SEAL'd Heart

by Alice Ward

  “What is he like?” Florentia asked after a while.

  I hesitated. She had never asked me about her son before. Granted, when I reported that I found him, our conversation had been quick. I told her he was doing fine, and she expressed her desire to remain at a distance for a while.

  “He’s... strong.” I swallowed down the burning in my throat. If anything happened to him, I would never get over it. “But he’s also gentle.” I glanced at her. “I’m sorry, I know that doesn’t explain him very well.”

  “It is good,” she murmured.

  I looked back at the road. “The best thing about Cristiano is that he knows when to be one or the other. He knows when to be soft and kind, and when to take charge.”

  I blinked back the tears forming there.

  “He was the sweetest little boy,” Florentia said. “Always hugging. Always telling me he loved me. And he was so friendly too. He talked to everyone, all the time.” She made a noise that sounded like a cross between a laugh and a sob.

  “He’s smart too,” I added, half to calm myself. “He made himself a fortune. He knows how to read people. If anything has happened, he’ll be all right. I know it.”

  I didn’t know it for sure but saying it out loud helped me believe it might be possible.

  I glanced at her. “Do you know exactly who might be looking for him?”

  She looked worriedly at me. “Rebels killed his father. It was an act of retaliation for an embargo.”

  “Could it be related to that?”

  She sighed. “I do not know. It seems unlikely. Like I said... many people are looking to gain power.”

  The question was harsh, but I needed to ask it. “And would killing him do that?”

  “I do not see why.”

  “Money then, perhaps,” I mused, half talking to myself. “Your family in Cyprus, your extended family... they have money, right?”

  “Yes, but they think we are dead. I never let them know we lived because it was too dangerous.”

  “You haven’t talked to any of them since... since you... I’m sorry, but what did you do exactly? You snuck away?”

  “On a boat. My husband’s counselor found a smuggler to take us across the sea.”

  “And no one knew you left?”

  “Not one person, no.”

  These were details I already imagined but hearing them come straight out of Florentia’s mouth shook my world. I couldn’t imagine having my husband murdered, then making the hard decision to get on a boat and leave behind everything I ever knew. And then, on top of that, leaving my young son, the only person I had left, at an orphanage. Saying goodbye for what I knew might be forever.

  Florentia was the strongest person I had ever met, simply because she had done what needed to be done no matter how much it hurt, and then she survived the pain.

  My throat grew thick. “Cristiano is lucky,” I rasped, looking out over the steering wheel. “To have a mother who loved him that much.”

  Florentia said nothing, and we rode the rest of the way in silence, the car full of our unspoken prayers and worries.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Instead of Russell at the valet station, it was some kid whose name I couldn’t remember. He’d been training in the last week, but with everything going on, I hadn’t even thought of introducing myself to him. On this day I jumped from the car and nearly tackled him.

  “You know Cristiano Leventis?” I asked.

  He kind of shifted his weight backwards a bit, like he was afraid I might suddenly grab his shoulders and shake him silly.

  “Yeah. Everyone does.”

  “Have you seen him this afternoon? This evening?”

  “Uh, I think I saw him walk out earlier.”

  “He didn’t drive?”

  The kid kind of shrugged. “I don’t know. He might have gotten his car himself. Sometimes he does that.”

  “Okay.” I pressed my keys into his hand. “Thanks.”

  Walking as fast as I could, I booked it for the elevator, only looking over once to make sure Florentia was keeping up.

  When questioned, the elevator operator gave close to the same story as the valet. Cristiano left the building maybe an hour or less before, but if he came back in, it was through one of the back entrances.

  I shook my head as the elevator door closed behind Florentia and me. “He wouldn’t use the back entrance,” I said. “There’s no reason for him to.”

  I tried the door before getting out my key, knowing Cristiano hardly ever locked it. The knob turned smoothly under my palm, and Florentia and I walked into the foyer.

  “Hello?” I called out. “Cristiano? Evie?”

  I hit the hallway, my sneakers echoing in the silence of the space. “Evie?” A frantic edge crept into my voice. I made myself take a second to stop calling. I needed to calm down. Nothing could be done if I stayed in a frantic state.

  But I couldn’t stop my feet from speeding up. Couldn’t stop the crazy way I rushed into the guest bedroom, then Cristiano’s room, then the living room. “Evie!” I yelled.

  “No one is here,” came Florentia’s voice. I followed it to the kitchen. She stood in the middle of the floor, looking lost. “No one is here,” she repeated, softer this time.

  Something caught my eye on the island. I rushed forward and picked up Cristiano’s phone. “Cristiano wouldn’t just leave this.”

  Gulping, I tried to open it, to see if he’d received and listened to the voicemail I left him. The phone was locked, though, and I didn’t have the password to get into it. Judging from the little icons at the top, there were no new messages.

  “I think he got my message,” I announced.

  “Where is your friend? Did she leave with him?”

  My stomach sank. “She would have called me,” I whispered.

  Just like Cristiano would have. No way would either of them just disappear on a day like this.

  Unless someone made them disappear.

  “This building is carefully watched,” Florentia said. “Will there be cameras all around?”

  “Yes!” I nearly shouted. “Cristiano is always talking about how safe this building is. Come on. We’ll go talk to the front desk. If something did happen here, it has to be on camera.”

  Back at the elevator, I hit the button several times, frantically calling it. When we got to the front desk, I nearly threw myself over it. Clutching the sides, I stared the concierge down. “Do you have cameras installed at every door? You do, right?”

  He opened his mouth slightly, looking unsure.

  “It’s about Cristiano,” I pressed, knowing the concierge had seen me with him on numerous occasions. “He and my friend might be in danger.”

  The man looked uncertainly from me to Florentia.

  “Please,” Florentia said. “What she says is true.”

  “All right,” the man agreed. “I’ll have someone go and take a look. If you’ll wait here please.”

  We sat down on the couch nestled between the potted plants while the concierge got on his phone and made a call. I pressed my hands between my knees, unable to stop my legs from jiggling up and down. The minutes ticked by, with me looking at the concierge every thirty seconds to see if he had any news. The first few times, he smiled at me politely, but after that started flat out ignoring me.

  Finally, his phone rang, the call making me jump to my feet.

  “Yes?” he said into the phone. “Yes... All right...” His lips tightened together, and he hung up then looked at me. “There appears to be something, ah, questionable on the tape.” He cleared his throat. “I will escort you to the security room if you like. I’m afraid we may have a case on our hands that may need to involve the police.”

  My heart beat so loudly I wouldn’t have been able to hear anything else even if the man said something more. Numb, I followed him through a door behind his desk and then across a narrow hallway. The three of us entered a small room where a wheeled chair sat in front of a wall of
screens, each one showing a different part of the building. The man sitting in the chair glanced at us before turning back and clicking something on the computer that controlled the screens.

  “The middle one, two up,” he instructed.

  I trained my eyes on the little screen, then sucked in a sharp breath as the still there began playing. A female figure, unmistakable Evie to anyone who knew her, was being escorted down the back stairs by three men. One of them stood close behind her, jabbing a gun against her back.

  The operator clicked a few more buttons, and footage showing the party leaving through the back door came up.

  My breathing came harsh and ragged. “How did they get in?” I demanded. “This building is supposed to be one of the safest in the city. Isn’t it?”

  The concierge’s face flushed. “Yes,” he said to the operator. “How did these men get in?”

  The man in the seat slowly shook his head. “I haven’t found that yet. There were no lock breaches, so my guess is they somehow entered through the back stairs. Maybe someone opened the door for them. Maybe they paid off a maid or the janitor or someone. I’m doing a scan for unauthorized codes now.”

  The concierge turned sharply to Florentia and me. “We will alert the police immediately.”

  “But what about Cristiano?” I asked the operator. “Did you see him?”

  “I’ll keep looking, but I haven’t seen anything yet.”

  “So your cameras aren’t manned in real time.”

  The man shook his head. “No, that isn’t policy. They are used to deter crime and provide video proof if something does occur.”

  The concierge pushed open the door, holding it for us. “Ladies, I apologize greatly. We will discover what happened here and make sure it never happens again.”

  He may have gone on, but if he did, I couldn’t hear anything he said. Evie had been kidnapped. Who knew where she was? Who knew what was happening to her?

  Bile rose in my throat, and I gagged.

  A hand rested on my arm, its touch soft and soothing. I looked at Florentia and tried to talk, but all that came out was a pathetic whimpering.

  “It will be all right,” she said. “Do not worry.”

  Now she was the one saying what needed to be said, comforting me so I wouldn’t freak out. But I knew her words were just that: words. No one knew what was going to happen, and no one could be sure of anything.

  ***

  I sat in the middle of Cristiano’s couch, the dark city leering at me through the windows. Police milled about, filling the home with activity. I stared at his cell phone, in a baggy where the detective placed it earlier. Evidence. That’s what it was now. The police department would keep it and answer if he or anyone else called.

  “You should get some sleep,” Detective Noels said to me. He sat on the edge of one of the armchairs and folded his hands together. He seemed a nice enough man, with gray hair but a smooth face hardly lined at all. It was hard to believe he’d gone through years as a detective in Chicago without the wear and tear getting to him more. Although maybe it did, and he just had a knack for not showing it. Or maybe he’d just found an excellent anti-wrinkle cream.

  “Fat chance,” I bitterly responded.

  “Mrs. Gonzalez took something to help her sleep. Would you like the same?”

  The fact that Florentia still went by the last name Gonzalez was hilarious and pitiful at once. Especially when the mention of her made me think of the luxury she must have once lived in. And now here she was, a maid pretending to be from Central America. I scoffed, and Detective Noels peered at me.

  “I can’t sleep.” I pressed my hands to my eyes. “My friends...”

  “We’re doing everything we can,” he softly said. “Please believe that. You won’t be of any help to anyone if you end up collapsing from exhaustion.”

  “I can’t sleep,” I dumbly repeated.

  “You’ll be safe. We’ve stationed two officers out front. The building is being watched carefully. Don’t worry.”

  I slowly nodded. I’d been sitting there racking my brain, trying to think of anything I could tell him that I hadn’t already. The only thing I left out of my story was the part about me pulling a gun in the parking garage. I didn’t want him to go looking for a tape only to find it wasn’t there. Not only would that spell trouble for me, it would be even worse for Cristiano. To get caught paying someone off to hide evidence...

  My head dropped down, suddenly too heavy for me to even attempt to hold it up. He’d risked himself big time for me, and I’d let him down.

  Detective Noels handed me his card. “Call me if you need me. Or, if it’s emergency, call the precinct.”

  “Thanks,” I mumbled.

  He stood up and walked away. The crowd in the apartment thinned out, police officers moving towards the door. Finally, it closed with one last click. Somewhere out there two officers remained, watching to see if anyone tried to come back. I tried to feel comforted by their presence, but I couldn’t be. It wasn’t me I was worried about. It was Evie and Cristiano. And Florentia as well. If these men were looking to collect all the Erul’s they possibly could, they’d be coming for Cristiano’s mom next. Likely Evie had been taken simply because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I had to have some faith in the police and trust they would do everything they could to find my friend.

  Standing up so quickly I got a head rush, I ran from the room. I hadn’t been able to protect Evie or Cristiano, but I could still save Florentia. I could send her away, somewhere no one would find her. If anyone had enough friends in the military to make something like that happen, it was me.

  “Florentia,” I said, entering the guest room and hoping to wake her. She was already up, though, sitting in a chair and looking out the window. She turned her puffy eyes towards me.

  “I have to get you out of here,” I explained. “If these men come back and get you, I’ll never forgive myself.”

  “I can’t leave,” she simply said. “Cristiano...”

  “Cristiano will never forgive me if I let something happen to you. Please. You know it’s what he would want.”

  Finally, she nodded and stood. “Where am I going?”

  “I have a friend,” I explained, thinking of Seth. “He can get you out of the city. He has other friends who know safe houses. You’ll be all right with them.”

  “Can we go to my house?” she begged. “I must get some things.”

  “No. It’s too dangerous.”

  “Blaire, please. The only photo I have of Cristiano is there. I can’t leave without it.”

  I clenched my teeth, trying to ride the wave of pain from my heart breaking. “All right,” I conceded. “But two minutes. I swear. We can’t stay there any longer than that.”

  “Yes,” she nodded. “I will hurry.”

  A police car sat in front of the building, right next to the valet stand. Though I’d prepared a story about going home to my own apartment, the cops didn’t stop us and question where we were headed.

  I pushed the pedal on the drive back to Florentia’s, going as fast as I dared.

  “Two minutes,” I reminded her as we pulled into the driveway. I was coming across as a hard ass, but it was necessary. I couldn’t let whatever had already happened to Cristiano happen to his mom as well.

  We climbed out of the car together, and I made sure to lock the doors so no one would have the chance to sneak in the back seat and lie in wait.

  I’d retrieved the gun I ditched hours before from Evie’s banged up car. Taking it in my hand now, I hurried my way up to the front door with Florentia.

  “We need to check the place first,” I softly told her.

  She unlocked the door and waited while I scoped out the living room and hallway, then checked the back door. The deadbolt was in place. Slowly, I edged down the hallway, checking the windows in the one bedroom and bathroom.

  “We’re good,” I called.

  Florentia emerged from the liv
ing room doorway.

  “I’ll keep watch at the front while you get your stuff,” I told her.

  She nodded and scurried past me. I went to the front door and pulled it shut then locked it. Settling myself next to the front window, I pushed the curtains aside so I could peek out. The neighborhood sat quietly, with nothing more than a few cars puttering by.

  In my pocket, my phone buzzed. As fast as I could, I pulled it out.

  And saw the person calling was Derek.

  I hit silence and jammed the phone back down into my jeans. We hadn’t talked once since the day we broke up at his place, and now he calls me at one of the worst possible times. I shook my head and continued to look out the window. A car went by, going what seemed to be a few miles per hour slower than it should have been. I pressed my face closer against the window, trying to decipher the car’s make and model. Some kind of pickup truck, it continued on, bumping its way down the block.

  My phone started ringing again. I sputtered in irritation.

  “Florentia!” I called. “We have to go!”

  “Coming, coming!”

  I pulled my phone back out of my pocket. Derek. Again. I went to hit the silence button but then hesitated. What if, by chance, it was important? What if it had something to do with Evie and Cristiano?

  Derek wasn’t friends with Evie. He didn’t even know Cristiano existed. The chance of him having something to do with or knowing something about their disappearances was extremely slim.

  But that still meant it was a chance worth taking.

  “Hello?” I answered.

  “Blaire,” he sighed in what sounded like relief. “How are you?”

  “Derek,” I nearly snapped. “Is this important?”

  “What? I, uh...”

  “Look, I’m not trying to be rude, but I don’t have the time right now.”

  “God, that’s kind of harsh. I just wanted to see how you were doing.”

  “I can’t do this right now. We need to talk another time.”

  “Really? That’s how you’re going to act when...”

  “Another time.”

  I hung up on him and put the phone back in my pocket. “Florentia!” I yelled. “Now! We need to go!”