Chapter 4 - THE NIGHT HE CAME TO MY DOOR
I called Enzo at 1:12 a.m.
He answered before the second ring.
"Clara?"
"Someone is watching my house."
His voice changed.
"Are you inside?"
"Yes."
"Doors locked?"
"Yes."
"Is your mother with you?"
"She's asleep."
"Stay away from the windows. Call the police. I'm contacting security."
I did exactly what he said.
Not because he ordered me to.
Because I was terrified.
Ten minutes later, headlights swept across our curtains.
I heard car doors.
Voices.
Then a knock.
"Clara, it's Enzo."
I looked through the peephole.
He stood outside wearing dark jeans and a gray sweater.
No expensive suit.
No polished business expression.
Just a man who looked as though he'd left his house without thinking about anything except getting to mine.
I opened the door.
His eyes moved over my face.
"Are you hurt?"
I shook my head.
He glanced toward the living room.
"Your mother?"
"Sleeping."
He exhaled.
Then he noticed my trembling hands.
"May I come in?"
I stepped aside.
Two security officers remained outside while Enzo checked the message and spoke with the responding police officers.
He didn't touch my phone without asking.
He didn't make promises about catching the person responsible.
He simply stayed until the officers finished their report.
At three in the morning, my mother appeared in the hallway.
She stopped when she saw him.
"Enzo?"
He turned.
"Mrs. Bennett."
Her face changed.
For one second, I thought she might faint.
"You look like your father," she whispered.
Enzo lowered his eyes.
"I've been told."
My mother stepped closer.
"Did you know Daniel?"
"Yes."
She pressed a hand against her chest.
"Then you know what they did."
Enzo didn't answer.
She looked at me.
"Clara, there's something I should have told you years ago."
I stood.
"What?"
My mother walked toward the bookshelf.
She removed an old cookbook and opened its back cover.
Inside was a small brass key.
"Your father gave me this two days before he disappeared."
She placed it in my hand.
"He told me that if anyone ever came asking about November fourteenth, I should give it to you."
"Why didn't you?"
"Because I was afraid."
Enzo examined the key without touching it.
"Do you know what it opens?"
My mother shook her head.
"Only that Daniel said the truth was somewhere no one would think to look."
The key was stamped with a number.
314\.
Enzo's expression shifted.
"What?" I asked.
He looked at me.
"There's an old storage facility on the waterfront. My father used to rent private lockers there."
My pulse quickened.
"Locker 314?"
"Possibly."
I looked at the key.
Then at him.
"When can we go?"
"After we confirm the location and arrange proper security."
I frowned.
"You're going to tell me to stay home."
"No."
"Really?"
"Really."
He looked toward my mother.
"But we're not walking blindly into something dangerous."
For the first time, I realized how different Enzo was from the men I'd imagined when I heard the word mafia.
He was dangerous.
That much was obvious.
But he didn't seem interested in proving it to me.
At dawn, he finally prepared to leave.
I followed him onto the porch.
"Enzo?"
He turned.
"Thank you."
"You don't have to thank me."
"I know."
He looked at me for a long moment.
Then said, "Your father once saved my life."
I stared at him.
"What?"
"At the docks. There was a fire. I was trapped inside an office."
My breath caught.
"Daniel went back for me."
He swallowed.
"I never got to thank him."
I looked down at the key in my hand.
"Maybe you still can."
Enzo's expression changed.
For the first time, I saw hope.
Not certainty.
Not confidence.
Hope.
May you like
And somehow, that frightened me more than anything else.
Because I was beginning to hope too.
