Chapter 4

Gabriel slammed his foot on the brakes. The SUV skidded on the wet pavement.

“Where is Silas, Vanessa?” Gabriel demanded.

“He knew the moment the kid pulled out the compass,” Vanessa coughed over the phone. “He slipped out the back. He’s been hunting Mateo for four years, Gabriel. You think he doesn’t know about the shipyard?”

“If he touches Mateo, I will dismantle your family piece by piece,” Gabriel snarled.

“My family is already dead!” Vanessa screamed. “Silas promised to save my father from bankruptcy if I helped him open the gates! But Silas never pays his debts! He took everything!”

“Then why are you calling me?”

“Because Silas didn’t just go to the shipyard for Mateo,” she whispered.

Gabriel gripped the steering wheel. “What are you talking about?”

“Silas needs the leverage Mateo hid,” Vanessa said, her voice dropping to a frantic hush. “The ledgers. Mateo refused to give them up. But Silas found out about the boy, Gabriel. He knows about Ethan. He sent men to your maid’s apartment an hour ago.”

My blood ran cold.

If Ethan hadn’t come to work with me tonight… he would have been home. With a teenage babysitter.

“Silas is going to burn the shipyard to the ground,” Vanessa rasped. “With Mateo inside.”

The line went dead.

Gabriel threw the car into drive and floored the accelerator. The heavy SUV roared down the coastal highway, the engine pushing to its absolute limit.

I pulled Ethan into my lap, wrapping my arms around him so tightly he complained he couldn’t breathe. I didn’t care. I buried my face in his hair, silently praying.

“We have ten miles,” Gabriel said, his eyes fixed on the dark road. “Maya, there’s a loaded pistol in the glove compartment. Take it.”

My hands shook as I opened the compartment. The cold, heavy steel of the gun felt entirely foreign in my hands.

“I don’t know how to shoot,” I whispered.

“Point and pull,” Gabriel said, his voice hard. “If anyone who isn’t me or Mateo steps near Ethan tonight, you pull the trigger.”

The abandoned shipyard loomed in the distance. Rusting cranes stood like metal skeletons against the stormy sky.

Gabriel killed the headlights as we approached the chained gates.

He didn’t stop the car. He accelerated.

The heavy armored grill of the SUV smashed through the iron chains, tearing the gates off their hinges. We skidded to a halt in the center of the muddy lot, surrounded by towering, empty shipping containers.

It was dead silent.

Gabriel drew his weapon and stepped out into the rain. I followed, keeping Ethan pinned behind my legs, the heavy gun raised in my shaking hands.

We walked slowly toward the main warehouse. The massive metal door was slightly ajar.

Gabriel pushed it open.

Inside, illuminated by a single swinging yellow bulb, was a wooden chair.

Ropes lay on the floor around it, frayed and cut.

But the chair was empty.

Gabriel cursed under his breath. “We missed them.”

Then, Ethan pointed a small finger toward the back wall.

“Mommy, look.”

Nailed to the concrete wall with a massive hunting knife was a photograph.

I walked toward it, my breath catching in my throat.

It was a picture of Mateo. He looked older, exhausted, and bruised. He was holding up today’s newspaper.

But it was what was draped over the top of the photo that made my knees buckle.

It was a delicate, silver rosary—the exact rosary I had buried with my mother ten years ago.