Chapter 7 - Emma’s Game
Emma had decided the bad men were stupid.
Mommy always said calling people stupid was rude.
But Mommy wasn’t there to hear her.
The man with the red hand had been scary.
The other man smelled like cigarettes.
The newest one had a scratch on his cheek and kept saying words Emma wasn’t allowed to say.
They believed she wasn’t listening.
Adults did that.
They talked around children like children were chairs.
Emma hugged Mr. Buttons.
She had gotten him back after the building by the water.
She had also seen the man.
The one outside.
The one who yelled her name.
Daddy.
He had looked different from her drawings.
Her drawings had no face because she didn’t know what face to use.
Now she knew.
Dark hair.
Strong eyebrows.
Sad eyes.
He looked angry when the car drove away.
Emma thought maybe daddies were supposed to look angry when bad people took you.
The SUV stopped.
The cigarette man opened the door.
“Come on.”
Emma stayed still.
“Where’s Mommy?”
“No questions.”
“I want Mommy.”
“You’ll see her.”
“When?”
He reached for her.
Emma pulled away.
“Don’t.”
The man stared.
For one second, Emma sounded so much like Luca Bellini that even she seemed surprised.
The man grabbed her anyway.
She dropped a crayon from her pocket.
Green.
She had been dropping them whenever she could.
Green in the car.
Yellow at the warehouse.
Blue near the stairs.
Rachel taught her once that if she ever got lost in a store, she should leave clues and find a safe grown-up.
There were no safe grown-ups here.
So Emma left clues for Daddy.
They brought her into an old hotel.
The carpet smelled wet.
A broken sign outside had shown a swan.
Emma remembered that.
A big white bird.
Inside a room upstairs, Rachel sat tied to a chair.
“Mommy!”
“Emma!”
Rachel pulled against the restraints.
The men let Emma run to her.
Rachel wrapped both arms around her.
“Are you okay?”
Emma nodded.
“Daddy came.”
Rachel’s eyes filled.
“You saw him?”
“He knows my name.”
Rachel pressed her forehead to Emma’s.
“He knows everything about you.”
“Why didn’t he come before?”
Rachel closed her eyes.
“That’s a grown-up conversation.”
Emma frowned.
“I’m almost four.”
Despite everything, Rachel laughed.
The door opened.
Viktor Sokolov entered.
Late forties.
Expensive coat.
Gray eyes.
He crouched in front of Emma.
“So you finally saw your father.”
Emma hugged Mr. Buttons tighter.
“You’re mean.”
Sokolov smiled.
“So I’ve been told.”
“My daddy is coming.”
Sokolov’s smile widened.
“Yes.”
“That’s bad for you.”
Rachel stared at her daughter.
Sokolov actually laughed.
“Bellini blood.”
He stood.
A man handed him a phone.
Sokolov listened.
His expression changed.
“What?”
Silence.
“Find it.”
He disconnected.
Rachel watched him.
“Problem?”
Sokolov looked at Emma.
Then at the floor.
A green crayon had fallen from her pocket.
His face hardened.
“You’ve been dropping these?”
Emma said nothing.
He picked up the crayon.
Rachel’s stomach dropped.
Sokolov leaned closer.
“Very clever.”
Emma stared back.
“My daddy says I’m his girl.”
Sokolov’s expression changed.
“He said that?”
Emma nodded, although she had never heard him say it.
She simply believed he would.
Sokolov stood.
“Move them.”
Rachel tightened her grip around Emma.
“Where?”
“Somewhere Bellini won’t find.”
But outside the room, one of Sokolov’s men stepped on something tiny.
A yellow crayon.
Then he looked down the hallway.
There were three more.
A trail.
And at the far end of the corridor—
May you like
someone quietly opened the stairwell door.
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