Chapter 7 – [THE ORPHANAGE AT THE EDGE OF TOWN]
Luca drove his black SUV like a man possessed.
We tore through the city streets, running red lights, the engine roaring as we headed toward the county line. I sat in the passenger seat, my hands still stained with Tyler’s blood, staring out into the dark night.
I was praying. I was praying harder than I had ever prayed in my life.
Please, God. Let me save her. I couldn’t save David. I almost didn’t save Tyler. Please, let me save Mia.
“Ten minutes,” Luca said tightly, gripping the steering wheel. “St. Jude’s was shut down by the state three years ago for safety violations. Silvio must have bought the property through a shell company to stash the kids he uses for leverage.”
“He said he was going to burn it down,” I whispered, my chest tightening.
“Silvio ordered the fire, but his men were with him at the restaurant,” Luca analyzed. “That means whoever is watching the kids has the orders to torch the place if they don’t get the all-clear by midnight.”
I checked the dashboard clock.
11:45 PM.
Fifteen minutes.
The city lights faded, replaced by the dark, winding roads of the rural county outskirts. Pine trees boxed us in, their branches casting long, skeletal shadows across the road.
Then, we saw it.
Sitting at the top of a dead-end dirt road was a massive, decaying Victorian building. The windows were boarded up, but thin slivers of light leaked through the cracks on the second floor.
St. Jude’s.
Luca didn’t park. He drove the heavy SUV straight through the chained iron gates, snapping the rusty metal like twigs. We skidded to a halt on the overgrown lawn.
I threw my door open before the car had even stopped moving.
We sprinted up the rotting wooden steps to the front doors. They were chained shut from the inside.
“Stand back,” Luca ordered.
He drew his pistol and fired twice into the heavy padlock. The metal shattered. Luca kicked the double doors open, and we rushed into the dark, damp foyer.
The building smelled of mildew and stale smoke.
Suddenly, a man stepped out of the shadows at the top of the grand staircase. He was holding a gasoline canister and a lighter.
“That’s far enough, Moretti!” the man shouted. “Silvio didn’t check in. The boss said this place burns.”
Luca raised his gun, aiming directly at the man’s chest.
“Drop the lighter,” Luca commanded, his voice lethal. “Or I put a bullet in your heart.”
The man hesitated. He looked at the gun, then down at the lighter in his hand.
“Silvio will kill me,” the man stammered.
“Silvio is in federal custody,” I screamed, stepping out from behind Luca. “He’s gone! You’re going to die for a man who is already in a cage!”
The man stared at me. The absolute certainty in my voice must have broken him, because he slowly lowered the lighter, dropping it onto the floor.
Luca rushed up the stairs, slamming the man against the wall and zip-tying his hands.
“Where are the children?” I demanded.
The man nodded toward the end of the hall. “Room 204. Locked from the outside.”
I didn’t wait. I ran down the dark hallway, my heart hammering against my ribs.
I reached Room 204. A heavy deadbolt secured the door. I threw it open and rushed inside.
The room was dimly lit by a single bulb. There were four small beds. Three children were huddled together in the corner, crying quietly.
But sitting on a bed near the window, completely silent, was a little girl with dark, curly hair.
She was clutching a faded piece of paper to her chest.
I fell to my knees. The air left my lungs in a rush of overwhelming, pure emotion.
It was her. The girl from the photograph.
She had Tyler’s exact blue eyes.
I crawled forward, tears blinding me. “Mia?” I whispered.
The little girl looked at me. She didn’t look afraid. She looked exhausted.
She slowly held out the piece of paper she had been clutching.
It was a child’s drawing in crayon. A yellow house with a blue door.
My house.
“My mommy told me,” Mia whispered, her voice tiny and fragile. “She said a lady in a yellow house with a blue door was going to come find me.”
