like family."
His voice cracked.
"Please don't let my daughter pay for what I did."
I looked at him.
"Lucia didn't betray anyone."
Then I added:
"Neither did Emma and Noah."
He lowered his head.
"I know."
That evening, Hannah and I returned to the temporary house.
Rosa had made chicken soup.
Emma was coloring.
Noah had fallen asleep on the couch.
The sight nearly brought me to my knees.
Hannah quietly covered Noah with a blanket.
Then she sat beside me at the kitchen table.
"Are you all right?"
"No."
She nodded.
"Do you want to talk?"
I looked at my sleeping son.
"I keep wondering whether this is what Claire felt."
"What do you mean?"
"Knowing something was wrong. Watching everyone around her pretend it wasn't."
Hannah considered that.
"She didn't need you to be perfect, Vincent."
"What did she need?"
"She needed you to listen."
I looked down.
"I wish I could tell her I finally am."
Hannah reached across the table.
Her hand rested briefly over mine.
It was a small gesture.
Warm.
Human.
Nothing more.
And somehow, it steadied me.
Then my phone rang.
Shaw.
I answered immediately.
"Any news?"
Her voice was tense.
"Gabriel just received a message."
My chest tightened.
"What kind?"
"A video."
"Of Lucia?"
"Yes."
I stood.
"Is she alive?"
"As of the recording, yes."
I closed my eyes.
Shaw continued.
"There's something you need to understand. The message wasn't addressed to Gabriel."
"Then who?"
"You."
A second later, the video appeared on my phone.
Lucia sat in a chair beneath a bare lightbulb.
Her wrists were bound in front of her.
She was crying silently.
Then a man's voice spoke from behind the camera.
"Vincent Moretti, you took away our eyes inside your house."
Lucia looked up.
The voice continued.
"So now we'll make you watch."
A piece of paper was held in front of the camera.
Across it were four words.
TWENTY-FOUR HOURS. NO POLICE.
May you like
Then the man added:
"Bring us Hannah Mercer, or the next video will be the last time Gabriel sees his daughter alive."
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