Chapter 2 - The Woman Who Wasn’t Afraid
By sunrise, Marco had learned three things about Grace Bennett.
She drank terrible vending-machine coffee without complaining.
She could calm two crying babies faster than an entire neonatal nursing staff.
And she was possibly the only person in the city who could tell Marco Castellano to sit down without seeming to understand how dangerous that normally was.
“You’re pacing again,” Grace said.
“I’m thinking.”
“You’re making Leo nervous.”
“He’s asleep.”
“He can feel tension.”
Marco looked at the premature infant sleeping in the hospital bassinet.
“That sounds made up.”
Grace raised one eyebrow.
“It isn’t.”
Marco sat.
Grace nodded approvingly.
Across the room, Luca coughed to hide a laugh.
Marco pointed at him.
“Don’t.”
Luca immediately looked away.
The morning had brought better news.
Leo had responded well after receiving donor milk arranged through emergency screening and Grace’s assistance. The hospital had located an additional supply that would arrive later that afternoon from a facility two counties away.
He was still fragile.
Still premature.
Still facing days, perhaps weeks, of medical supervision.
But the immediate crisis had passed.
For Marco, relief came attached to grief.
Every time he looked at Leo, he saw Elena.
The baby had her nose.
Her stubborn little frown.
Even the wrinkle between his eyebrows when he cried looked like Elena when she was angry.
Grace noticed Marco staring.
“He looks like someone.”
“My sister.”
“She must have been beautiful.”
Marco’s jaw tightened.
“She was annoying.”
Grace blinked.
Then Marco added, “And beautiful.”
That earned the smallest smile.
For a moment, the hospital room felt almost normal.
Then Luca entered.
His expression erased the warmth immediately.
“Marco.”
Something in his voice changed the atmosphere.
Grace noticed.
“So this is where you tell me I should leave,” she said.
Marco stood.
“You should.”
She picked up Lucy’s bag.
“That serious?”
“Yes.”
Grace looked at him.
“What happened?”
“Nothing you need to worry about.”
“Which usually means something I should definitely worry about.”
Marco almost smiled.
Almost.
Then Luca handed him his phone.
A message filled the screen.
A photograph.
Elena leaving her apartment three nights earlier.
Another photograph.
Elena arriving at the hospital.
And beneath it, six words.
You lost one Castellano already.
Marco’s face went still.
There were two versions of Marco Castellano.
Grace had met the first one on his knees.
The second appeared now.
His shoulders straightened.
His expression emptied.
His grief did not disappear.
It froze.
“Who sent this?”
“Burner phone.”
“Trace it.”
“Already trying.”
Marco glanced toward Leo.
Then toward Grace.
The implication hit him instantly.
If Elena had been watched, Leo might have been a target.
And Grace had now been publicly seen helping Marco.
He took the phone and walked toward the windows.
“Luca.”
“Yeah?”
“Lock down the floor.”
Grace stood.
“Wait.”
Marco turned.
“Lock down?”
He hated that she was involved.
“You should go home.”
“You just told someone to lock down the floor.”
“My driver will take you.”
“And then?”
“Then this becomes my problem.”
Grace looked toward Leo.
“It already became mine when you handed me that baby.”
Marco stepped closer.
“That was kindness. You did enough.”
“Who sent the message?”
“I don’t know.”
“Does it have something to do with your…”
She hesitated.
“Business?”
“Yes.”
The honesty surprised her.
“So someone may want to hurt Leo?”
Marco’s jaw clenched.
“No one is touching Leo.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
He stared at her.
Grace crossed her arms.
“Does somebody want to hurt him?”
“Possibly.”
Grace went pale.
The fear returned.
Not for herself.
For the infant.
Marco noticed.
“I’ll protect him.”
“Like you protected your sister?”
The words escaped before Grace could stop them.
Luca immediately looked toward the floor.
Silence swallowed the room.
Marco’s expression hardened.
Grace’s face changed.
“I’m sorry.”
He looked away.
“No.”
“Marco—”
“You’re right.”
His voice was quiet.
“I promised her nothing would happen.”
“You couldn’t control what happened in surgery.”
“We don’t know that.”
Grace frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Marco glanced at Luca.
Luca did not answer.
Marco had been asking questions since dawn.
Elena’s death might have been natural.
Doctors believed it was.
But Marco had survived too long by refusing to accept coincidence when someone wanted him vulnerable.
Someone had watched Elena before she entered the hospital.
That was enough.
He turned back to Grace.
“You need to leave.”
“And Leo?”
“He stays.”
“Does he have anyone else?”
“Me.”
Grace looked him over.
“You don’t know how to change a diaper.”
“I can learn.”
“You held him like unexploded ammunition.”
“I improved.”
“You asked whether babies drink water.”
“It was a reasonable question.”
“It absolutely was not.”
Luca coughed again.
Marco glared.
Grace surprised herself by smiling.
Then Lucy stirred.
Grace looked down.
Her face softened instantly.
Marco recognized that expression.
Elena used to make it when talking about Leo before he was born.
“You’re a good mother,” he said.
Grace’s smile disappeared.
Something sad moved through her eyes.
“Thank you.”
“Lucy’s father?”
“Dead.”
Marco immediately regretted asking.
“I’m sorry.”
“Car accident. Eleven months ago.”
She looked down at her daughter.
“I was pregnant. He never got to meet her.”
Marco did not know what to say.
For all his experience with death, grief that arrived without violence always made him feel strangely helpless.
“My husband was named Ben,” Grace continued. “He would have liked Lucy’s laugh.”
Marco looked at the sleeping baby.
“She laughs?”
“Usually right after throwing food at me.”
He gave a quiet huff that might have been laughter.
Grace looked toward Leo.
“So yes, I know something about raising a child after losing the person who was supposed to raise them with you.”
Marco understood what she was offering.
Not milk.
Something else.
Experience.
A map through grief.
“I have people,” he said.
“That’s not the same thing.”
“No.”
It wasn’t.
Marco had employees.
Soldiers.
Lawyers.
Accountants.
Housekeepers.
Drivers.
Dozens of people depended on him.
Very few loved him.
Elena had.
Now Leo did not even know him.
A nurse entered and examined the baby.
His vitals were improving.
They might move him to the neonatal intensive care unit for additional observation.
Grace listened carefully.
Marco asked too many questions.
The nurse answered patiently.
Twenty minutes later, Grace prepared to leave.
“My sister is coming to pick me up,” she said.
“No.”
She blinked.
“No?”
“You’re taking my car.”
“I don’t need your car.”
“You received no message, so whoever sent mine probably doesn’t know who you are. I intend to keep it that way.”
Grace stared at him.
“That sounded less like an offer.”
“It wasn’t.”
“And what happens when I say no?”
Marco opened his mouth.
Grace waited.
He closed it.
Something bizarre happened.
Marco Castellano had no idea.
Grace’s mouth twitched.
“You’re not used to people saying no, are you?”
“No.”
“Maybe practice.”
Luca turned away again, shoulders moving suspiciously.
Marco looked at him.
“I swear to God, Luca.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
Grace finally accepted the car after Marco agreed that only one driver would accompany her and nobody would enter her apartment building.
Before leaving, she approached Leo’s bassinet.
She touched one finger gently to his tiny hand.
“Keep fighting, little guy.”
Marco watched.
Grace turned toward him.
“You have my number.”
“I do.”
She frowned.
“I don’t remember giving it to you.”
Marco paused.
Luca suddenly became extremely interested in the ceiling.
Grace stared at Marco.
“You had someone find my number?”
“I needed to make sure you got home safely.”
“That is deeply unsettling.”
“I hear that frequently.”
Grace shook her head.
Then she surprised him.
She extended her hand.
Marco looked at it.
“For what?”
“A normal goodbye.”
He took it.
Her hand was warm.
Small against his tattooed fingers.
“Goodbye, Marco.”
“Goodbye, Grace.”
She walked away.
Marco watched until the elevator doors closed.
Luca approached beside him.
“You’re staring.”
“I’m thinking.”
“Sure.”
Marco gave him a warning look.
Then the phone rang.
One of Marco’s men from Elena’s apartment.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“We found something.”
Marco’s attention sharpened.
“What?”
“There’s a camera.”
Marco went still.
“Where?”
“Across from Elena’s building. Hidden inside a vacant unit. Whoever put it there had a clear view of her front door.”
“How long?”
“We’re checking.”
Marco looked toward Leo’s room.
“Anything else?”
A pause.
Then the man answered.
“Yes.”
Marco’s stomach tightened.
“What?”
“Photographs.”
“Of Elena?”
“Yes.”
Another pause.
“And Grace Bennett.”
Marco’s blood turned cold.
“What did you say?”
“Photos from this morning. Someone photographed her leaving the hospital.”
Marco looked toward the elevators.
Grace had been gone twelve minutes.
“Luca.”
Luca saw his expression and immediately reached for his weapon.
“Get the car.”
Marco was already calling the driver.
No answer.
He called again.
Nothing.
Then his phone buzzed.
A photograph appeared.
Grace’s car stopped at a red light.
A black SUV behind it.
And underneath, three words.
May you like
Now she matters.
Marco began running.
