"Who is this?"
"Her name is Emma."
Sofia smiled immediately.
"Hello, sweetheart."
Emma moved closer to Alessandro.
Sofia noticed.
"She's frightened."
"She's been through something."
"Then she needs food."
Sofia placed the tray on the table.
There was warm soup, bread, fruit, and a glass of milk.
Emma looked at it.
"Is it for me?"
"Of course."
"Do I have to pay?"
Sofia's expression changed.
"No, darling."
Emma looked uncertain.
"Mommy says we shouldn't take things from strangers."
Sofia glanced at Alessandro.
"Your mother sounds like a sensible woman."
"She is."
"Then tell her I intend to meet her."
Emma finally smiled.
Sofia helped her sit at the table.
Alessandro watched as the little girl began eating.
There was something unbearable about the simplicity of it.
A child eating soup in a house full of expensive objects.
A child who had apparently learned to ask whether she needed to pay for food.
Alessandro turned away.
He entered his office and closed the door.
Marco was waiting.
"Talk."
"We found the second vehicle. It belongs to a driver employed by Vittorio's security division."
"Where is Vittorio?"
"His estate in Long Island."
"Call him."
Marco hesitated.
"Now?"
"Now."
Marco made the call.
The line rang twice.
Then a familiar voice answered.
"Alessandro. What a pleasant surprise."
His uncle sounded relaxed.
Almost amused.
"Where are you?"
"At home. Why?"
"I want to see you."
"Tomorrow?"
"Tonight."
A pause.
"Is something wrong?"
Alessandro looked through the glass wall toward the dining room.
Emma was listening to Sofia tell her a story.
"That depends on your answer to one question."
"Go ahead."
"Do you know a woman named Isabella Romano?"
Silence.
It lasted less than two seconds.
But Alessandro heard it.
"That name is from another time," Vittorio replied.
"Answer me."
"I thought we had agreed not to discuss her."
"We never agreed to anything."
Vittorio sighed.
"Alessandro, you are tired. We can speak tomorrow."
"Did you send a car to follow a five-year-old girl?"
Another silence.
This one was longer.
Then Vittorio said, very quietly, "You should be careful about the people you bring into this family."
Alessandro's eyes narrowed.
"She's already in this family."
He ended the call.
Marco stared at him.
"Boss?"
Alessandro placed the telephone on the desk.
"Find Isabella."
"We're already looking."
"Not through the police. Not through the usual channels. I want people who owe me favors. I want every hospital admission, every private clinic, every property Vittorio has used in the last six years."
Marco nodded.
"And if we find her?"
Alessandro looked toward the dining room.
"Bring her home."
***
Across the city, Isabella Romano was sitting on the floor of a small apartment with her back against the kitchen cabinets.
Her left wrist was swollen.
There was a cut above her eyebrow.
Her phone lay broken beside her.
She had been trying to call her daughter for almost an hour.
Emma had been at the community center when two men approached her.
One claimed that her mother had been injured.
The other showed her a photograph of Isabella.
The little girl had refused to go with them.
A volunteer intervened.
The men left.
But Isabella had received a message shortly afterward.
A photograph of Emma walking through a parking garage.
The message contained five words.
YOU HAVE UNTIL MIDNIGHT.
Isabella knew what they wanted.
She had known for months.
Vittorio had finally discovered where she was living.
And he was no longer interested in frightening her into silence.
He wanted the child.
For years, she had protected Emma by keeping her away from Alessandro.
She had told herself that distance was the only way to keep her daughter safe.
Alessandro was a powerful man.
But power attracted enemies.
And Isabella had already seen what happened when someone loved him.
She had been pregnant when she left.
She had discovered it two weeks after the night Vittorio's men came to her apartment.
They had given her a choice.
Disappear, or watch Alessandro's enemies discover that he had a child.
She had chosen to disappear.
The letter was written under pressure.
The story about another job overseas was invented.
The life she built afterward was small, but it was peaceful.
Until now.
Isabella pushed herself to her feet.
She needed to reach Emma.
She needed to find a telephone.
And above all, she needed to make sure Alessandro did not mistake her return for forgiveness.
Because there was something he did not know.
The man who had separated them had not acted alone.
Someone inside Alessandro's closest circle had helped.
Someone who still worked for him.
Someone he trusted.
***
At 10:47 p.m., Emma finished her soup.
Sofia brought her a small bowl of strawberries.
The girl ate slowly, watching the older woman.
"Do you have children?"
Sofia smiled.
"I had a son."
"Where is he?"
"He lives far away."
"Do you miss him?"
"Every day."
Emma looked down at her teddy bear.
"I miss my mommy."
Sofia sat beside her.
"Then we'll do everything we can to bring her here."